Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Boston report on English-language-only

You might remember that in 2002, Boston passed Question 2, a measure to require that Boston use English language only.
It isn't helping the kids.

The Civil Rights Project is reporting the release of a new report called "English Learners in Boston Public Schools in the Aftermath of Policy Change: Enrollment and Educational Outcomes, AY2003-AY2006."
(again, the link is the executive summary)

The biggest problem?

The dropout rate for EL students enrolled in mainstream classes in high school increased from 3.5 percent in 2003 to 12 percent in 2006.

Ugh.
The rest of the news?
  • steep declines in the number of students identified as English learners, and thus a decline in the special services these students received, likely due to mis-assessment and mis-identification, in addition to mis-information provided to parents regarding their rights under Question 2.
  • persistent gaps in achievement test pass rates between English learners and all other students in English Language Arts and mathematics, indicating that English learners have not made progress and in some cases have lost ground since the implementation of Question 2 in the district.

No good news there.

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