[NIFL-ESL:9400] [Fwd: Mass. Teachers Learn Hard Lesson: Flunk the English Test, Get
From: Kevin Rocap (krocap@csulb.edu)
Date: Thu Sep 04 2003 - 14:46:15 EDT
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From: Kevin Rocap <krocap@csulb.edu>
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Subject: [NIFL-ESL:9400] [Fwd: Mass. Teachers Learn Hard Lesson: Flunk the English Test, Get
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Dear friends,
Below is yet another example below of deleterious laws predicated on
unfounded biases regarding how kids best learn English, and the affects
of the English-Only movement. In Massachusetts they've followed suit
with Prop 227 and Prop 203 in Arizona. NOW they are firing bilingual
teachers go who fail an English fluency test. So you see the adverse
impact on the jobs and livelihoods of speakers of languages other than
English is not merely an unfortunate by-product of their language
background it is an intentional and planned policy of exclusion.
The reality is that in a quality bilingual program kids learn English
as fast or faster than in an English submersion program. And in such a
program there is a totallly legitimate need for teachers who are fluent
in the non-English target language to be the key teacher in that target
language. That teacher does not need to pass some wrong-headed English
fluency test (which I wouldn't be surprised if some English-Only
teachers would fail, but they are not asked to take it, because their
proficiency is assumed). And, in our experience, bilingual teachers
with perfectly suitable English fluency for collaborating effectively
with their adult teacher peers and for interacting with kids in English
when needed may still fail these kinds of tests.
This is an explicit language policy of exclusion and a backward
mentality that treats bilingualism as virtually pathological. And,
innocuous as it seems, this certainly does bear similarities to
decisions implemented by the Nazi party leading up to the atrocities
with which we are all familiar. I know that some people do not like
the evocation of the Nazi associaton and feel it is "over the top" but
the reality in pre-war Nazi Germany was that the Nazis were a perfectly
respectable political party and many of the policy decisions they made
here and there in the name of nationalism, etc., were of a similar ilk
to issues/policies we are discussing here. I suspect that people on
this list who feel that others on this list are making extreme or
exaggerated claims would probably have let those early decisions of in
Nazi Germany slide right by and would have denied that those were early
signs of anything worse on the horizon. Just a thought.
In Peace,
K.
-------- Original Message --------
Education Week
American Education's Newspaper of
Record
September 3, 2003 Mass. Teachers Learn Hard Lesson:
Flunk the English Test, Get Fired By Mary Ann Zehr
Education Week Teachers in Massachusetts who have failed fluency
tests in English are fighting to keep their jobs, even though a new
anti-bilingual-education law in the state says they must give them up.
The law, called Question 2, was approved as a ballot measure by 68
percent of Massachusetts voters last November. The mandate calls for
bilingual education classes to be replaced by English-immersion classes
starting this school year and requires all teachers of such classes to
be "fluent and literate in English." While similar laws targeting
bilingual education have been adopted in California and Arizona, those
measures stated only that teachers in the "English-language classroom"
should "possess good knowledge of the English language." When those
states curtailed bilingual education, teachers' English fluency didn't
become an issue as it has in Massachusetts. In several Massachusetts
districts, some teachers who speak a native language other than English
have been laid off or fired because they were unable to pass English-
fluency tests they took last school year or during the summer. Some of
the teachers have hired lawyers or fought through teachers' unions to
earn a grace period in which they may be reinstated if they are able to
improve their English skills and pass the crucial tests—if not to keep
their jobs at the moment. The Somerville district, for example, has
guaranteed a teaching job next school year to any of the five teachers
who failed the English-fluency test if they can pass it by next spring.
For this school year, though, they are out of jobs. "We would really
like to see them pass," said Anthony C. Caliri, the human-resources
manager of the 6,000-student district, pointing out that "we didn't
write the law." At the same time, he said, "I can't hire teachers who
aren't certified." The Boston Teachers Union was on the verge of
signing an agreement with the city's school board late last week that
would permit four teachers who had flunked the test to work in a
nonteaching "professional capacity" in the 62,000-student school
system, according to Richard Stutman, the president of the American
Federation of Teachers affiliate. He said the teachers would keep their
same salaries and benefits for the current school year, but would have
to pass the English- fluency test before next school year to continue
working for the district.
Superintendent Flap
In Lawrence, meanwhile, the debate over how such teachers should be
dealt with became particularly heated after local newspapers reported
that the district's superintendent, Wilfredo Laboy, had failed a
state-required English-literacy test three times. The papers also noted
that Mr. Laboy, a native of Puerto Rico, had suspended 20 teachers
without pay who hadn't passed their English-fluency tests at the same
time he had flunked his exam. In a letter to Mr. Laboy last month,
Commissioner of Education David P. Driscoll said he would recommend
that the superintendent be fired if he didn't pass the English-literacy
exam by Dec. 31. Mr. Laboy did not return Education Week's
phone calls. Meanwhile, 15 teachers from the 12,000-student Lawrence
district who had failed their English-fluency tests have filed a
complaint in a state superior court. They argued that they were
unfairly singled out to be tested in the language, and they asked Mr.
Laboy, among others, to reinstate them. But Jennifer B. Rieker, the
Boston lawyer representing the teachers, said she expects that they
won't have to argue their case in court because the Lawrence school
board has tentatively agreed to give them alternative jobs, such as
those of substitutes or teachers' assistants. Her law firm filed the
Aug. 22 complaint in court on behalf of the teachers, she said, just in
case the agreement with the school board falls through.
Rejection in Court
Four Cambodian teachers from Lowell public schools who failed the test
and lost their jobs didn't have much luck in court. A superior court
judge last month rejected their argument that they had been
discriminated against, and upheld the school system's right to fire
them. The teachers have filed complaints with the Massachusetts
Commission Against Discrimination. Karla B. Baehr, the superintendent
of the 16,000-student Lowell school system, said that because her
district is slashing its budget, she couldn't offer other jobs to the
21 teachers who failed the test. Ms. Baehr said that the district has
been fair with the teachers involved. "We've done in a responsible
way," she said, "what we have to do under the law in Massachusetts."
© 2003
Editorial Projects in Education Vol. 23, number 01, page 22
------ End of Forwarded Message
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