scholarly journals Reclassification of English Learners

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
James B. Grissom

Ron Unz, originator of Proposition 227, claimed, prior to the passage of Prop. 227, that the five percent annual reclassification rate of English learners to fluent English proficient indicated bilingual education was a failure. Critics of Prop. 227 have countered that the annual reclassification rate has changed little since the passage of Prop. 227, indicating the new legislation had no effect on reclassification rates. Unfortunately, the annual reclassification rate does not provide a clear indicator of how long it takes students to be reclassified after entering the school system. To better estimate reclassification rates for English learners in California, cohorts were created to track the same groups of students over time. Ron Unz also claimed that test scores for immigrant students improved dramatically after the passage of Prop. 227. To evaluate his claim, average test scores were calculated by language fluency. Based on statewide data from three different cohorts tracked across four years, Prop. 227 has had no effect on reclassification rates or test scores.

2009 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 817-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie Olsen

Background Context Throughout United States history, immigrant education has been shaped and defined by political struggles over immigration, language rights, national security, and educational equity and access. Bilingual education has become the contemporary battleground for these struggles. In 1996, in California, a struggle ensued between supporters of bilingual education and the English Only movement, culminating in a public ballot initiative, Proposition 227, designed to end bilingual education. Purpose/Focus This article explores the ways in which advocacy groups engage in efforts to protect immigrant students’ access to, and inclusion in, schools, and how that engagement is shaped and seeks to impact on prevailing policies and ideologies. Design This qualitative case study is based on historical records from the Proposition 227 campaigns, analysis of media coverage, and interviews, and was written as a reflective piece by a social scientist who was active in the campaigns. Conclusions and Recommendations The battle over Proposition 227 was just one episode in a historically broader and deeper societal struggle between fundamentally different perspectives about the role of public schools in a diverse society. Although the explicit conflicts between English Only and bilingual education forces in California before, during, and after Proposition 227 were focused on English learner program design—the language to be used for instruction, materials, and credentialing—this was and is an ideological struggle. Advocates for bilingual education were unprepared for fighting this battle in the public arena of a ballot initiative. In the course of the Proposition 227 campaign, advocates drew lessons that informed a revised strategy: to shift the basic paradigm within which immigrant education is framed beyond the framework of civil rights and a compensatory program to redefine immigration schooling in an affirmative, additive 21st-century global vision. This has resulted in a renewed advocacy movement, illustrating the role that advocacy organizations play in adapting and reshaping the dialogues and policies over immigrant education.


2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Merickel ◽  
Robert Linquanti ◽  
Thomas B. Parrish ◽  
Maria Pérez ◽  
Marian Eaton ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Thomas B. Parrish ◽  
◽  
Robert Linquanti ◽  
Amy Merickel ◽  
Heather E. Quick ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Hannah L Combs ◽  
Kate A Wyman-Chick ◽  
Lauren O Erickson ◽  
Michele K York

Abstract Objective Longitudinal assessment of cognitive and emotional functioning in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) is helpful in tracking progression of the disease, developing treatment plans, evaluating outcomes, and educating patients and families. Determining whether change over time is meaningful in neurodegenerative conditions, such as PD, can be difficult as repeat assessment of neuropsychological functioning is impacted by factors outside of cognitive change. Regression-based prediction formulas are one method by which clinicians and researchers can determine whether an observed change is meaningful. The purpose of the current study was to develop and validate regression-based prediction models of cognitive and emotional test scores for participants with early-stage idiopathic PD and healthy controls (HC) enrolled in the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI). Methods Participants with de novo PD and HC were identified retrospectively from the PPMI archival database. Data from baseline testing and 12-month follow-up were utilized in this study. In total, 688 total participants were included in the present study (NPD = 508; NHC = 185). Subjects from both groups were randomly divided into development (70%) and validation (30%) subsets. Results Early-stage idiopathic PD patients and healthy controls were similar at baseline. Regression-based models were developed for all cognitive and self-report mood measures within both populations. Within the validation subset, the predicted and observed cognitive test scores did not significantly differ, except for semantic fluency. Conclusions The prediction models can serve as useful tools for researchers and clinicians to study clinically meaningful cognitive and mood change over time in PD.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. A79-A79

When will we wake up to the possibility that our children's problems at school might be a reflection of greater problems at home? I have been fortunate in creating security in my adult life and returning to school, to find that subjects that baffled and terrified me as a child are now much more easily comprehended. Childhood anxieties that interfered with my ability to learn were not unrelated to my parents' bitter and protracted divorce and child-custody battles, late child-support payments or visits to our house by the sheriff threatening my mother, working two jobs, with arrest for bounced grocery checks. Education begins in the home; the school system is at best a helping hand. The brightest of my children may fail to shine on the most standardized tests when they wake up every morning to an empty house of tears and disintegrated values.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dafney Blanca Dabach ◽  
Aliza Fones

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="section"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Transnationalism is a phenomenon that has consequences for education, broadly defined. Even as youth engage in transnational practices that expand their knowledge across borders, immigrant students in U.S. schools are often framed narrowly as “English learners” and their forms of knowledge may be erased. Synthesizing literature at the intersection of transnationalism and education, citizenship education, and funds of knowledge, we argue for the necessity of recognizing immigrant youth’s transnational funds of knowledge. We draw from a qualitative study to illustrate how a high school social studies teacher created space for students’ transnational funds of knowledge in the classroom, focusing on a Pakistani student’s return visit to his country of origin. The teacher’s orientation toward students’ transnational funds of knowledge served to counter assimilationist discourses while teaching U.S. civics. This article contributes to understanding how immigrants’ transnational experiences can widen narrow visions of citizen-building in formal schooling and build upon their assets for a more inclusive society. </span></p></div></div></div></div>


Author(s):  
G. Sue Kasun ◽  
Cinthya M. Saavedra

Young immigrant youth often live their lives across borders, either by physically crossing them for return visits and/or by metaphorically crossing them through social media and cultural identification. The authors argue these students are better understood as transnational, shifting the focus for educators away from imagining their immigrant students on a straight, one-way path to assimilation in the U.S. to understanding these youths’ abilities to cross borders. Specifically, they call for a redesignation of English Language Learners (ELLs) as Transnational English Learners (TELs). Highlighting examples of educators’ successful border-crossing work, the authors call for educators to cross borders as well in their curriculum and relationships with transnational youth.


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