Bilingual Education news

Today I come before you to convey my views on the bills before you and reflect the voices of the Boston Public Schools.

Our collective voices are young, hopeful, at times strong, and enrichingly diverse. A little more than 15% or 9800 of the total student enrollment of about 64,000 are students whose first language is not English and are enrolled in bilingual programs. Another 15% of our students come from families whose first language is not English. Our students speak Chinese, Portuguese, Somali, Haitian/Creole, Vietnamese, Spanish and many other languages. They also speak of opportunity and academic success. Our goal in Boston is to improve Teaching and Learning for every child in every school so that all children will meet high standards, a prerequisite for access to opportunity beyond high school.

The voices of our teachers and students focus on what is educationally sound. Our students participate in transitional bilingual, multilingual/ESL, and two-way bilingual programs. BPS students spend an average of 2.6 years in transitional bilingual programs, in line with the state average of 2.3 years. Eighty percent transition to full time English programs in three years. BPS limited English proficient students' performance on the MCAS last year exceeded the state average.

As the chief educational advocate and voice for the children of the BPS, I am here to tell you that the Unz/Tamayo initiative is not educationally sound. This initiative disregards several key educational facts. Children come to the district with different levels of language proficiency. Children learn at different rates. A variety of instructional practices is more effective than a one size fits all approach to teaching. This initiative would silence the voices of those closest to the children. It would silence parents on the choice of programs. It would silence educators on how best to meet the needs of their students.

I have been speaking as an educator. My final remarks are about politics. I want to be explicit that I am not defending the status quo. I believe that we must improve the current programs to help students learn English. We must show that these changes will improve and not harm students.

It is imperative that the Legislature and the Acting Governor work together on a bill that is educationally sound, preserves choice for parents, and holds policy makers, educators, parents, and students accountable. This campaign cannot be a choice between the status quo and the Unz/Tamayo initiative. I ask you now to raise your collective voices and develop a bill that is better than the status quo and counters the simplistic, one size fits all approach to change reflected in the Unz/Tamayo initiative.