EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The following literature review examines the issue of bilingual education, at both the national level and at the local level. As the number of language minority immigrants entering the United States continues to grow rapidly, the Republican and Democratic parties have had to take a position with regard to the bilingual education issue. The literature discusses the debate between political figures over this controversial issue and the effects of the United States government’s state of indecision on the language minority students. With regard to the bilingual education issue at the national level, the literature refers to the creation and outcome of California’s Proposition 227 as an example of political indecision. At the local level, Indiana’s education system is also feeling the effects of the growing number of language minority students. With a lack of funding from the same government who requires Indiana to provide special educational programs for language minority students, Indiana educators are forced to use their own resources to effectively run these federally mandated programs. In summary, the literature reveals that at both the national and local levels, the main problem surrounding bilingual education is indecision on the part of government officials, which, in turn, results in a lack of funding to aid in running the programs necessary in educating language minority students.

THE BILINGUAL EDUCATION NATIONAL DEBATE

The number of immigrants entering the United States each year continues to grow rapidly. The government officials of our nation have called the education of these immigrants to question and a great debate over the issue has been the result. The literature surrounding bilingual education points to the debate over this issue of immigrant education as a primary reason the new citizens of this country are being denied the education the American school system is obligated to provide.With the federal government still unsure of how to resolve the issue of bilingual education, the independent states continue to question how they must deal with their individual concerns.

Indiana is no exception as the number of language minority students has more than tripled over the past two years in the local school district of (name) Township. The literature revealed that because there is the continuing disagreement among the political decision-makers of this nation with regard to bilingual education, the issue is not being resolved and all students continue to suffer. Because of our nation’s failure to agree on the educational needs of the ever-increasing immigrant population in our country and the bilingual educational policies which should be implemented, language minority students are not receiving the education in which they are entitled

This literature review will first discuss the number of immigrants that are entering America and how that rapidly increasing number is affecting our school system. Next, this review will explain the issue at the national level and how the debate began in California, as the number of immigrant students is largest in that state. The literature reveals a continuing debate among the Republican and Democratic parties and how that prevents any real resolution to the problem. This review will examine both parties’ positions on the issue and examine what steps each party has taken or intends to take toward solving the problems surrounding teaching language minority students. Next this review will address the local problem and offer insight into the dilemma the School District of Wayne Township is experiencing currently with its English as a Second Language Program. Finally, a resolution is offered based on the findings of the research.

Number of Immigrants Entering America Growing Rapidly

The literature revealed that as the number of immigrants entering the United States each year continues to grow rapidly, the number of immigrant students entering our education system also continues to increase. In a 1999 budget summary, the U.S. Department of Education reported a dramatic rise in the number of limited English proficient students attending American schools, with a count of 2.1 million limited English proficient students in the 1990-91 academic year which grew to 3.5 million in 1996-97. The federal government (U.S. Dept. of Education) does agree that, "As the number of LEP children has grown, the needs of school districts for programs to serve those children, and for trained staff to work in those programs, have grown accordingly." (1999). However, simply because our nation’s government is in agreement regarding the increased need for educational needs of these language minority students, there is still much debate across the nation on how to go about providing such education.

California Begins Debate with Proposition 227

Part of this debate began in California (Wildavsky, 1999), where "the native language of 80 percent of its 1.4 million schoolchildren is Spanish." An article in U.S. News &World Report examined Proposition 227 (Wildavsky, 1999), "a controversial initiative intended to end bilingual education in California, whose measure says that, ‘all children in California public schools shall be taught English by being taught in English.’" Another article in U.S. News & World Report following the development of Proposition 227 (Streisand, 1999), reported the architect of Proposition 227 was Ron Unz, a one-time GOP gubernatorial candidate, who contributed $750,000 of his own money to the Proposition. The theory this proposal was based on was that (Wildavsky, 1999), "kids will be fluent enough after a year in English immersion programs to switch into regular classes." Many of the parents of the language minority students being affected by Proposition 227 disagree with this Republican concept.

These parents who resist Proposition 227 can request waivers to allow their children to enroll in the traditional bilingual classes, which seems to defy the purpose of the Proposition. The superintendent of the Oakland school system, Sue Piper, notified parents of their right to seek waivers and felt justified in doing so by arguing (Wildavsky, 1999), "We owe an allegiance to our local constituents—and our community wants us to have this program." The Los Angeles Unified School District has also found a way around Proposition 227.

Maria Ochoa, a Los Angeles Unified School District official, points out additional methods used in getting around Proposition 227, to ensure not all limited-English students are forced to learn entirely in English. Ochoa offers (Wildavsky, 1999), "Under one of two English immersion models used by the district, 127,000 students are in classes where teachers may use Spanish or another native language up to 50 or 60 percent of the time." Republican Unz argues the school officials are taking the words of Proposition 227 too literally by saying (Wildavsky, 1999), "…that’s not what Prop. 227 meant by ‘nearly all’ English instruction," and he then went on to accuse L.A. Unified of trying to "force-feed" bilingual education to children and their parents "under another name." While school officials and politicians continue to disagree on bilingual educational policy, the Republican and Democratic parties also continue to debate the issue. The Republican Opinion

When Republican Ronald Regan was governor he appealed to the Hispanic-American voters by supporting bilingual education in California. However, after being elected President, during one of his two terms, President Regan reversed his support in 1981 by saying (Faltis & Hudelson, 1998), "It is absolutely wrong and against American concepts to have a bilingual education program that is now openly, admittedly dedicated to preserving student’s native language…". Apparently this opinion that bilingual education programs are unAmerican is still the consensus among the Republican party today.

An article in Human Resources (1998), reported the passing of Bill HR3892 which reduces the federal control of many bilingual education programs by block granting 90% of the appropriated funds to state and local levels. While this bill, on the surface, appears to serve as aid for bilingual education programs, the stipulation to this aid is that the students in the programs that receive federal funding learn English within two years. California Republican Representative, Frank Riggs, told his colleagues (Human Resources, 1998), "English is the language of this nation and the mastery of the English language is the key to success." The Democratic Party, which lost the vote on passing the bill, 221 to 189, disagreed with the time constraints placed on the language minority students in these programs receiving the federal funding (Human Resources, 1998).

The Opposing Democratic

Opinion Barbara Lee, a Democratic Representative of California, called the legislation (Human Resources, 1998), "a disastrous anti-education bill" and went on to say that, "mandating all students to master the English language in just two years is a dangerous and restrictive policy." She went on to accuse the plan of, "…setting up a sink or swim policy in which artificial deadlines set up the majority to fail." Lee was joined by a fellow Democratic Representative of California, Matthew Martinez.

Martinez argued against the Bill (Human Resources, 1998), labeling it, "the anti-children civil rights bill that is based on ill-conceived notions based on biased and mythical information. He went on to claim (Human Resources, 1998), "…focusing intensively on English language, as the two-year limit would require, neglects other basic subjects and fails to make provision for slow learners." While this battle remains ongoing at the national level with such a great distance between the positions of the Republic and Democratic parties, the individual states continue to remain in a position that does not enable them to provide adequate education for their language minority students.

In an article in CQ Weekly on the issue of immigrant education, author Sue Kirchhoff reports (1998), "The Department of Education said that 1.3 million students are in state and local bilingual programs. California has about half of all students whose first language is not English. Of those, only thirty percent are in bilingual education programs, in large part because of a shortage of qualified instructors." This research proves that states with the highest number of language minority students are not in agreement on their educational policies, and therefore not receiving adequate support. Therefore, the states who have a smaller number of language minority students, but who are also in need of support, are also not capable of providing adequate educational programs to their immigrant students.

Local Problem Addressed

Indiana is just one example showing the lack of support on the part of the government, as the number of non-English speaking children entering its school system continues to rise dramatically. The Indiana Department of Education (Fuller, 1999) reported that the number of language minority children enrolled in its schools statewide doubled from 11,745 reported for the 1987-88 academic school year to 24,981 students in the 1997-98 school year. Indiana education officials also reported (Fuller, 1999) that these children speak 191 different native languages and reside in 90 of Indiana’s 92 counties, attending 277o f the state’s 296 school corporations (an increase of 30 school corporations in three years). At the local level, the Director of the Language Assistance Program for the Metropolitan School District of (name) Township, (name), confirms the lack of any solid educational policy with regard to language minority students. (Name) explains (Personal Interview, October 18, 1999), "The ESL program is not necessarily a federally required program. However, the Office for Civil Rights periodically reviews school systems to see if they are properly educating ESL students. We receive no money from the Federal government, but have received some funding for this program which came in a small Title VI grant."

Ms. (name) went on to point out there is a strong and urgent need for additional funds to ensure these programs are being run effectively and therefore educating these language minority students properly. Ms. (name) asserts this need for additional funding as she points out, "Today the ESL program in (name) Township receives $75 per student from Indiana’s legislators which is based upon the 1997 Office for Civil Rights report. At that time, the Township reported only fifty-one ESL students based on identification methods that were not at all sophisticated. To date, the Township has over three hundred sixty ESL students and if we were to receive that $75 per student based upon today’s figures, we would still be dealing with a drop in the bucket compared to our needs." In essence, (name) Township is attempting to run a language assistance program for its minority students, which receives minimal financial aid as the funds allocated are based on out-of-date figures –a program that the Office for Civil Rights deemed necessary to ensure they are provided with an adequate education.

Resolution This type of federal intervention is necessary in changing the framework of public policy, but only one element involved in spurring social reform. Nancy Lemberger, the author of Bilingual Education, asserts (1997),

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