[lg policy] Write to the US Senate to Protect World Language Education

[Harold Schiffman]

Write to the US Senate to Protect World Language Education
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[image: 460493825]
<http://languagemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/460493825-e1425668510525.jpg>The
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee of the United States Senate
has released a draft of the new Elementary and Secondary Education Act
(ESEA), which drops the Foreign Language Assistance Act entirely and does
not contain any provisions for world languages. The Senate Committee is
currently accepting public comment at the email address
FixingNCLB at help.senate.gov.

The Foreign Language Assistance Act was initiated in 2001 as a part of No
Child Left Behind and provides grants to state or local education agencies
to fund half the yearly costs of establishing or expanding foreign language
programs in elementary and secondary schools. Only about 25% of elementary
schools and 58% of middle schools have foreign language programs. As the
most critical ages in language learning are between 1 and 7 years old,
support for elementary world language programs is important to incentivize.

Mary Kusler, the director of government relations for the National
Education Association, said, “We can strongly say that this [draft] is a
starting point from which we can all begin discussions. We need to ensure
there are the appropriate safeguards by the federal government to ensure
all students are receiving a 21st century education regardless of their zip
code.  But we are pleased to see measures that increase the flexibility of
educators and their districts to meet the needs of their individual
students, especially those with the greatest needs.​” To bring language
learning into the conversation send an email insisting on high-quality
world language programs to FixingNCLB at help.senate.gov.

For a comprehensive email template, click here
<http://www.languagepolicy.org/uncategorized/esea-call-for-comments-email-template/>
.
http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=123209
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