Elizabeth Flynn, head of special programs for Pasco, has watched the debate on bilingual education in California with a certain amount of apprehension. The populous state to the south often serves as a bellwether of trends. Perhaps more important, California and Texas interests drive textbook development because of their enormous buying power. With California dropping bilingual education, Flynn fears publishers may not have enough incentive to publish the bilingual tests that districts like Pasco buy for their students. More than 2,500 students in Pasco are in the bilingual program.
Students learn about science, math and reading in their native language while they master English.
It takes about seven years to complete the transition into an English-speaking classroom, Flynn said. Test results indicate bilingual education works for kids who remain in Pasco. Students who left bilingual classrooms for regular English-speaking ones outperformed their peers on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills last year. The CTBS is required in some grades by the state and is regarded as a measure of a district's academic excellence. A former Golden State resident, Flynn said California's bilingual program flourished under a federal ruling that said teaching a child in a language, he couldn't understand violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act.