Case Study: Glenmoor Elementary School

More young americans nowadays are being raised in homes speaking non-English, but these students are falling behind in schools where there is not a bilingual program available. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in schools without a bilingual education program, 71% of English speakers are at or above the basic requirements for fourth grade reading while merely 30% of non-English speakers reach this level. 35% of English and 8% of non-English speakers reach proficient reading levels while only 9% of English and 1% of non-English speakers perform at advanced levels. It’s evident that the availability of a bilingual program is crucial to the success of an individual who needs the resources that can be given to them through the use of bilingual education. The percentages of the non-English speaking students previously mentioned could undoubtedly be comparable to those percentages of the English speaking students if the education they were being provided with was cohesive to their comfortability, and the material being taught was in a language they could better understand.

In order to improve educational outcomes of ELL students, the school district Z needs a dual-language immersion method rather than a bilingual education. The top three policies I would propose to the local school board for dual-language immersion would be: academic/ cognitive enrichment, enhanced intercultural relations, and competence in two languages. The program provides the same academic content and addresses the equivalent standards as other educational programs. The dual-language immersion program will hopefully close the academic achievement gap between ELL students and their classmates.

Cultural Diversity has lead schools to promote dual language and bilingual programs for ELL students. However, raising bilingual children according to Marsha Rosenberg is not something that simply happens. Parents must carefully consider how they will raise their children in their new culture. Unfortunately, many parents often forget that neglecting their primary language in the process of raising their children will only hurt them in the long run. However, what they fail to understand is that our current society insists on developing diverse learners, who can speak two or more languages and are diverse (Gensee, n.d). Therefore, in order to raise bilingual students they parents must provide the children with rich experiences at home as well as in a variety of settings (Broekhuizen, n.d.). Furthermore, families need to maintain a close family unity and sense of belonging when dealing with the bilingual issue at home.

It is important in the United States to have a competitive workforce, and a great way to do that is to have a society of learners that can communicate with people of other cultures and ethnic backgrounds. Although there are efforts for teaching school children other languages, most programs are primitive at best, left to be forgotten before the skills reach the point of relevancy. Dual language programs should be established in the US wherever feasible to give parents, at the very least, the choice to expand the minds of their children. Recent years have seen the inclusion of voluntary language immersion programs in places such as Athens, Georgia, in which students are taught from Kindergarten in two languages. These are steps in the right

In addition, 4.4 million limited English Proficient students enrolled in the United States. President Bush proposes new plans for bilingual education. In his plan, it requires a three-year limit on bilingual education to be sufficient enough time for a student to obtain “English fluency” (Krashen, 2001).

However, this issue would take far more than funding. The issue of bilingual education in our public school system is a much debated topic in this country, and especially in this state. The Education Topic over Bilingual Education in our School Systems Spanish-speaking populace has grown tremendously in these past decades, much of which have immigrated with Spanish as their only language. This has left the public school system with an interesting problem; how to successfully transition Spanish speaking students into an English environment. Public school systems have adopted an immersion program; where students learn English and other subjects in classrooms where only English is spoken (Parkay, 2013). Students are not necessarily aided, they are required to learn like their peers from the teacher and ask for direction when needed in English. This program might aid some fast learners, but students who do not adapt to English; which is a foreign language to them, are left to learn on their own. If the student does not get the

Leaguetown Independent School District is currently facing a conflict of whether having later start times would perhaps help the improvement of academic performance of Leaguetown Middle School and high school students. Superintendent Judith Owens has proposed a new schedule that would set later start times. A group of Leaguetown Middle School parents has organized to oppose the proposal.

The participants selected for this study will consist of both male and females 18 years or older. Specific ethic background is not a criterion in participant selection, therefore will not play a role in participant recruitment. Only individuals who have worked in or with the informal class reassignment program at Carmack Elementary will be selected to participate in this study. Carmack Elementary is a public elementary school, which is part of the San Bernardino City Unified School District. The San Bernardino City Unified School District is identified as a large public school district and is located within Southern California. Participants selected for this study will consist of special education teachers and special education school personnel.

English language learners (ELL) consisted of 22.3 percent of the total enrollment in California public schools (Facts about English Learners in California - CalEdFacts, 2015). Tends to be ignored or receives not quite the equality in education as their Native English speakers (NES) counter parts. Over the past few years there has been a surge in dual language immersion (DLI) programs (also known two-way immersion), which have resulted in much success (Lindholm-Leary, 2012, p. 256). It has been found that students in DLI programs show a high level of bilingualism and by biliteracy as well as academic achievement and cross-cultural competence (Lindholm-Leary, 2012, p. 256). Since the population of ELL students in California is so high it would appear that the best way for ELL students to get an education that is equal to their NES counterparts more DLI classes should be implemented. By applying more DLI programs California can benefit both their ELL and NES students in academic development and cross-cultural competence, which will help reduce prejudice and racism in the state.

On Wednesday, April 12, 2017, I, Officer McDaniel #147, while at James Coble Middle School, located at 1200 Ballweg Rd, Arlington, TX, I was approached by Assistant Principal Myers, Laura, W/F, DOB 02/16/1968, in reference to a cell phone screen that was broke by another student.

The United States is a country built by immigrants who speak more than one language. Being bilingual has many benefits that vary from traveling with ease all through having a brain that can multitask faster. In the past decade many schools in California, as well as other states, have started a program called the “dual immersion” or something of that nature in which they have a class that is in another language, usually Spanish, and they teach the kids all the required material in that other language. The “Dual Immersion” program is something that should be instated into more schools, specifically in the bay area, because of the diversity seen here.

I strongly disagree with the decision of my school board, Dickenson County School Board, for making the decision to extend the school day an hour and a half. I believe that this decision will not help the students or staff who are affected by this decision. Extending the school day is a horrible decision because we go to school long enough as it is, also students and staff cannot do the activities after school that they enjoy. Lastly, addition to more time at school will cause students to stress more than they already do. I believe the school board should listen to the people who will be affected by this decision before a massive mistake is made.

Sycamore Community School District 427 is a well rounded school district for the amount of ELs that are within the community. With the small number of ELs, it poses a challenge on the administration on how to best service the student body to give them the best educational experience possible to help them thrive inside and outside of school. The school demographics being majority white and English speaking, and the ELs of a very diverse background, poses a challenge on creating two-way dual language programs in the district which would benefit the students most. According to The Bilingual Advantage, “Even if children and adolescents are not fully proficient in their primary language, enabling students to use their

Despite bilingual education’s apparent successes on paper, the transition from theory to practice determines whether the program will succeed or fail. An evidential reason of why bilingual programs fail in schools, particularly in the Australian context, is that they are treated as transfer bilingual programs, rather than the maintenance model (Harris, 1978). According to Harris (1978), transfer bilingual programs are when the Indigenous language is merely implemented as an efficient way of making students literate in English in

In this literature review I will be discussing studies that are in favor, not in favor, and neutral on bilingual education.