Bilingual Education In CaliforniaConnie CIeung and Dagmara Drabkin

Poverty & Prejudice: Our Schools Our Children

June 07, 1999

Table of Contents

 1. Introduction

by Dagmara Drabkin

2.Chapter 1: Bilingual Education in Latino Community in East Menlo Park

by Dagmara Drabkin

3.Chapter 2: Bilingual Education in San Francisco

by Connie Cheung

4. Conclusion

by Connie Cheung

 

"They say that if you speak two languages, you're bilingual. If you speak three or

more languages, you're multilingual," said Texas Sen. Judith Zaffirini. "And if you

speak only one language, well then, you're an American."

Background on Bilingual Education in California

Federal laws and court decisions stemming from the 1964 Civil Rights Act

required public schools to provide special services for English language learners.

The 1974 Supreme Court decision in Lau V. Nichols confirmed that schools must

take "affirmative steps" to ensure equal educational opportunities and help

students, who did not speak English fluently, "overcome language barriers that

impede equal participation" in education (the Lau Consent Decree). In many

instances, this was interpreted as meaning some primary language instruction.

California's response, the Bilingual-Bicultural Education Act of 1976, expired in

1987.

Bilingual education existed in one form or another for over thirty years now.

However, many are concerned that bilingual education has not been effective in

converting limited English proficient (LEP) students into fluent English speakers.

Educating LEP students is a big topic of discussion in California since the number

of students who are not fluent in English soared from 520, 000 in 1985 to 1.4

million in 1998 (Los Angeles Times, 1998). 90% of all LEP students are Latino.

San Francisco community has particularly high numbers of Asian LEP students.

To put the numbers I perspective, California's population of limited-English

students exceeds the total public school population of at least 38 states.

Last year, more than 5,800 schools statewide had at least 20 students with limited

English skills. Of those schools, 1,150 did not move a single student into English

fluency, according to Times analysis of state records. For more than half of those

schools, it was a second year in a row of complete futility. Overall, fewer

than 7% of limited-English students are becoming fluent each year (Los Angeles

Times, 1998). With statistics like tat, it is no wonder then that close to 70% of

Californians voted for Proposition 227, which puts an end to bilingual education in

California. Even Latino community is split in their opinion on bilingual education:

a recent Times poll found that 50% supported the measure to end most bilingual

education. Only 32% of Latino voters opposed Proposition 227.

Proposition 227

Since bilingual education has not been affective in raising English proficiency in

LEP students, Proposition 227 was passed effective 1998/99 academic year.

Proposition 227 terminates bilingual education as it was known prior to June 1998.

However, according to federal law, bilingual education still must be provided if

there are at least 20 children of the same primary language. if a public school

violates that, it will loose federal funding. On the other hand, if a public school

violates Proposition 227, it will loose state funding. As a result, public schools

came to the following compromise: for the first 30 days of the school year,

everybody is taught in English, regardless how little English, if any, children may

have. At the end of this period children take an English test. Based on the results of

this test, parents make a decision whether they want their child in an English class

or a bilingual class.

Chapter 1: Bilingua1 Education in Latino Community 

I have interviewed several teachers from Ravens Wood School District about the

effect of Proposition 227 and about the effect of the newly introduced 30-day trial

period. From their observation of children, they noticed that limited-English

students fell quite a bit behind during these 30 days in the curriculum. in other

words, LEP students were robbed of a month of productive schoolwork. What

doesn't seem sensible is the fact that even if parents knew from day one that they

want their children in a bilingual class, they still had to wait 30 days for the school

to acknowledge their decision and watch their children fall behind.

Case study: Bell Haven School in Menlo Park, CA

The overwhelming majority of Latino limited English proficient students come

from low-income families. In this respect, Bell Haven School in East Menlo Park,

which has K through 8th grade students, is a representative example of bilingual

education available to the impoverished part of the Latino community.

Generally speaking, teachers in Bell Haven are disappointed that Proposition 227

was passed. They strongly favor bilingual education because young children are

very quick to pick up languages, and it would be beneficial for both Latino and

Caucasian students to be fluent in both Spanish and English. However, even prior

to Proposition 227, bilingual education was a poorly run program with a lack of

resources and absence of a defined curriculum. As a result, kids in bilingual classes

did not get proper education in either language. (In Bell Haven, only English and

Math were taught in both English and Spanish; the rest of the classes were taught

in English only.) It is not surprising then that a considerable number of Latino

parents chose to enroll their children in English. as opposed to bilingual classes,

even if their kids completely tacked English skills; these parents hope that their

children will learn at least one language properly. Proposition 227 increased the

number of Latino parents who favor English classes over bilingual ones. Prior to

Proposition 227, 500/0 of the classes were bilingual. Currently, only 16% of the

classes are bilingual because fewer parents chose to put their children in bilingual

classes.

Bell Haven elementary English-only class teachers say that the majority of their

classes consists of Latino students. Most of these Latino students, teachers feel,

would benefit from bilingual education because their English is too limited and

they lag behind in classes because of that. Their parents' knowledge of English is

even worse, so they cannot help their kids with homework when kids are enrolled

in English-only classes. As a result, Latino children lose a very important family

support system.

According to a number of affluent educators, parental involvement is crucial in a

child's education. However, parental involvement is minimal in impoverished

Latino communities, including Bell Haven School. Parents are often tied up

holding 2 jobs or raising younger children. The best they can do is to leave work

once in a while to help drive their kids to various fieldtrips. Bilingual education

programs needs to recognize difficulties that low-income Latino families lace and

set up some kind of a program to assist a more active parental involvement.

Teachers in Bell Haven also point out that bilingual education has always lacked

funding and supplies. Bilingual classes never had any books in addition to primary

texts for reading and math, while English-only classrooms are crammed with lots

and lots of books. There is not even an established curriculum for bilingual classes:

bilingual teachers are given primary textbooks, and it is up to them what they are

going to make of the class. Because of lack of resources and absence of

curriculum, teachers prefer teaching English-only classes, where they feel they

have a better chance to really teach their students.

Since the lack of curriculum for bilingual classes was such a big concern, I have

searched on the web to see what resources bilingual teachers have available. It

turns out there are a number of places where one can go and get sample curricula

for different grade levels. University of Texas in Austin, for example, has been

actively working on developing and improving bilingual curriculum. However,

there seems to be so much politics involved in the debate on bilingual education,

and it is understandable that teachers themselves don't take much initiative to

install some kind of defined curriculum since they it is not well supported by the

school.

Bell Haven has a bilingual education committee, which consists of parents and

staff members who meet monthly. Those meetings are always well attended, but

unfortunately their decisions poorly translate into school regiment. Some teachers

feel that those parents simply do not realize how much power they have. Latino

parents tend to be too trusting in school administration, and they accept everything

that school administration tells them at face value. They simply do not know how

much power they have as parents. A large part of them are relatively recent

immigrants, and often they do not feel in the position to demand quality bilingual

education they are entitled to.

Why bilingual education has not been effective:

As it can be seen from the case study, several problems arise in bilingual

education:

1. Lack of parents' involvement due to their poor English literacy and being tied up

with

2 jobs in order to provide for their family

2. Unaccountability of schools for failing to raise English fluency level in LEP

students

3. Schools' apathy to provide quality bilingual education

4. Too much racial politics involved in bilingual education

Possible Solutions:

1. Since parental involvement is crucial in education, it is important to recognize

that parents, who barely speak English and who have little time to spare between

putting many hours at work, will not be likely to get involved much in their

children's education. Parents who speak little or no English are often disconnected

from American schools because they cannot yet communicate their sophisticated,

adult thoughts in a new language, and because participating in school the American

style of parental participation in school is a new concept for most language

minority parents. They need help in adapting to this new role. Therefore, I propose

that in order for schools to succeed in making limited English proficiency students

into fluent speakers, they should offer evening and weekend classes to raise

parents' English proficiency. The same time can also be partially used for their

children’s teachers to come in and speak to them in order to establish a more

prominent contact as opposed to once a month bilingual meetings, if those exist at

all.

2. Although prior to Proposition 227 coming into effect all California public

schools received state funding specifically for bilingual education, schools were

not held at all accountable if any of their students failed to advance. In fact, one-

third of the schools that failed last year to move students into English fluency were

teaching only in English. And many of the rest teach only in English. Therefore I

propose that schools that receive bilingual education funding should be held

accountable for the number of LEP students to become fluent in English and

successfully adjust in English only classes after their transfer from bilingual

classes. Schools should be monitored for the amount of bilingual instruction they

actually offer in what they claim to be bilingual classes.

3. School administration seems to be quite apathetic about properly enforcing and

supporting bilingual education in their schools. To solve that problem, schools

should get more incentives to raise English fluency in their students. Perhaps, there

can be inter school competitions as to how many of their students become fluent in

English. There can be obligatory statewide tests that monitor LEP students'

progress. Based on the results, 3 most successful schools should get some

monetary rewards for schools.

4. One of the biggest problems of bilingual education is the fact that too much

politics is involved in this problem. As the number of Latino immigrants grows

and as public hears about problems of illegal immigration, people begin to resent

spending tax payers' money to provide quality education to new comers. ft is a very

painful subject to many people. To solve this problem I propose that California

public schools eliminate English-only classes and make all classes bilingual. This

way funding will not have to be split between bilingual and English-only classes.

Education will be uniform throughout the California school system, and will not

depend on a number of LEP students in each

school. Although this proposal might sound radical, it really is not. Kids learn new

languages when they are young. If they attend bilingual classes from kindergarten

on, they will be fluent in two languages for the rest of their lives. European kids

are fluent in 3 or more languages by the time they graduate from high school.

American kids often know just one. It is about time we catch up with the global

environment and become more aware that there are more languages than just

English. This way Americans will not be labeled monolingual, as Texas Sen.

Judith Zaffirini pointed out.

Chapter 2: Bi1ingua1 Education in San Francisco Connie Cheung

Introduction

Cultural diversity is a notable characteristic of San Francisco. In particular, over

fifty percent of San Francisco's K-12 students speak a native language other than

English, and various bilingual programs have been instituted to help these

language-minority students. Beyond doubt, the passage of Proposition 227 in 1998

has raised many controversies among teachers, parents, and students in San

Francisco. Proposition 227 challenges the very idea of "bilingual education" and

suggests that it be replaced by an all-English immersion program, which requires

teachers to give instructions in English only. Has bilingual education been a

complete failure in San Francisco? k the idea so flawed that it has to be replaced by

a completely different alternative? Js Proposition 227 really an alternative'? This

chapter attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of current bilingual education system

in San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), focusing on the perspective of

its Asian community.

Background

Bilingual education has been a major channel through which San Francisco

immigrant students receive assistance in adjusting to the American language and

culture. In January 1997, SFUSD established the Language Academy, a

department devoted to promoting language education in San Francisco, and an

increasing number of schools have begun to adopt various language programs

implemented by the Language Academy in the past two years. These programs,

grouped under the English-Plus Program, fall into four major categories: Total

immersion, Two-Way Development, Dual Language Enrichment, and Bilingual.

They emphasize the importance of acquiring language skills in English plus one

other language. With the exception of Total Immersion, all these programs are at

least partially targeted at helping language-minority students. Two-Way

Development and Dual Language Enrichment put language-majority and language-

minority students in the same classroom. With an emphasis on peer helping, they

are structured so native English speakers learn another language at the same time

when language-minority students learn English. The Bilingual program, on the

other hand, is specifically targeted at helping language-minority students adjust to

the American language and culture. All three designs offer classroom instructions

in both English and another language, and, to a certain degree, bilingual teachers in

Dual Language and Bilingual are free to adjust the percentage of each language

used depending on the level and needs of individual classes.

The Language Academy

According to an Asian representative of the Language Academy, Lee', language-

minority students usually take a standardized English proficiency exam upon

enrolling in an SFUSD school. Students will then be classified as FEP (Fluent

English Proficient), LEP (Limited English Proficient), or NEP (Non English

Proficient) according to their exam results. Based on his/her classification, a

student will be placed in either a regular English-only class, or one of the dual-

language programs. Parents can also request their children to be placed in a

bilingual class even if they are FEP students.2

Although the Language Academy has been established for only two years, its

programs have been met with tremendous success. To better outline its objectives

and methods, staff members from the Language Academy have come up with a set

of specific guidelines, called the Ten Academic Master Principles (AMPs), to

ensure quality implementation of bilingual programs. Among the sixteen schools

that have pledged to follow the AMPs, all but one made significant improvements

in English reading as well as other subjects.3

However, the passage of Proposition 227 in 1998 has marked a major setback in

SFUSD's bilingual education. While San Francisco must comply with the

initiative, its residents "made a resounding declaration regarding the importance of

communicating in several languages and in giving language-minority children

access to the educational core by defeating the proposition."4 As a result, SFUSD

offers intensive English-only programs (required by Proposition 227) as well as

English Plus programs (required by the Lau Consent Decree), and parents have the

right to choose among the two streams.

Laws like Proposition 227 instigate efforts to evaluate and improve existing

bilingual programs. When asked about the biggest obstacles encountered by

bilingual programs and possible solutions, Lee identified three major areas that

needed improvements: resource funding, parental involvement, and after-school

outreach. Limited funding does not only affect the Language Academy; rather, it

constitutes a problem consistently faced by the whole SFUSD. Since the focus of

this paper is on bilingual education, this problem will not be discussed in great

details here. Lack of parental involvement, on the other hand, has major

implications when evaluating bilingual programs, and Lee feels that the root of the

problem lies in a common misunderstanding of what the term "bilingual education"

means. Although the Language Academy offers various parent workshops and

seminars, both in English and in Chinese, to explain its objectives, programs, and

ways through which parents can get involved with their children's education, many

Chinese parents still have misconceptions about English Plus programs. They are

reluctant to place their children in bilingual classes because they fear that a label of

LEP (Limited English Proficient) will undermine their kids' academic capability.

To that end, they feel that bilingual classes will not offer quite the same standard

education as regular classes, and, as a result, their children will learn less in a

remedial bilingual setting. Lee's response to this problem is that more effort needs

to be put into publicizing the correct concept of bilingual education, that it serves

to provide a smoother linguistic and cultural transition for immigrant students, and

that by no means is it inferior to English-only instruction. Last but not least,

current bilingual programs only reach out to students while they are sitting in the

bilingual classroom. Lee feels that more after-school tutorial programs can be

implemented for students who wish to gain language and cultural experience

beyond their classroom education. They will supplement bilingual classes and

hopefully accelerate children's learning.

Lee personally feels that although there is still room for improvement, current

bilingual programs are overall helpful to language-minority students. While the

optimal learning model varies among individuals, some students do benefit greatly

from bilingual education, especially those who have no previous English

background. To require all students to sit in English-only classrooms like

Proposition 227 does is not realistic in practice. Students will fall behind in other

subjects, let alone English, because they cannot follow and understand what their

teachers say. Proposition 227 also assumes that students can become fluent in

English after just one year of English-only Immersion classes whereas in reality, it

is almost impossible for non-English speaking students to acquire a good solid

foundation in English comparable to native speakers in just a year.

Two Case Studies

School A - Richmond district

School A in Richmond district is one of the many San Francisco elementary

schools offering the Dual Language Development program. According to a

bilingual paraprofessional (teacher assistant), Chan, the school has a total of about

twelve teachers, four of them Chinese bilingual teachers. School A offers one

bilingual class for each grade level from kindergarten through third grade, and two

regular classes from kindergarten through fifth grade. Depending on the English

proficiency of the class as a whole, bilingual class teachers decide the proportion of

English and Chinese used in their instruction: Noteworthy is the fact that bilingual

classes carry out exactly the same curricula in standard subjects like mathematics

and social science as regular classes, the only difference being the language of

instruction. In the first-grade bilingual class that Chan helps with, the teacher

delivers her instruction mostly in English, with occasional explanations in Chinese.

On top of regular subjects, students in the class are also required to learn half an

hour of Chinese every day. They use Chinese textbooks provided by SFUSD, and

all instruction is in Chinese during these special sessions. Paraprofessionals like

Chan in bilingual classrooms serve mainly as individual and small group tutors for

children who are less proficient relative to the class as a whole and who experience

difficulties in understanding English instruction.

Chan remarks that School A's dual language classes are not only for language-

minority students. Last year, parents of a native English-speaking second grader

requested their child to be placed in a bilingual class, because they wanted to

expose her to the Chinese culture and language. The result was very encouraging.

The girl mingled well with language-minority students in the class, and peer

learning accelerated the language progress for both parties. On the other hand,

bilingual classes are indispensable for immigrant students. At the very least, the

presence of bilingual staffs provides language-minority students with a sense of

security. Students who have none or very little working English skills feel more

secured in knowing that they can always turn to someone who speaks their native

language. Bilingual programs make English less intimidating to students, and they

often find school to be more welcoming and appealing than it would otherwise be.

School B - Chinatown

School B in Chinatown also adopts the Dual Language Development program.

Because of its location, the school has many new Chinese immigrants from low-

income families, who know very limited English. In the 1998-~999 school year,

School B offers bilingual classes from kindergarten through fourth grade, but due

to reduction in bilingual funding, it will not offer fourth grade bilingual class next

year. Furthermore, it is also reducing the number of bilingual paraprofessionals.

More than 45% of the students in School B are Chinese, and a result, SFUSD

stopped sending more Chinese kindergarten students to the school at the beginning

of the year in compliant with affirmative action. However, the law requires a

certain number of bilingual students to open a bilingual class in a specific school.

After prolonged negotiation, SFUSD resumed sending Chinese students to School

B, enabling the continuation of its kindergarten bilingual education.

Like in School A bilingual classes in School B follow exactly the same curricula as

regular classes, and bilingual teachers have the freedom to choose the language of

instruction based on the needs of the class. According to a bilingual staff, Wang,

School B is among one of the seven or eight schools in SFUSD to adopt a new

English language program called "Success for All" in conjunction with the existing

bilingual programs. "Success for All" features a daily special English tutorial

session aimed at helping language-minority students specifically with their

language difficulties. Wang emphasizes that this program does not replace

bilingual education, but it is built upon existing bilingual teaching. The two

programs complement each other in providing a complete and versatile curriculum

for language-minority students.6

Wang stresses the important role of bilingual education in helping new Immigrants

adjust to the new environment. He notices that most language-minority students

feel particularly insecure and incompetent compared to their native counterparts

because of difficulties in communication. As a result, they fall behind in classes

and get discouraged more easily, and they have a higher chance of isolating

themselves. With that in mind, bilingual classes do more than just teaching

students in a language they al-c familiar with in addition, they also enable bilingual

staffs to monitor these students' development more closely and offer counsels if

necessary.

Because most immigrant students are from low-income families, many parents do

not speak any English. Bilingual staffs thus serve as the bridge between these

parents and the school. While most parents recognize the role bilingual classes play

in their children's transitional period, Wang notes that some parents are hesitant in

sending their kids to bilingual classes, for fear that bilingual classes will slow

down their English learning. Wang admits that language-minority students may

acquire listening and oral skills faster in an English-only classroom, but English-

only instruction also entails sacrifices of other subjects such as science and

mathematics, which would be much better delivered if students' native language

were at least partially used. Striving to achieve an optimal balance, Wang asserts,

is a continuous goal of bilingual education in School B.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I will summarize the overall effectiveness of bilingual education in

San Francisco from the Asian perspective, identify obstacles faced by existing

programs, and propose solutions to these problems.

One important observation in doing this study is that bilingual education definitely

does more good than harm. While its influence varies from school to school, it is

generally agreed that some students are undeniably in need of the bilingual style of

teaching. Although bilingual education might not get the desired results in some

schools, it is the implementation rather than the idea itself that might need

improvements. Instead of getting rid of bilingual programs altogether and replacing

them with English-only Immersion classes as suggested by Proposition 227, we

should focus on refining and improving the implementation of this workable and

good idea.

One of the major obstacles to bilingual education is the lack of communication

between SFUSD and bilingual parents. Misconceptions about bilingual education

have distressed parents who would have otherwise given English Plus Program

their full support. As a result, I believe that SFUSD should make it a priority to

instill the correct understanding of bilingual education through mass media,

information booklets in various languages, parental conferences, as well as

practical guidelines for better communication between individual schools and

bilingual parents. In addition, it should offer more seminars and workshops to

teach parents how to encourage and help with their children's learning. Finally,

Language Academy should develop closer links among bilingual parents and

participating schools, so teachers and parents can work together to meet the

children's specific needs. If bilingual parents were supportive and actively involved

in their kids' education, these students would have a much more positive attitude in

dealing with all the frustrations in trying to adapt to a brand new environment.

In addition, most bilingual programs in San Francisco concentrate on in-class

instruction, but neither space nor time should limit the scope of education.

Therefore, I propose that the Language Academy offer after-school enrichment

programs for language-minority students. These programs should focus both on

language tutoring and cultural exposure. Students will not only receive tutoring for

academic subjects, but they will also learn about the American culture through

films, field trips, and other educational activities. These programs should be run by

experienced bilingual helpers whom students can trust and confide in during their

critical period of linguistic and cultural transition. Together with parental

involvement, they will provide for children a comfortable and encouraging out-of-

classroom setting with ample active learning opportunities.

Conclusion & Suggestions Connie Cheung

Based on our research and case studies, we decide that bilingual education is

favorable from both the Latino and Asian communities in the San Francisco bay

area. Although current statistics regarding bilingual education might not seem

promising, we believe that it has the potential to really make a difference Instead of

eradicating the whole system and replacing it with English-only immersion

Program as suggested by Proposition 227, we should spend more effort in

improving existing system. After identifying some of the problems faced by

bilingual education in our case studies, we would like to make some general

suggestions.

Parental Involvement

While some parents do not think their involvement in their children's education is

important, we should make an honest effort to help those parents who do think so

but cannot put it into action due to various reasons. Parents of many bilingual

students speak very limited or no English at all, on top of the fact that they are not

familiar with the whole U.S. education system. As a result, they can neither help

their kids with their homework, nor can they voice their opinions freely. In

addition, many bilingual students come from low-income families. Their parents

often have to hold two jobs to support the family, and at the same time look after

younger kids when they get back home because child care service is not affordable

to them. To help with these parents, schools should implement appropriate

measures to enable bilingual parents' participation. First of all, they can better

inform parents of their children's education and progress through more frequent

meetings with bilingual teachers. Parents often feel more comfortable expressing

their concerns in their own language. Schools should also ensure that parents

understand the different ways through which they can help with their kids'

education. like providing a supportive setting, even if they cannot physically help

with their schoolwork. Schools can also encourage busy parents to convene with

teachers and other parents by providing childcare service while they attend parent

meetings. After all, all three parties (students. parents, and schools) will benefit

from parental participation.

Correct Understanding of Bilingual Education

We should also ensure that bilingual education is not misunderstood as being

inferior to regular education. Parents should know that the purpose of bilingual

education is to help their kids in their transitional period, and students will by no

means learn less in bilingual classes. Bilingual curricula are very similar to

standard curricula in most cases, and the only difference is the language of

instruction. To ensure correct understanding, we should educate the general public

about the concept of bilingual education, either through documentary productions,

or multi-language booklets and conferences. Besides bilingual students and their

parents, we should make sure that other people also have a correct and complete

picture of bilingual education.

Programs in Conjunction with Bilingual Education

On top of bilingual classes, we can adopt other programs to better assist immigrant

students in their linguistic and cultural experience. Programs like 'Success for All"

specifically target at teaching immigrants English, and they have proved to be

highly successful when used with bilingual education. Schools can also offer after-

school enrichment programs that offer general help in students' adjustment to the

American culture. After all, being an American involves much more than just

learning the language. If we could provide more educational opportunities in out-

of-classroom settings, immigrant students would certainly integrate more easily

into the American society.

Universal Bilingual Education

As radical as it may sound, we believe that the ultimate solution lies in making all

classes bilingual in America. Many schools in Europe have adopted this method of

teaching, and they have found it to be very successful. Among all subjects taught

in elementary to high school, languages often prove to be the most useful in

everyday life. Studies have shown that people learn other languages fastest when

they are young, therefore, we should start language education early on. On the

other hand, immigrant students will feel less isolated because of their lack of

communication skills, thus making their transition much smoother and easier. We

understand that universal bilingual education is very difficult to implement in

reality as well as gain support, but we do believe that it is workable in theory and

that it will provide the solution we have been looking for. One nation does not

necessarily mean one language - it will work just as well if everyone speaks two.

1. To preserve confidentiality, names of all interviews and

schools are fictitious.

2. Language Academy representative; Interview, 5/27/1999

3. SFUSD Language Academy 1998-99 Annual

Report

,http://sf.bilingual.net/publications/1999_Annual_Report

4. Ibid

5. Chinese bilingual paraprofessional; Interview, 5/20/1999

6. Chinese bilingual staff, Interview; 5/3/1999

 

Bibliography

1. Anderson, Nick and Pyle, Amy; Bilingual Classes: A Knotty Issue; Los Angeles

Times, May 18 1998

2. Kolasky, Bob; More Racial Politics in California?; IntellectualCapital.com

3. "Honest proposal" by Latino parents in San Francisco;

http://sf.biIingual.net/publications/An Honest Proposal/toc.html

4.Teacher in Bell Haven School in East Menlo Park; Interviews 4/1 7/99 - 5/10/99.

5. SFUSD Language Academy Representative; Interview 5/27/99.

6. SFUSD Language Academy 1998-99 Annual Report,

http://sf.biIingua1.net/publications/i999 Annual Report

7. Chinese Bilingual Paraprofessional; Interview 5/20/99

8. Chinese Bilingual Staff; Interview 5/03/99

Ethics of Development in a Global Environment (EDGE) | Poverty & Prejudice | Our Schools

Our Children | Updated July 26, 1999