No Rich Child Left Behind (language)

[bischoff at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU]

It's a shame there isn't a well organized/funded 'linguistic advocacy'
organization to help in situations such as this -- or is there???

shannon

Quoting Andre Cramblit <andrekar at NCIDC.ORG>:

> 01/24/2004 - JUNEAU AK
> By Mike Chambers, Associated Press Writer
>
> Some western Alaska schools that for decades have taught and helped
> preserve the Native Yupik language are in a quandary over meeting new
> federal testing requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act.
>
> In the Lower Kuskokwim School District, third grade children taught
> almost exclusively in the Yupik language may be required to pass
> federal tests written in English.
>
> In Alaska, where Natives speak 20 aboriginal languages and dialects,
> meeting a uniform federal law could ultimately be too expensive,
> conflict with Native cultural traditions as well as the local control
> that the rural villages treasure.
>
> "Not many states face the issues that we do," said state Education
> Commissioner Roger Sampson.
>
> Under the federal law, students would be tested annually from grades
> 3-8 and again in high school.
>
> States could make accommodations for language barriers, but after
> three years in U.S. public schools the children would be required to
> take English-only tests.
>
> Aside from the Heritage Language programs in more than 30 rural
> public schools, Alaska's largest city of Anchorage has more than 93
> languages spoken by students, Sampson said.
>
> Already cash strapped, the state can little afford to translate tests
> into more than 100 languages, education officials said.
>
> And even if it could, the Yupik language, though spoken by thousands
> of Alaska Natives from Norton Sound to Bristol Bay, does not
> translate as completely as Spanish or other European languages.
>
> For instance, mathematics to American children is based on units of
> 10, where increments of 20 are used in Yupik math and numerous
> English words have no Yupik counterparts.
>
> The Lower Kuskokwim School District, which oversees schools in Bethel
> and surrounding villages has had an intensive Yupik language program
> for about 30 years, said Superintendent Bill Ferguson.
>
> A similar program instituted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in
> earlier years was seen as a progressive way to assimilate Native
> children into English fluency.
>
> Since then, it's become a way for Yupik-speaking Natives to sustain
> their language and culture just as other Alaska Native languages
> dwindle.
>
> "I feel strongly that our kids should speak Yupik fluently," said
> state Rep. Mary Kapsner, of Bethel. "I really feel this isn't just an
> academic issue about benchmark tests, but about cultural and social
> well being."
>
> Beginning in kindergarten and extending to third grade, students
> enrolled in the Yupik language program are taught a Western
> curriculum similar to those found in Lower 48 classrooms.
>
> But teachers speak Yupik and students read from Yupik textbooks,
> produced by the district by permission of their English-language
> publishers.
>
> While most children speak some English, those enrolled in the
> programs don't begin formal academic training in the language until
> fourth grade.
>
> Sampson wants permission from federal education officials to delay
> testing these Heritage Language students until sixth grade. At that
> time, the students would have had three years of English-speaking
> instruction.
>
> Already, schools in the district are failing to meet "adequate yearly
> progress" set out by the federal law, and much of that is attributed
> to the language barrier, Ferguson said.
>
> Alaska educators hold little hope that Yupik-speaking students will
> fare well in third-grade testing in the 2005-2006 school year when
> all schools are expected to have such tests in place.
>
> Ultimately, Alaska may seek a waiver under the federal law to
> accommodate its language barrier, Sampson said. The state Board of
> Education will to take up the issue Jan. 29.
>
> Winning an exemption from some parts of No Child Left Behind from
> Education Secretary Rod Paige will be difficult.
>
> "Secretary Paige has made some very strong statements regarding the
> fact that he doesn't anticipate the state's being exempted from any
> requirement under NCLB," said U.S. Department of Education spokesman
> Zollie Stevenson.
>
> States could seek federal funds to pay for translating testing
> materials, Stevenson said, but he acknowledged enough money may not
> be available to meet Alaska's varied dialects.
>
> On the Net:
> No Child Left Behind: http://www.nochildleftbehind.gov/
>
> State Department of Education and Early Development:
> http://www.eed.state.ak.us/
>
> Lower Kuskokwim School District: http://www.lksd.org/
>
> Copyright by The Associated Press.
>