RECENT ARTICLES

Immigrants are Learning English at a Faster Rate

Study: Latina Teen Pregnancies on the Rise

Report: Hispanics Could Solve California Shortage of Professionals

DREAM Act Reintroduced

Obama Backs Teacher Merit Pay

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Immigrants are Learning English at a Faster Rate

‘If you live in America, you need to speak English.’ According to a Los Angeles Times Poll (1998), that was how three out of four voters explained their support for Proposition 227, the ballot initiative that dismantled most bilingual education programs in California.

Non- English speakers are at a disadvantage; thus schools must not fail to teach English to children from minority language backgrounds. Students’ life chances will depend to a large extent on the level of English literacy skills they achieve.
 

As the linguist Einar Haugen (1972) once observed, ‘America’s profusion of tongues has made her a modern Babel, but a Babel in reverse.’ By their third generation in the United States, newcomers have typically adopted English as their usual language and abandoned their mother tongue.
There is no reason to think the historic pattern has changed. Although
the number of minority language speakers has grown dramatically in
recent years, so too has their rate of acculturation. Census figures confirm the paradox. While a language other than English is now spoken at home by
nearly one in five US residents, bilingualism is also on the rise. A century
ago, the proportion of non-English speakers was 4.5 times as large as it is
today, and in certain states the disparity was considerably larger.  As the US population becomes increasingly diverse, linguistic assimilation
seems to be progressing rapidly by historical standards.  The political problem is that the average American has trouble believing all this.  To see chart comparing non- English speakers in 1890 and 1990 click here.

An English-only movement based on these premises came to prominence
in the 1980s. Thus far it has succeeded in legislating English as the
official language of 25 states, although such declarations have been
primarily symbolic, with few legal effects thus far.

To counter the English-only mentality, advocates have coined the slogan English Plus. They argue that the United States remains an underdeveloped country where language skills are concerned. In a global economy, more multilingualism – not less – would clearly advance the national interest.
Some English-speaking parents have been receptive to the ‘bilingual is
beautiful’ pitch. Over the past decade, growing numbers have enrolled
their children in ‘dual immersion’ classrooms alongside minority children
learning English. Yet, despite excellent reports on this method of cultivating
fluency in two languages, probably no more than 20,000 English background
students are participating nationwide. Compare that with the324,000 Canadian Anglophones enrolled in French immersion programs, in a country with one-tenth the population of the USA (Statistics Canada, 2003).

Author: James Crawford

Source: Language Policy Website

Study: Latina Teen Pregnancies on the Rise

“Latino teens have the highest rate of teen pregnancy and births among all racial/ethnic groups”, according to the results of a study released today.

The survey- commissioned by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and the National Council of La Raza- concluded that the overall teen birth rate in the U.S. has grown for the first time in fourteen years.

According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 53 percent of Latinas get pregnant in their teens, about twice the national average.

In addition, the influence of parents on Latino teens is vital. Nearly half of Latino teens say parents most influence their decisions; far more than friends (14%), religious figures (3%) and the media (2%). But almost three-quarters say that parents send different messages on sex to sons compared to daughters. 49% say their parents have talked to them about contraception, thus explaining why most of those who don’t use birth control cited fear of their parents finding out.

The study comes on the heels of another analysis conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention out-of-wedlock birth rates have gone up, especially among Latinas. Silvia Henriquez- executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health- warned that the results shouldn’t be misconstrued to stigmatize single motherhood:
(…) we need to take this opportunity to call for greater economic support, health care access and education for all women, so that those wishing to be mothers can raise healthy and happy children, with or without the support of a spouse. Specifically we must remember that women still get paid less than men do for the same work and that women who are insured pay higher insurance premiums for health care coverage than men do. Both of these issues put single working mothers at a lower socio-economic status than women in two income households.

Source: ourlatinamerica.blogspot.com

Report: Hispanics Could Solve California Shortage of Professionals

California will face a shortage of close to a million university-graduate professionals by 2025, according to a new report that attributes the phenomenon to the retirement of baby boomers and the increase in the Latino population.

“California’s Education Skills Gap: Modest Improvements Could Yield Big Gains,” a study by the Public Policy Institute of California, reveals that many of those born between 1946 and 1964 will have retired by 2025, leaving a shortage of professionals.

Meanwhile the new generations of Californians include a high number of Latinos who historically have a low level of university education.

The California economy will need nearly a million more university graduates by 2025 than what demographic studies now foresee.

The state’s public institutes of higher learning currently produce a little more than 110,000 graduates per year, while private colleges contribute another 40,000.

California colleges and universities must increase their number of graduates by close to 60,000 a year, around 40 percent above the present level in order to fulfill expected demand by the year 2025, a very difficult goal according to the study.

“California faces a critical challenge,” according to PPIC Associate Director Hans Johnson, who co-authored the report with Ria Sengupta.

“But the good news is the state can dramatically improve the prospects for its economic growth and the futures of its young adult residents with relatively modest investments in the pathways students take to college graduation,” Johnson said.

In 2005 there were some 5.7 million university graduates between the ages of 25 and 64, and the PPIC analysis estimates that between 2005-2025 the state will produce 5.4 million new professionals with bachelor’s degrees, of which 3.3 million will come from California universities while 2.1 million will come from out of state.

In the same period, 3 million university graduates will retire from the work force because of their age, for a net total of 8.1 million graduates in 2025 aged between 25 and 64.

“Increasing graduation rates is also a promising fiscal approach. The state has already invested in these students’ higher education, and keeping them in college a bit longer is less expensive than other options,” the report says.

It also stresses the need to raise the number of high-school graduates who go straight into university in California, which is in 40th place among all the states in the country in that regard with 55 percent.

“Gradually raising the first-time college attendance rate to 61 percent — the national average - would increase the number of college graduates by more than 100,000 by 2025,” the study says.

It also mentions the need to offer greater economic aid to finance university costs — calculated at $25,000 per year for UC universities — as well as improving students’ grade scores and preparation. 

Click here to view entire article.  
Author: Luis Uribe

Source: EFE

DREAM Act Reintroduced

Every year, U.S. high schools graduate approximately 65,000 immigrant students. Brought to this country as young children, they have grown up in American K-12 schools and share our culture and values. Like their U.S.-born peers, they dream of pursuing higher education. Unfortunately, due to their immigration status, they are barred from the opportunities that make a college education affordable – in-state tuition rates, state and federal grants and loans, most private scholarships, and the ability to legally work their way through college. In effect, they are denied the opportunity to share in the American Dream. If passed, the “Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act,” would facilitate access to college for immigrant
students in the U.S. by restoring states’ rights to offer in-state tuition to immigrant students residing in their state. The “DREAM Act” would also provide a path to citizenship for hardworking immigrant youth who were brought to the U.S. as young children and to pursuing higher education or military service, enabling them to contribute fully to our society.

The “DREAM Act” provides an opportunity for U.S.-raised
students to earn U.S. citizenship. The “DREAM Act” would allow certain immigrant students to adjust their status to that of a legal permanent resident on a conditional basis for six years based on the following requirements:
◗ Age. Immigrant students must have entered the U.S. before age 16.
◗ Academic requirement. Students must have been accepted for admission into a two or four-year institution of higher education or have earned a high school diploma or a general educational development (GED) certificate at the time of application for relief.
◗ Long-term U.S. residence. Students must reside in the U.S. when the law is
enacted. In addition, those eligible must have lived in the U.S. for at least five years preceding the date of enactment of the Act.
◗ Good moral character. Immigrant students must demonstrate good moral character, a defined term in immigration law. In general, students must have no criminal record.
The conditional basis upon which legal permanent residence was granted will be removed and become permanent if the student has fulfilled at least one of the following within six years:
◗ Earned a degree from an institution of higher education (two- or four-year institution), or maintained good standing, for at least two years, at an institution of higher education while working toward a bachelor’s degree or higher
◗ Served in the U.S. Armed Forces for at least two years and, if discharged, received an honorable discharge.

To download the pdf click here.

Source: NCLR.org

Obama Backs Teacher Merit Pay

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama called for tying teachers’ pay to students’ performance and expanding innovative charter schools Tuesday, embracing ideas that have provoked hostility from members of teachers unions.

In his first big speech on education, Obama said the United States must drastically improve student achievement to regain lost international standing.

“The future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens,” he said. “We have everything we need to be that nation … and yet, despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short and other nations outpace us.”

His solutions include teacher pay and charter school proposals that have met resistance among members of teachers unions, which constitute an important segment of the Democratic Party.

Obama acknowledged that conflict, saying, “Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though we know it can make a difference in the classroom.”

Despite their history on the issues, union leaders publicly welcomed Obama’s words, saying it seems clear he wants to include them in his decisions in a way former President George W. Bush did not.

The president of the 3.2 million-member National Education Association, Dennis van Roekel insisted that Obama’s call for teacher performance pay does not necessarily mean raises or bonuses would be tied to student test scores. It could mean more pay for board-certified teachers or for those who work in high-poverty, hard-to-staff schools, he said.

However, administration officials said later they do mean higher pay based on student achievement, among other things.

Obama addressed the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a setting intended to underscore the need to boost academic performance, especially among Latino and black children who sometimes lag behind their white counterparts.

Broadly speaking, Obama wants changes at every level from before kindergarten through college. He is putting special focus on solving the high school dropout crisis and pushing states to adopt more rigorous academic standards.

Some of his promises already are in the works: Public schools will get an unprecedented amount of money — double the education budget under Bush — from the economic stimulus bill over the next two years. To get some of those dollars, Obama and Duncan insist states will have to prove they are making good progress in teacher quality, on data systems to track how students learn and on standards and tests.  Duncan said last Friday that states will get the first $44 billion by the end of the month.

Obama also wants kids to spend more time in school, with longer school days, school weeks and school years — a position he admitted will make him less popular with his school-age daughters.

Children in South Korea spend a month longer in school every year than do kids in the U.S.  “I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas, not with Malia and Sasha,” Obama said as the crowd laughed. “But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom.”

To read entire article click here.

Author: Libby Quaid, AP Education Writer