Arizona: Legal trouble ahead? English-learners separated

[Harold Schiffman]

Forwarded From: edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu


East Valley Tribune



Legal trouble ahead? English-learners separated



When students return to school this month, many of their grade levels
will be separated by language ability. Students who speak English will
go in one classroom; those who don't, to another. The
non-English-speakers will stay in those specialized classrooms, where
they will receive an intense four hours of English training, until
they can pass the state's language exam.
It's all part of the state's new plan to get students who don't speak
English to learn the language more quickly. State education officials
say it can be done in a year. The new rule is a result of a bill
passed in 2006 that required the state to create a more uniform method
of instructing its English learners. The bill established a task force
charged with adopting a model for English Language Learning
instruction, and it chose a method that mandates four hours of English
each day, which includes reading, grammar, writing and vocabulary and
conversational skills.

The plan is raising the eyebrows of many education experts across the
country. One school district, Sahuarita Unified, near Tucson, even
rejected the plan for most of its elementary school students, saying
it worried the Office of Civil Rights would find it discriminatory.



Full story:

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/122284





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