LINGUISTIC MINORITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

• Effects of the Implementation of Proposition 227 on the Education of English Learners, K-12 Findings from a Five-Year Evaluation: Final Report

  WestEd

  2006

  
  

  How should English learners be taught? What can state and local education leaders do to better support these students' academic progress? Conclusions from a five-year evaluation have been released by a team of researchers from AIR and WestEd.

• The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act and California's Proposition 227: Implications for English Language Learners With Special Needs (PDF)

  Bilingual Research Journal, 28:2

  Tracy Gershwin Mueller, George H.S. Singer, and Elizabeth J. Grace

  Summer 2004

  
  

  California’s Proposition 227 (1998) has affected the education of many English language learners (ELLs). However, the extent of Proposition 227’s influence on special education planning and practice is unclear...

• Reclassification of English Learners

  Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 12, No. 36

  James B. Grissom

  July 30, 2004

  
  

  Ron Unz, originator of Proposition 227, claimed, prior to the passage of Prop. 227, that the five percent annual reclassification rate of English learners to fluent English proficient indicated bilingual education was a failure...

• Dismantling Bilingual Education Implementing English Immersion: The California Initiative (PDF)

  Christine Rossell, Political Science Department, Boston University

  Professor Rossell's web site: http://web.bu.edu/POLISCI/CROSSELL/CRossell.html

  Revised: July 20, 2002

  
  

  California has a 26-year history of bilingual education that was supposed to end with the passage of Proposition 227...

• ¿Exito en California?  A validity critique of language program evaluations and analysis of English learner test scores

  Thompson, M.S., DiCerbo, K.E., Mahoney, K. and MacSwan, J.

  Education Policy Analysis Archives, 10(7).

  January 25, 2002

• Two Years of Success: An Analysis of California Test Scores After Proposition 227 (PDF)

  Jorge Amselle and Amy C. Allison

  The READ Institute

  2000

  
  

  In the spring of 1998 a new statewide assessment exam, the Stanford 9, was implemented in California. We now have available three years of test scores on the Stanford 9 through California's Standardized Testing And Reporting system (STAR).

  
  

  Despite all of the rhetoric decrying how California's non-English-speaking students would be harmed by the new English-immersion mandate, after two years of instruction, LEP students were not only not harmed by English immersion; they made significant gains in reading and writing in English as well as math. Not surprisingly, the greatest gains were made in school districts that chose the strictest interpretation of the initiative and implemented the most intensive English-immersion programs.

• What Can We Learn About the Impact of Proposition 227 From Sat-9 Scores? An Analysis of Results From 2000

  Jennifer Evelyn Orr, Yuko Goto Butler, Michele Bousquet, and Kenji Hakuta

  Stanford University

  August 15, 2000

  
  

  Statewide scores for LEP student performance on the Stanford 9 (SAT-9) test for the year 2000 were released on August 15. The results are of particular interest to those who have followed the impact of Proposition 227, a ballot initiative spearheaded by Ron Unz and passed by California voters in 1998. Last year's SAT-9 results enabled a comparison of the results from 1998 and 1999, and were examined to identify the results of Proposition 227. Scrutiny of the year 2000 SAT-9 results for LEP students continues in the webpage.

• Implementation of California’s Proposition 227: 1998-2000

  Special Issue of the Bilingual Research Journal, Winter & Spring 2000

  
  

  Proposition 227, passed by a 61% majority of California voters on June 2, 1998—severely restricted the use of primary language for instructional purposes, and instead provided a transitional program of “structured English immersion” that was not normally to last more than one year. This special issue of the Bilingual Research Journal contains a number of research papers that examine the impact of 227 in the first two years of its implementation.

• What legitimate inferences can be made from the 1999 release of SAT-9 scores with respect to the impact of Proposition 227 on the performance of LEP students?

  Kenji Hakuta, Stanford University

  July 23, 1999

  
  

  This paper examines recently released state-wide test scores for students in California and the legitimate inferences that can be made from them regarding the impact of Proposition 227. The author argues that increases in scores for SAT-9 from 1998 to 1999 for LEP students need to be considered in light of the overall gains in scores found across the state for all students. He concludes that no one should be delighted by the fact that the overall performance of LEP students and poor, native English speakers is very low on these standardized tests, although recent attention may lead to a deep and profound inquiry into how to do better for the students.

• Educating California's Immigrant Children: An Overview of Bilingual Education (PDF)

  Patricia De Cos (CRB-99-009)

  Source

  July 1999

  
  

  This paper examines Proposition 227 and the driving forces behind it and provides a history of language policy, discusses how over time instruction in English became dominant for new immigrants, and presents a summmary of why initial bilingual education policies were enacted nationally and in California. Beyond this history, there exists a limited body of literature on instructional programs for English learners. This paper discusses that literature, along with an explanation of the relationship between brain development and second language acquisition and learning, as a possible way to shed light on effective teaching methodologies used for English language learners.

Media Stories and Other Publications

• California's English learners: Can you say 'held back'?

  Kelly Torrance

  Los Angeles Times

  March 21 2006

  
  

  The latest test scores of California's English learners show that immigrant children are continuing to do well under English immersion, defying the doomsday predictions by opponents of 1998's Proposition 227. The mandate that schools teach children "overwhelmingly" in English, rather than in their native languages, has resulted in a large, demonstrable improvement in English proficiency.

• California State Board of Education, Policy Update (PDF)

  (contact: Phil Garcia, SBE Deputy Executive Director)

  State Board of Education policy brief on proposed English learner regulations.

  March 21, 2002

  
  

  This Policy Update provides an in-depth look at action taken by the Board at its March 2002 meeting.

• Why Bilingual Education?

  Stephen Krashen

  ERIC® Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools

  (ERIC Accession Number: ED403101)

  1997

  
  

  Examines criticism of bilingual education and its effect on public opinion, discusses the rationale underlying good bilingual education programs, and summarizes research findings that reveal programs' effectiveness

• The President proposes a three-year time limit for non-English speakers to attain 'English fluency'?

  Stephen Krashen

  Rethinking Schools Online - Vol. 15, No. 4: Bush's Bad Idea for Bilingual Ed

  Summer 2001

  
  

• Teach English

  (you will be asked to register; article available in the archives for purchase

  Washington Post.com

  Thursday, August 9, 2001

  
  

  Unfortunately, the bilingual education offered in most parts of the country does not promote English fluency. The Census Bureau reports that only two-thirds of school-age children in Spanish- speaking homes describe themselves as speaking English very well. This is a shamefully low number: Children pick up languages with relative ease, and the school system ought to be able to deliver near universal fluency.

• A Rush to Judgment On Bilingual Education

  The San Francisco Chronicle

  September 3, 2000

  
  

• PBS Online NewsHour: BILINGUAL EDUCATION: A NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript

  August 23 , 2000

  
  

• PBS Think Tank: Does Bilingual Education Make the Grade?

  Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg

  Originally aired: 4/13/00

  
  

• The Bilingual Education Debate: A long-term view may be necessary to recognize benefits of bilingual programs

  Laurel Shaper Walters

  Harvard Education Letter Research Online

  May/June 1998

  
  

• Bilingual Education and California's "English for the Children" Initiative: Researchers, Practitioners, and Policymakers Debate the Issues

  including: Ron Unz, Mike Honda, Rosalie Pedalino Porter, Mary T. Cazabon, Christine Rossell, Kenji Hakuta, Robert L. French, and Waldemar Rojas

  Harvard Education Letter Research Online

  May/June 1998

  
  

UC LMRI Newsletters with Pertinent Articles:

The Initial Effects of Proposition 227 (April 2000)

Vol. 8, No. 2 (Winter 1999)

Vol. 8, No. 3 (Spring 1999)

CA Secretary of State - site includes full text of the law (English Language Education for Immigrant Children)

English Learners:

California Dept. of Education: English Learners

Education Week: Bilingual Education

Professor Christine Rossell's home page at Boston University - Political Science Department

Jim Crawford's Language Policy Web Site and Emporium

Dr. Jill Mora's webpage: A Road Map to the Bilingual Education Controversy

The Civil Rights Project - Harvard University: Bilingual Education: What's at Stake for Massachusetts? Results from the Unz Initiative in California

One Nation/One California, a non-profit 501(c)4 public-benefit California corporation oriented towards issues involving race, ethnicity, and public policy. It undertakes educational, cultural, and political activities in furtherance of the public policy goals of the organization.

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