ELPAC Report January 2004

The ELPAC Report January 2004

Learning English in Mass.

In 2002, voters in usually-liberal Massachusetts rejected bilingual education and adopted a ballot initiative to teach kids in English. The overwhelming vote was thought to be one reason why voters also elected Mitt Romney, the first Republican to become Massachusetts' Governor in many years; Romney campaigned openly on behalf of English-language education and the initiative.

Since then, however, Massachusetts has had its difficulties implementing the will of its people. The state's Democratic-dominated Legislature has watered down the initiative by granting extensive "exemptions" from the English-language requirements for schools. Romney vetoed the exemptions, but legislators voted to over-ride the veto. Romney told the Boston Herald newspaper, "Individuals in the legislature or elsewhere who believe they are smarter than the voters, I'm going to campaign to find people to take their place."

Meanwhile, new evidence is emerging about how bilingual education has been a total failure in Massachusetts. Bilingual education teachers have to pass English-fluency tests to keep their jobs; the tests require them to do things like describe their own jobs. Since 1998, all other teachers and administrators in Massachusetts have had to pass basic reading and writing skills tests, but the English tests are now required for bilingual teachers as well.

The results were predictable, given the huge percentages of students who flounder in bilingual education programs. Large numbers have failed the tests. In newly-revitalizing Lowell, 22 of 25 bilingual-ed teachers failed the English exam; in Lawrence, 27 out of 31, and in Somerville, all 5 teachers failed. Some of the teachers who failed the exams are now suing the state, claiming that the tests are discriminatory.

In Lawrence, Massachusetts, the Superintendent of Schools, Wilfredo T. Laboy, failed the required literacy test three times. Laboy blamed his failure on the fact that Spanish is his first language. "It bothers me because I'm trying to understand the congruence of what I do here every day and this stupid test," he told the Eagle-Tribune newspaper.