Their complex regulations, moreover, distract educators and reduce accountability for learning results. The inflexible rules of the regulations prevent education reforms. Study after study shows that federal programs do not help students learn. In fact, the programs have actually harmed some students. Transitional bilingual education, for example, requires teaching students in their native language, thus denying them the experience they most need, practice in English.
Perverse incentives make such programs grow in size, cost, and ineffectiveness.
Federal funding of bilingual teachers and administrators is like paying doctors to keep their patients unwell. Study after study shows that federal education programs do not help students learn. In fact, federal programs have actually harmed some students. The same is true of special education, which wrongly categorizes many students as learning-disabled and segregates them from others. Once in such special programs, students rarely escape.