Oregon Ballot Measure Seeks to Limit Bilingual Education

An initiative limiting bilingual education will appear on the Oregon ballot on November 4, 2008, along with several other initiatives (ballot measure numbers will be assigned August 2). This measure, if passed, would limit bilingual education, in which students are taught entirely in their non-English native language for all or part of the school day, to one to two years, after which time, students would be mainstreamed into regular, English-language classes for all subjects.

Proponents of English-only instruction say that instructing students in a native language only hinders their progress in learning the English language. According to ProEnglish, a national organization promoting English as the official language of the United States, students taught through bilingual instruction have lower test scores, higher dropout rates, remain socially isolated, and often graduate from high school without learning basic English skills. They cite reports of test score increases among ELL (English Language Learner) students in California after a similar measure was passed.

Opponents of the bilingual education ballot measure, including the Oregon Education Association, say that this would take away local control from school districts and individuals, preventing them from using the most appropriate method for each individual student. Critics also say that California's ELL student test scores have not actually improved (SF Gate).

Oregon school districts currently use a wide variety of methods to teach ELL students, including ESL (English as a Second Language) pull-out programs, classroom assistants who work with ELL students in their regular classrooms, sheltered instruction in certain content areas (in which students learn the same content, like math and social studies, as their English-speaking peers, but instruction is tailored to their needs), and some actual bilingual instruction, in which students receive content-area instruction in their native languages.

In one unique program, the Forest Grove School District actually offers a two-way bilingual program in English and Spanish. Students enter the program in kindergarten or first grade, and it's open to students whose first language is either English or Spanish. Instruction is given entirely in English one day, and then Spanish the next. Students who stay in this program through 12th grade will graduate from high school fluent in both languages.

It's not clear whether the bilingual education ballot measure would affect this type of program. The measure's language does say "This section does not apply to classes which teach English speaking students a foreign language." It does not, however, address two-way bilingual immersion programs.

It's also unclear how the measure would affect the various methods used by Oregon schools. Fully bilingual instruction would obviously be affected, but what about sheltered instruction? According to an article in the Kappa Delta Pi Record, sheltered instruction includes "judicious use of ELL's first language as a tool to provide comprehensibility." But the bilingual education ballot measure says that after the initial one to two year period, "the student shall be taught exclusively in English."

The bilingual education ballot measure is sure to be a hot topic in the months to come, with both English-only advocates and organizations like the Oregon Education Association campaigning fervently on this issue.

SOURCES
Oregon Secretary of State, "Full text of Ballot Measure," http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/irr/2008/019text.pdf
ProEnglish, "Teach Our Children English!", http://www.proenglish.org/issues/education/beindex.html
Oregon Education Association, "OEA Positions on Upcoming Measures," http://www.oregoned.org/atf/cf/%7B3f7af7ec-f984-4631-a411-148cd1fb8421%7D/2008POTENTIALBALLOTMEASURES_OEAPOSITION.PDF
Tyche Hendricks, SFGate, "No Benefit Found In English-Only Instruction," http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/22/MNGSUHCJF51.DTL
Forest Grove School District, "Two-way Immersion," http://www.fgsd.k12.or.us/Default.aspx?tabid=388
Holly Hansen-Thomas, Kappa Delta Pi Record, "Sheltered Instruction: Best Practices for ELL's in the Mainstream," http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4009/is_200807/ai_n27899205