1 bilingual education yesterday and today jon reyhner

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Bilingual EducationYesterday and Today

Jon Reyhner

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Checking Prior Knowledge

What are your experiences with bilingual education?

What have you heard about bilingual Education?

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Myths About Bilingual Education

Bilingual Education is a fad born out of President Johnson’s Great Society and War on Poverty Programs.

Bilingual Education Does Not Work.

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Former Arizona U.S. Representative J.D. Hayworth, Arizona Republic 1/29/06

“Assimilation is the key to any successful immigration policy…. Sadly, Americanization has given way to an insidious multiculturalism.” Hispanic immigrants “are force-fed a steady diet of multiculturalism and told by their own community leaders and our own anti-American elites that America is racist, sexist, intolerant and genocidal.”

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Stephen R. Riggs and his wife Mary started missionary work with the Sioux in 1837. In 1852 he published a Grammar and Dictionary of the Dakota Language. They found teaching English “to be very difficult and not producing much apparent fruit.” It was not the students' lack of ability that prevented them from learning English, but rather their unwillingness. “Teaching Dakota was a different thing. It was their own language.”

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A correspondent withSecretary of the Interior Schurzreported in 1880 that, “Mr. [Alfred] Riggs is of the opinionthat first teaching the children toread and write in their own language enables them to master English with more ease when they take up that study; and he thinks, also, that a child beginning a four years’ course with the study of Dakota would be further advanced in English at the end of the term than one who had not been instructed in Dakota.”

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Luther Standing Bear (1928) complained that his students did better than the students of white teachers who got all their knowledge from books “but outside of that, they knew nothing.” He felt, “The Indian children should have been taught how to translate the Sioux tongue into English properly; but the English teachers only taught them the English language, like a bunch of parrots. While they could read all the words placed before them, they did not know the proper use of them; their meaning was a puzzle.”

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GangsDr. Richard Littlebear writes that,“Even in our rural areas, we areencountering gangs. Our youth are apparently looking to urban gangs for those things that will give them a sense of identity, importance, and belongingness. It would be so nice if they would but look to our own tribal characteristics because we already have all the things that our youth are apparently looking for and finding in socially destructive gangs.”

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“We have all the characteristics in our tribal structures that will reaffirm the identities of our youth. Gangs have distinctive colors, clothes, music, heroes, symbols, rituals, and “turf”.... We American Indian tribes have these too. We have distinctive colors, clothes, music, heroes, symbols, and rituals, and we need to teach our children about the positive aspects of American Indian life at an early age so they know who they are. Perhaps in this way we can inoculate them against the disease of gangs.”

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“Another characteristic that really makes a gang distinctive is the language they speak. If we could transfer the young people’s loyalty back to our own tribes and families, we could restore the frayed social fabric of our reservations. We need to make our children see our languages and cultures as viable and just as valuable as anything they see on television, movies, or videos.”

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Northern Arizona University Professor Angela Willeto’s (1999) study of 451 Navajo high school students from 11 different Navajo schools confirms that students’ orientation towards traditional culture, as measured by participation in ritual activities and cultural conventions as well as Navajo language use, does not negatively effect these students’ academic performance. Thus “a difference between the cultural values of the school and child per se is not the essential reason for Navajo children doing poorly at school.”

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Cecelia Fire Thunder, President of the Oglala Sioux declared in 2005, “I speak English well because I spoke Lakota well…. Our languages are value based. Everything I need to know is in our language.” Language is not just communication, “It’s about bringing back our values and good things about how to treat each other.” And she called for tribal language total immersion head start programs in Indian country.

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Bilingual Education Act of 1968

• Supported by Influential Texas Senators because of the poor quality of 100 years of English-only education in Texas.

• Signed by President Lyndon Johnson, who taught Mexican American students in Texas (Great Society, War on Poverty, Fair Housing, Civil Rights Act).

• Was seen as an panacea to solve problems of 100 years of failed English-only instruction

• Lacked materials, trained teachers, professors to train teachers, etc.

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Types of Bilingual Programs

Passed in 1968 as Title VII of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) & Funded:

– English as a Second Language (ESL) Programs

– Transitional Bilingual Programs– Developmental/Maintenance Bilingual

Programs– Dual Language/Two-way Bilingual Programs– Newcomer ProgramsRepealed by No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

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No Program

• Submersion

• English-only

• Subtractive

• Banned by Supreme Court Case Lau vs. Nichols in 1974

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English As A Second Language Programs

• Immersion

• ESL Pull-out

• Structured English Immersion (SEI)

• Sheltered English

• SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol)

• Subtractive in United States

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Transitional Bilingual Programs

• Students stay in them usually 3 to 4 years

• Mostly L1 at beginning

• All L2 at end

• Subtractive

• Criticized for

Segregating Students

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Maintenance or Developmental

• L1 is maintained

• L2 gradually introduced

• Additive

• Criticized for Segregating Students

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Two-way or Dual Language

• 1/2 English Speakers; 1/2 2nd language

• Students stay together thru grades

• Uses immersion teaching methodologies

• Flagstaff’s Puente de Hozho Magnet School

• Additive

• Non-segregating

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Newcomer Program

• For recent immigrants

• Intense oral English for about six months

• Subtractive

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Language Learning

•BICS: Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills. Takes 2 to 3 Years to Learn.

•CALP: Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (Academic English). Takes 5 to 7 years to learn.

•Iceberg Metaphor

•Dual Iceberg Metaphor

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L1 = Student’s First LanguageL2 = Student’s Second LanguageCUP = Common Underlying Proficiency shared by both languages

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Arizona’s Proposition 203

Passed by Arizona voters in 2000 and similar to the Propositions in California, “outlawing” bilingual education. Also passed in Massachusetts but defeated in Colorado.

Sold as “English for the Children” panacea.Calls for one year of English immersion and

then mainstreaming (Now a 4 hour block).AZ State Department of Education now requires

all teachers to have two courses in Structured English Immersion (SEI). Uses SIOP model.

Arizona was under federal court order to do more for its English Language Learners.

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English Immersion programs such as being implemented in Arizona under Proposition 203 “are known to be poorly conceived and extremely ineffective among educators and researchers. While the program promises children will learn English quickly in such programs and enter the mainstream overnight, the facts tell us otherwise. In Arizona, the state's all-English program failed 89 percent of its English learners, putting them at serious risk of falling behind academically in classrooms with incomprehensible instruction rendered entirely in English. Research conducted on such programs predicted the disaster. In bilingual programs, kids learn English faster, and they also have higher academic achievement as a result.” --Jeff MacSwan, Associate Professor of Education, ASU

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No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001

Changed “Office of Bilingual Education and Multilingual Affairs” to “Office of English Language Acquisition.”

Hawaiian-Medium Educationat Näwahïokalani’opü (Näwahï)

Laboratory School Begun in 1997-98.

Hawaiian-medium, early childhood through high school program.

College preparatory curriculum rooted in Native Hawaiian language and culture.

TL McCarty, NISBA, 7/20/10

All subjects taught through Hawaiian language and values


Findings from Näwahï: Students surpass non-

immersion peers on English standardized tests.

100% high school graduation rate.

80% college attendance rate. Bilingualism and biliteracy

(“additive bilingualism”) – “holding Hawaiian language and culture high.” (Wilson & Kamanä, 2001, 2006)


“The benefit of [Näwahï’s] approach…is a much higher level of fluency and literacy in the Indigenous language plus psychological benefits to their identity that encourage high academic achievement and pursuit of education to the end of high school and beyond.” — William Wilson, Kauanoe Kamanä, & Nämaka Rawlins (2006, p.43)


Navajo-Medium Education at Tséhootsooí Diné Bi’ólta’ (TDB, Fort Defiance, AZ)

(Sources: Arviso & Holm, 2001; Holm, 2006; Johnson & Legatz, 2006; Johnson & Wilson, 2004, 2005)

Began in 1986 as a Navajo-medium track in an all-English school.

1/10th of kindergartners fluent in Navajo when the program began.

Almost all “LEP.”


Early findings from Navajo immersion at Ft. Defiance:

Navajo immersion students – Performed as well in oral English as non-NI

students. Performed better on local assessments of English

writing. Were “way ahead” in math. Were on par with non-NI immersion students in

English reading. Had the benefit of bilingualism and biliteracy

(additive bilingualism).(Arviso & Holm, 2001; Holm & Holm, 1995)


One additional finding:

By 4th grade, NI students performed significantly better in oral and written Navajo.

This is not surprising, but….


• In contrast, non-NI students performed lower on

assessments of Navajo than they did in kindergarten. (They

experienced “subtractive bilingualism.”)


The initial program blossomed into a K-8 Navajo-medium school.

(Johnson & Legatz, 2003, 2006)

Grade Level % Navajo Instruction

% English Instruction

Kindergarten 100% (7.5 hrs) 0%

1st 100% (7.5 hrs) 0%

2nd 90% (6.75 hrs) 10% (.75 hrs)

3rd 80% (6 hrs) 20% (1.5 hrs)

4th 70% (5.5 hrs) 30% (2.25 hrs)

5th 60% (4.5 hrs) 40% (3 hrs)

6th —>8th 50% (3.75 hrs) 50% (3.75 hrs)TL McCarty, NISBA, 7/20/10

Comparison of Navajo Immersion and Mainstream English Student Performance

(Johnson & Legatz, 2006)


Promising Practices at TDB

Tribal standards for Navajo language and culture integrated with state content standards.

Navajo-rich environment: classrooms, cafeteria, playground, hallways, school bus.

High involvement of parents and families.


Beyond the tests – other evidence of promising practices at TDB:

“What the children and their parents taught us was that Navajo immersion gave

students Navajo pride in an urbanizing situation in which many students were not

proud to be Navajo.” — Wayne Holm, “The Goodness of Bilingual Education for Native American Students”

(2006)


This brings us to our current task in the P3IE

study –

The Puente de Hózhó Promising Practices Case

Study

Puente de Hózhó (Bridge of Beauty) School, Flagstaff, AZ

• K-8 public magnet school: 32% Hispanic, 25% Native American (Navajo), 32% White, 1% “other”TL McCarty, NISBA, 7/20/10

PdH Mission – “Harmonizing without Homogenizing”

• Bilingual, biliterate, multicultural competence for all (“the power of two”). (Photographs by Larisa Warhol)

45TL McCarty, NISBA, 7/20/10

“…the vision was to create a school where each child’s language and culture was regarded not as a problem…but as an indispensable resource, the very heart and soul of the school itself….English speakers would learn Spanish, Spanish speakers would learn English, Navajo children would acquire their tribal language, and all students would interact harmoniously and achieve academically.” (Fillerup, 2008, p. 1)


Promising Practices at PdH: 1. Two Parallel Programs

Conventional Spanish-English dual immersion model

50/50 Spanish-English

One-way Navajo immersion (Navajo L2 students taught in Navajo)

– Kindergarten: 100% Navajo

– 1st grade: 80/20 – 3rd grade: 60/40 – Grades 4-6: 50/50


What the Diné teachers say about their mission: “We’re fighting for our kids!”


2. Navajo validated for academic purposes


• “We have to tell the parents – this is not what they were used to [in their own schooling].…Navajo has an academic standing. And [the] parents see, ‘Wow, this is how much my child knows,’ instead of, ‘This is what your child doesn’t know.’ We … celebrate the growth they’re making.” – Diné teacher (Field notes, January 2010)


3. Rejection of deficit labels: PdH students are considered an educational

“elite.”

• “What we’ve done here is make speaking Navajo a status symbol. Because in the past it was…looked down upon, but here, it’s like, ‘What’s wrong with you

if you can’t speak it?’” –

Diné 2nd/3rd grade teacher, interview, January 2010


Promising practices at Puente de Hózhó, cont’d –

4. High levels of parent-community involvement.


The “Spirit of the School” –

…The school represents real life. English is taught …, Spanish is taught…, Navajo is taught…. And that really is how the world is…. … and when the children leave the classroom they know out there, there will be children speaking Spanish and English and Navajo…and it’s ok. It’s ok to be different and that is what the spirit of the school is…” — Diné 1st grade teacher, interview, January 2010


Let’s look at the data — Puente de Hózhó SAT 9 scores, 1st grade, 2003

(Source: M. Fillerup, in press)

Let’s look at the data — Puente de Hózhó SAT 9 scores, 1st grade, 2003


Subject Area Tested Mean Diné Student Percentile Rank

Reading 71st

Math 84th

Language 53rd


AIMS reading scores, 2008: % of Puente de Hózho Native American students meeting or exceeding

standards


AIMS reading scores, 2008: % of Puente de Hózho Native American students meeting or exceeding

standards

(Source: M. Fillerup, in press) Grade District % PdH %

3 57% 71%

4 54% 75%


Teresa McCarty

AIMS math scores, 2008: % of Puente de Hózho Native American students meeting or exceeding standards


AIMS math scores, 2008: % of Puente de Hózho Native American students meeting or exceeding standards


Grade District % PdH %

3 68% 76%

4 61% 63%


And then there are the unquantifiables…

Enhanced student motivation and “the smiles on the faces of parents, grandparents, and students” as they communicate in the language of their elders. — Dr. Michael Fillerup, PdH cofounder, FUSD Bilingual/ESL Education Director (2005)


A Final Data Set: The Native Language Shift and Retention

Study (Arizona State University and the University of Arizona)

A Final Data Set: The Native Language Shift and Retention

Study (Arizona State University and the University of Arizona)

5-year (2001-06), USDE-funded study of the nature and impacts of

Native language loss and revitalization on Native American students’ school achievement at 7

Southwest Native school-community sites.

(McCarty, Romero-Little, Warhol, & Zepeda, 2009; Romero-Little et al., 2007)

What youth said:

“It’s my language, and I think it makes me more O’odham when I speak it.”

“It’s our blood language.” “I would like to know my cultural language.” “Knowing my language helps me not to lose the

identity of who I am and where I come from…”


What youth are telling us:

The Native language and culture are sources of identity and pride.

Youth are not indifferent to their tribal language and culture; they want to learn it and pass it on to future generations.

They need our support.(Photograph by C.M. Roessel, 2007)


But –

• We also found the pressures of NCLB are leaving Indigenous languages and cultures behind.


Summing Up:Summing Up:

The State of the Field on the Role of Native Languages and

Cultures in AI/AN Student Achievement

State of the Field: What the Research Says

State of the Field: What the Research Says

1. Strong, academically rigorous NLC programs improve student achievement, as measured by multiple assessments (including, but not limited to, standardized tests).

2. This approach enhances self-esteem,

cultural pride, and promotes learning the Native language and culture.


3. Time spent learning the NLC is not time lost learning academic English.

When provided with sustained, high quality NLC instruction, students perform as well or better than their peers in mainstream classes.

Meanwhile, they have the benefit of developing proficiency in two (or more) languages.


4. Strong NLC programs offer unique opportunities to involve parents and elders in their children’s learning — a factor universally associated with improved achievement.


• 5. Native teacher preparation (“growing our own”) is an essential element of research-based promising practices.


6. The effectiveness of NLC programs (their ability to achieve their promise) rests on the ability of tribes and Native school boards to exercise SOVEREIGNTY in their children’s education.


The possibilities …


And the constraints


“Awakening the Spirit” — Recommendations for NCLB

Reauthorization:

“Awakening the Spirit” — Recommendations for NCLB

Reauthorization:

What we must ask of any education policy:

Accountable to whom?


“Authentic Accountability” (Crawford, 2007; McCarty, 2008)

“Authentic Accountability” (Crawford, 2007; McCarty, 2008)

• Flexible – day-to-day decisions made locally

• Constructive – helping schools improve

• Valid – using multiple measures

• Reasonable – evaluation based on growth

• Balanced – test scores are only one measure

• Equitable – fair to all

• Research based – not just clinical trials


They are the promise in “promising practices”…


Ahéhee’ — Thank you!


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Hallett, Chandler and LaLonde (2007) examined data from 150 First Nations communities in British Columbia and found that communities with less conversational knowledge of their native language had suicide rates six times greater than those with more knowledge.

1 bilingual education yesterday and today jon reyhner

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