In 1990-91, we had an increase of 630 bilingual teachers. The year after, we had only 500, but in the last few years, we've seen increases of 1,400 qualified bilingual teachers. Only a small percentage of the state's teachers are certified as bilingual by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Last spring, there were 6,002 more teachers credentialed to work with students who speak limited English than in 1995, according to the University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute. Close to 30 percent receive instruction using sheltered English, and 20 percent are not receiving any special language services.
Studies disagree on the value of different teaching methods.
The commission decided that five different teaching programs could work, depending on the quality of the program and overall school climate. Two new reports, however, tilt in favor of native language programs. Research by Wayne Thomas and Virginia Collier of George Mason University in Virginia, published by the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education in April, concludes that programs that slowly shift students from native languages to English are preferable to English-only programs. Our conclusion is, instead of looking for one program that will work for the state, the key issue should be identifying those components, backed by solid research findings, that will work in a specific community. The acronyms LEP, FEP, NEP and ELL describe students who speak a language other than English.