[pn] Does bilingual ed work?

[Mark Warschauer]

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Does bilingual education work?  Many people's support for bilingual 
education has been shaken by recent results showing a short-term 
increase in California children's English language scores following 
the statewide initiative that dramatically cut back on bilingual 
educations.

A recent long-term national study of five schools districts helps to 
contextualize this result, by demonstrating that short-term gains 
achieved by English-medium education are more than overcome by the 
long-term benefits of bilingual education.  A copy of the 
announcement for the study is found below.

As you can see from the research brief pointed to in the 
announcement, the following are some of the main findings:

* Students in ESL programs out-perform students in bilingual programs 
when they first leave those programs, but students in bilingual 
programs catch up in English-language testing by middle school and 
surpass ESL students in high school.

* The amount of primary language instruction is the strongest 
predictor of ultimate second language student achievement

* Bilingual education programs are the only programs to assist 
language minority students in reaching at least the 50th percentile 
in English and all other subjects and to maintain that level of 
achievement

* Bilingual education programs have the lowest dropout rate.  English 
"mainstream" programs have the highest dropout rate.

* English "mainstream" programs also have the largest number of 
students whose reading and math scores drop by grade 5

In other words, this study suggests that if you throw 
Spanish-speaking kids into an English-only environment, yes, they 
will show some short-term gains in English (as measured by test 
scores taken in English), but that this short-term success is 
overcome by the greater long-term gains achieved by bilingual 
education.

Mark Warschauer


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Researchers Wayne Thomas and Virginia Collier have published their
findings from “A National Study of School Effectiveness for Language
Minority Students’ Long-Term Academic Achievement.” The study on the
long-term (5 to 13 years) academic achievement of language minority
students in five U.S. school districts, representing four distinct
regions of the country, is ground-breaking in scope. Sponsored by the
Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence (CREDE), the
study examined student performance across different language program
designs. This report describes the study, provides extensive data and
analysis, and offers thought-provoking implications for educational
policy at all levels. (331 pp. total; 150 pp. tables and figures)

The report is available to purchase for $25 plus sales tax (DC and FL
only) and shipping and handling. To order, contact crede@cal.org or call
202-362-0700 or visit
http://www.cal.org/store/.

A research brief summarizing the results of the study is available at:
http://www.cal.org/crede/pubs/ResBrief10.htm