By contrast, bilingual educational programs teach students in English for only part of the day. The rest of the instruction is done in the students' native language. Some bilingual education programs use the foreign language for up to eighty percent of the day and for five to seven years. Critics of bilingual education say that the extensive use of students' native language in such programs can delay them from learning English and entering into mainstream education.2

1AmseIIe, Jorge. Bilingual Education: A Ten State Report Card. April 1997.

2 Amselle, Jorge. Bilingual Education: A Ten State Report Card. April 1997.

The way students are placed into bilingual education programs is through a series of tests and surveys. First, the parents fill out a questionnaire identifying their child's native language and if any other languages are spoken at home. Even if the child is more proficient in English than this foreign language, he or she must take a standardized test. This test then determines if the child qualifies as LEP and should be placed into a bilingual program. Different states all have varying cut-off scores but usually between 30 and 50 percent of the test takers are identified as LEP.³

If parents want their child removed from a bilingual program, the law requires that the school comply. However, it is often required that the parents attend some sort of conference with school officials first. Some parents have reported being intimidated and criticized by school administrators for wanting their children out of bilingual programs. Perhaps if the parents are not fluent in English themselves, a meeting like this is enough of a deterrent to simply leave their children in special programs. Also, school officials must be trusted to make this option known to parents who otherwise might be ignorant of this loop hole.4

Every year, State Education Agencies (SEAs) report how many LEP students are enrolled in their schools. For the 1996-97 school year, SEAs reported 3,405,915 LEP students enrolled in public schools and 46,158 enrolled in nonpublic schools. In Arizona, 11.5 % of enrolled students are classified as LEP. Arizona makes the top ten, yet states like California, Alaska, and New Jersey all have a percentage in the mid to high twenties.5

In Arizona, state law stipulates that participation in bilingual education is purely optional and parents must be notified if their child is placed in such a program. However, all schools are required to provide either ESL or bilingual education for every LEP student. These students are then supposed to be reassessed every two years to determine whether he or she still needs to be in a bilingual program.6

The Center for Equal Opportunity's "Bilingual Education Ten State Report Card" from April of 1997 gives Arizona a C+ (the highest grade given out of the ten states analyzed.) It cites the autonomy given to the school districts on how to implement bilingual education as a positive. It also commends the parental right to remove children from bilingual programs. However, the study criticizes the exams and surveys used to place children in bilingual programs, claiming that the testing system allows for children who are not really "LEP" to be put into these programs.7

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3 Amselle, Jorge. Bilingual Education: A Ten State Report Card. April 1997.

4 Amselle, Jorge. Bilingual Education: A Ten State Report Card. April 1997.

5 Macias, Reynaldo F. How Many School- Aged Limited Proficient Students are there in

the U.S.?. askncbe@ ncbe.gwu.edu.September 1998

6 Amselle, Jorge. Bilingual Education: A Ten State Report Card. April 1997.

7 Amselle, Jorge. Bilingual Education: A Ten State Report Card. April 1997.

The issue of bilingual education has taken a great pendulum swing from 1968's Bilingual Education Act, fueled by the Civil Rights Movement. The current political climate suggests the possibility of a complete end to bilingual education. While different groups may take different stances on the issue, everyone agrees that the current system does not work.

Republican columnist and education doctoral student Ruben Navarrette Jr. says, "the debate is about whether bilingual education should be improved, better-funded, reformed, eliminated, or just left alone." However, most people see the issue as polarized, supporting only one or the other of those last two options. Globe School District in Arizona Superintendent Mike Martinez says, "Our problems rest more with how well the laws have been implemented, how the programs have (or have not) been staffed, and how well the programs have been monitored - not with whether bilingual education is effective."8

The shortage of certified personnel to run bilingual programs and a total lack of monitoring are problems that are commonly cited by educators. Without proper supervision, bilingual programs can be ignored, poorly managed, and under funded. Navarrette says, "let's be blunt - that's because these programs primarily serve Latino students, whom those officials expect little from in the first place and whose parents don't apply the sort of political pressure that superintendents and school boards respond to."

The lack of monitoring of bilingual education programs is rooted in the movement's original desire to let each school have autonomy from the federal government. This lack of intervention has allowed for these programs to go virtually unsupervised for many years. However, as stated earlier in the paper, organizations like the Center for Equal Opportunity think a lack of government control is a good idea. This just goes to show how this issue is deeply complicated.

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8 Navarrette, Ruben Jr. and Martinez, Mike. Mend or End: Is Bilingual Education Worth Saving? The Arizona Republic. February2l, 1999 Sunday, Final Chaser.

It is only recently that Arizona, under Superintendent Lisa Graham Keegan, has begun to evaluate the way in which bilingual education is being implemented.

One of the difficulties in analyzing the effectiveness of bilingual education is the controversial nature and lack of conclusiveness in studies done on the topic. The pro-bilingual education camp insists that there is no definitive research that supports the effectiveness of immersion programs. They say that over 25 years of research supports their assertion that bilingual education is the better method of teaching. However, critics of bilingual education point to the fact that almost all of these studies were funded by organizations who support bilingual education. The U.S. Department of Education launched their study well after the 1968 passing of the Bilingual Education Act. This may look like the government is trying to justify a program that was already in existence. Furthermore, an extensive analysis by professor Christine Rossell of the University of Massachusetts found that very

few of the studies were conducted using proper scientific methods and assessing results over a long period of time.9

In the bilingual education debate, educators and politicians are often pitted against each other. The educators complain that assertions made by politicians have no base in real-life experience. Since bilingual education studies seem to be inconclusive at best, educators feel that politicians are basing their stances on little to no hard evidence.

Another problem is the varying ages and LEP levels of students. If there was an "ideal" way to teach, then the problem could be easily solved. However, the needs of each student are often drastically different and can not be solved by a simple formula. Educators complain that politicians must propose packaged solutions to get voter support, for example the proposed year- long limit to bilingual education. Yet one child might need only a few months in a bilingual program to be able to succeed in mainstream classes, while another child needs a few years. American children all learn at different paces, and this does not change for student's of different nationalities.

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9 Navarrette, Ruben Jr. and Martinez, Mike. Mend or End: Is Bilingual Education Worth Saving? The Arizona Republic. February2l, 1999 Sunday, Final Chaser.

While the various political and racial groups debate the issues with each other, the problem of children not learning English remains as grave as ever. In California, where bilingual education was done away with when Proposition 227 passed, philanthropic endeavors are being made to tutor LEP students. UC Irvine political science graduate Virginia Mosqueda has set up a tutorial program for Latino students in Delhi, a Santa Ana neighborhood. She and a small staff tutor 50 kids, with 54 others on a waiting list. However, the program is still waiting for federal funds and will not be completely in place for a few more months, not to mention the shortage of volunteers. "Back at the Delhi homework center, Mosqueda doesn't care who's right or wrong. She needs help right away. But she wonders why none of her volunteers are from the pro-227 camp. 'If people who supported the law really, really truly felt they wanted to help the kids, where are they?"' In the mean time, children not receive tutorials fall farther behind in the school year.¹⁰

Jesus Jimenez is the executive director of a similar program that is sponsored by the Latino Children's fund and is located in East L.A. Jimenez says that most of the 45 children they tutor have trouble both in English and in Spanish. Most speak Spanish at home but can not read and write in the language, making it that much more frustrating to learn English. Speaking about a student, Juan, Jimenez says, "we found that if he hears more through bilingual books, his frustration lessons and he learns more." Books read by the children and tutors contain Latino characters that Latino children identify better with. These programs focus on the bottom line of the bilingual education issue: that children learn English.''

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I 0 Gurza, Agustin. Agustin Gurza: Drowning in English Immersion. Orange County Edition. March 9, 1999.

11 Marroquin, Art. Reading: The ABC's of Helping Youngsters Achieve Literacy. Los Angeles Times. April 11,1999, Sunday, Home Edition.

In public discussions, Bilingual Education has become much more of a political issue than a debate on students academic needs. We know that there are a myriad of factors affecting second-language learning and academic achievement such as age, personality, motivation, family aspirations, culture, parents' education level, family transience, and socioeconomic status. Because of the complexity of the issues affecting a child's education, it is difficult to agree on a school program that fits all LEP children in all school districts. Nonetheless, Bilingual Education serves as a political soapbox on which to take a strong stand.

Politics regarding bilingual education can operate on many levels. Education policy and civil rights issues are addressed at the federal level. Development and implementation measures for actual school programs are developed by state legislatures. Many times, grass-roots groups rally support for initiatives to go directly to the ballot when the momentum for reform grows stagnant in the legislature. The demographics of the voters, partisan biases, and stereotypes surrounding the issue all influence a measure's success and therefore educational reform.

The congressional system often deteriorates attempts at true reform for complex issues such as bilingual education. The lack of momentum in state legislature often begs the question of where true reform can begin. It is ironic that stronger action wasn't taken on the bilingual reform movements in Arizona's legislature considering that grass-roots based opposition began last year when the first reform bill was rejected. "If the legislature would act responsibly and courageously on an issue like this there would be no need for people to act in the first place." Now, voter groups have decided to take the issue to the ballot box themselves.

A grass-roots based initiative, English for the Children of Arizona" began last year in Arizona. Hector Ayala, a high school teacher from Tucson began working with Maria Mendoza, an elementary phonics teacher and a member of the Reading Reform Foundation, to put this initiative banning bilingual education on the ballot. They need to collect 110,000 signatures by July 6 to save a slot for the initiative on the November 2000 ballot; The proposed initiative would require that children not proficient in English be placed in a special intensive "sheltered English immersion" program to teach the language as rapidly as possible. The English for the Children Initiative in Arizona is to be modeled after California's Prop 227. Ayala and Mendoza have contacted Ron Unz, the Silicon Valley millionaire and financial backer of California's proposition for advice and financial support. Whether the initiative will be passed, and whether the ensuing educational change will take place, depend on the voter's opinion. The voter's opinions, however, are affected by cultural, political and societal factors not central to the issue of education itself.

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1Tapia, Sarah Tully. . "Rowdy Group disrupts anti-bilingual education event." Arizona Daily Star. Jan 7, 1999, Front Page.

2 U.S. English Foundation mission statement. Source. www2.serve.com/usenglish

Supporters of English Only are sometimes considered xenophobes in their attempts to ensure the United States is a whitened melting pot rather than a colorful mosaic. Data shows that the percentage of non-English speaking persons had gone considerably down in the past century (see Table 1). English Only arguments take on a hue of antiquity when illuminated under these facts.

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3 Boyer, Dave. "Bilingual Education in Arizona." Washington Times May 3, 1999, Front Page.

4 English for the Children of Arizona. "Major Statewide Polls Show Voters Overwhelmingly Support Measure to End Bilingual Education." Dec. 3, 1998. Source: www.onenation.org/pr120398.htrnl

Although the CA and AZ measures are similar, it is comforting that those spearheading the Arizona initiative are direct representatives of the children affected. All of the leaders of the English for the Children of Arizona campaign were either born in Mexico or have lived there as a child. Ayala was born in Sonora and immigrated into the US by the age of nine. He claims that although he knew no English, and his Anglo teacher knew no Spanish, he learned to speak the language through immersion in the third grade. He now teaches English at Cholla High School in Tucson, what is termed a 'receiving school" at the end of a bilingual feeder patter. Traditionally he sees most students entering with a third to sixth grade reading level, only one-third of who graduate. He believes that most of these children drop out because of the inability to perform academically. Many called Unz an "outsider" and criticized him for spearheading the CA initiative for political reasons or for promotion of a white American, English cultural identity. In contrast, it seems that many of the Mexican-American teachers behind the Arizona initiative have motivations much closer to the central issue at hand, a child's education.

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5 Rivera, Carla. "Bi1ingual Classes get support in Poll" Los Angels Times. Feb. 10, 1998.

An April report by the state Department of Education found that only 2.8 percent of Limited English Proficient students had, in 1996-97, learned enough English to re-enter the mainstream. In turn quoted as, "97% of Arizona's students fail each year to earn enough English to be moved into mainstream classes". Many media stories quote this statistic and make a causal link between bilingual education and student failure. They fail to leave out the surrounding facts such as that many of the same problems affect kids who speak English, impact of poverty and parental illiteracy on student achievement.

The federal government plays a role in setting judicial precedents against discrimination in bilingual education. The details are left to individual state's jurisdictions. Political discourse often slows attempts to enact policy change, which motivates grass-roots groups to petition for issues to be put directly on the ballot. The political power finally comes down to voters. Ironically, voter's decisions may be influenced by cultural factors, party politics, or the media's portrayal of research rather the true educational issues at hand.

Table I. Percentage of Non-English-Speaking Persons, 1890 and 1990

*Inability to speak English, persons aged 10 years and above

**Speaks English " not at all," persons aged 5 years and above.

Sources: U. S. Department of the Interior, Census Office, Compendium of the Eleventh Census:

1890, Part III (Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1897), pp. 348-53; U. S. Census

Bureau, " Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for United States, Regions,

and States: 1990" (1990 CPH-L-133).