Printer-friendly versionResearch has shown that dual-language, biliterate instruction helps all students perform better, according to Paul Matthews, assistant director for the University of Georgia's Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education.
"After about three years," Matthews said, "all kids are performing better than in English-only models."
The import of that fact becomes even more important when you consider this nation's future.
Researchers at the Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence, located at the University of California at Berkeley, suggest that by the 2030s, English learners may make up 40 percent of the nation's school-age population.
How are current English learner programs faring?
A survey by the National Center for Education Statistics indicates that only 12.5 percent of teachers with English learners in their classrooms have had even a day's worth of English learner training in the past three years.
Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that less than five percent of 8th-grade English language learners scored at or above "proficient" in reading in 2007, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
And the 8th-grade reading score has gone up only 1 percent, despite current federal law — the No Child Left Behind Act, signed in 2002 — that requires schools to make progress with all students or face sanctions.
