Parent Involvement Definition

Bilingual education has been a debatable subject since its conception during the case of Lau vs. Nichols, in the early 1970’s. However, in that case, the court only ruling was that the children’s

Also sensitivity to cultural differences can support the goal of communicating with multicultural families. When communicating to bilingual and multiethnic families it would be optimal for me to have the materials, whether its notes, phone calls or newsletters translated into their native language. Since many parents are guarded when they receive a note or phone call from their child’s teacher, I will implement a plan to send home letters of commendation and support to enhance the communication with the student’s family. No matter what type of communication is used letting parents know immediately if there are any concerns will aid in working together to prevent potential problems.

Before outlining the arguments for and against bilingual education, it is first necessary to provide an overview of the controversy over bilingual education, and its emergence as a national debate. This controversy is basically centered on the question: Should the United States government incorporate the teaching of different languages into the public school system or not? Although it is currently permissible to learn secondary languages such as Spanish, French, German and Latin in public middle schools and high schools in the U.S., such classes have traditionally been geared toward broadening the educational experience for native English-speaking students. Therefore, rather than providing assistance to students whose native languages are not English, classes in American public schools are taught in English, despite the fact that increasing numbers of students in some areas of the U.S. do not speak English as their first language. In 1998, for example, (the most recent year for which statistics were available), statistics indicated that there were some

There are many aspects of the United States’ education system that many people would agree need change or in the minimal improvement. One topic under the education system that has had much controversy since it was first introduced is Bilingual Education. Bilingual Education is the teaching or practice programs of two languages to teach content ranging from kindergarten to high school. Bilingual Education programs vary in levels and languages. Some programs are designed to assimilate non-english speakers into the English language, others are meant develop knowledge of a completely different foreign language. Equally the goal proficiency of the language varies drastically. Some programs are meant to teach students the basic understandings of the language in oder to write and speak it adequately and others are meant to allow the student to reach a fluency level. One of the most popular type of program would be a Spanish and English program since Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States. The most common type if bilingual program is intended to transition native Spanish speakers into the English language; this is way of helping kids assimilate into the American culture. However, the use of two languages established in the education system has been a controversial idea since first introduced. It receives differing support and has not been able to achieve a conclusive establishment in the public school system. The

“Parents force schools to speak English--only”, it sparks the audience's’ attention by the title alone. Focuses on schools managing their parents’ expectations for their children to get into a good college and get a good education. Discusses how people and or parents of the students who sought the need for a common language to be taught through all the schools in the state of California. Additionally, it discussed and elaborated how that many of the teaches that taught the bilingual programs, were not certified for the job. Therefore, the end of the bilingual programs in schools, brought change to the California school system, that even reflects in the present day about education in

In a globalized world, English is and has been universal language for communications around the world. For that reason, U.S. has never had an urgency to learn and appreciate foreign languages. Most of school systems treat language classes not important as the core curriculum. According to the current positions on bilingual education, schools in the United States teach languages at exactly the wrong time and exclude children from all the benefits that extend beyond pure communication. It’s extremely important to be bilingually educated to adapt into increasingly globalized world. Moreover, even necessary, for those who should reach out and speak at least one other language. Being bilingual comes with various advantages and immeasurable benefits.

With this in mind, the researcher found some issues, factors, and concerns that educators should be considered when working with bilingual families and children. Michael-Luna informs of the importance of this work by telling us that 20% of children under five live in homes where adults are “English language learners, bilinguals, or dual-language leaners” (p. 448). Through her work, then, Michael-Luna presents four significant findings in her research: (1) parents can be participants observers in their children’s language development, (2) parents can be tools for effective second language development at home, (3) parents tended to challenge the preschool assessment system, and (4) parents want and need to understand language development of their

In 1967, a senator in Texas named Ralph Yarborough introduced the Bilingual Education Act. Through this act, the federal government was to provide funds to schools to have bilingual educational programs. The act primarily focused on Spanish speaking children, but later was amended to benefit other children as well (Glavin). Several states in the United States opposed bilingual education—and in 2002, Initiative 31 was on the Colorado ballot. Initiative or Amendment 31, required schools to be taught only in English (figure 1). Parents were given the option to request bilingual education, but it would be extremely difficult for it to be accepted, due to schools having the right to deny their request. Instead, non-English speakers would be placed in an English immersion program. In this program, students would be given a year to learn English and later move to a normal classroom (“Amendment 31”). On November 5, 2002, the initiative was rejected by 55 percent (Benz 1). Considering the rejection of the initiative, Colorado began adapting programs to assist English language learners (ELLs). Nonetheless, dual-language education remains highly controversial. While bilingual education has many positive outcomes, we cannot ignore the fact that it is not 100 percent effective. Not every child learns the same; therefore, bilingual education does not provide equal opportunities for everyone. Instead of completely throwing bilingual education out the window, we should turn to alternatives

Educators from several different school districts in Texas, the state with one of the highest Hispanic student enrollments in the country, sought out to provide an answer to this issue. Gallo, Garcia, Pinuelas and Youngs agree that the definition of bilingual education is very similar to Slavin’s. They stated that bilingual education “is a process, one which educates students to be effective in a second language while maintaining and nurturing their first language” (2008). Not only did these researchers seek the problems of bilingual education using 3 separate Texas schools as their basis of the study, but they also came up with a very plausible curriculum that could be implemented in the state to allow bilingual education to be more effective.

Since the 1960s, the state and federal governments have created laws and policies regarding the increase of language minority students in the public school system. The language minority students deserve the same education as the other students no matter what language they speak. There are more students in the public school system today that are bilingual than it was in the past. The Bilingual Education Act was heralded as landmark legislation in support of programs for educating language minority students(Mora, 2009). In several states, there has been ballot initiatives that has asked voters to help make policy decisions on the education of English language learners. These initiatives have run counter to the spirit of past federal laws and court decisions that

The history of bilingual education is not simply in the past. It is still affecting the ways that policies are being created. Many of the proactive things that are taking place regarding bilingual education, are simply things to reverse the damage that has been done in the past. It is necessary to start looking towards the future and what can be done to right the wrongs. Bilingual education is important to many people, and many people can benefit from it without even realizing it. Researchers Yoon Kyong Kim et al, points out that there is a significant lack of communication between the researchers and the policy makers (2015). This is cause for concern because while there are many facts that support bilingual education and the best program models to use, the people

As a middle school ESL teacher in one of the states which has legally mandated the pedagogically questionable supported English immersion (SEI) as the preferred manner of instruction for English language learners, I have not yet been persuaded by those who insist that the elimination of bilingual education has been a disaster. I concede that my perspective is impacted by having seen the results of perhaps an uncommonly low-quality bilingual program in my own district. When I first started teaching in Fitchburg, Massachusetts in 2006, the middle school students who had been in a district dual language program were shockingly lower in their English proficiency than the students who had attended elementary schools with predominately English

One important thing I have learned about the education of emergent bilingual students is that there is not one correct way to teach them. Instead, there are many different factors that impact the way students are able to use their home languages and cultures as resources in the classroom that are important to their education. Leopold Elementary School is one example of a school in the US that must implement certain practices to support their population of bilingual students. While 42% of the student population at Leopold is English Language Learners, the school has many successes and areas of improvement that would benefit this group of students. Through the uses of students’ funds of knowledge, bilingual competencies, and a push for standards

Growing up, I had the opportunity to live two different lives: a rich life and a poor life. How you may ask? Well, when I was a little girl, my mother and father got a divorce and gained joint custody over my sister and I. This meant that I had to live with my mother one week and my father the next week. Although my mother and father were both dentists and made a good amount of money, all of that changed when I was in elementary school. My mother got into a terrible car accident that caused her to become permanently disabled. Unable to work, my mother got on government aid programs, which included Welfare and Medicaid. Because of this unfortunate event, I had the opportunity to see how both sides lived—the poor and the rich life.

In this chapter a discussion of the findings will be outlined. The data were generated by having conducted a case study that included interviews with Griselda, her mother, and her fifth-grade teacher. The reported findings presented in the previous chapter aimed to answer the research questions that guided this case study. In addition, a conclusion will be drawn from the themes generated from the data analysis of this qualitative case study. Subsequently, the limitations associated with this case study will be discussed along with the implications of the findings for future research and for teaching bilingual learners.