Thread: LULAC & MALDEF Lose Again

State's bilingual programs upheld

Judge rejects civil rights groups' arguments that students shortchanged

12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, July 31, 2007

By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News
tstutz@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – A federal judge on Monday affirmed Texas' bilingual education programs for its 712,000 students with limited English skills, rejecting arguments by leading Hispanic groups that those students are receiving an inferior education in the public schools.

U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice ruled that the state's programs for limited-English students comply with federal law and are achieving some success for children in elementary grades.

The ruling basically allows public schools to keep educating students who have trouble with English the same way. State and legislative leaders had worried that an adverse ruling could force the state to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more on instruction.

The lawyer who argued the case for the civil rights groups said he was disappointed in the ruling overall and shocked by the judge's reasoning in particular on high school students. He said plaintiffs have not decided whether to appeal.

But the judge, in a 34-page opinion, wrote that problems for Hispanic high school students – including low test scores and high dropout rates – can't be directly linked to the state's bilingual and English as a second language programs.

"The court concludes that the Texas Education Agency's education theory is sound, and its implementation and enforcement of the bilingual/ESL program is adequate under federal law," wrote Judge Justice, who usually sides with civil rights groups in major cases. "TEA's implementation of the program at the elementary levels is yielding promising preliminary results."

In bilingual education classes, students are taught core subjects in their native language while they are learning English. In ESL classes – used mostly in middle school and high school – students receive intensive instruction in English while taking core courses that typically allow limited use of their native language.

Leading Hispanic civil rights groups – including the League of United Latin American Citizens and the GI Forum – filed a petition last year urging the judge to update the sweeping court order he issued 35 years ago that forced Texas to provide better education for limited-English students across the state. Estimates of dropout estimates vary widely, but a nonprofit group recently pegged the dropout rate for Hispanics in Texas at 47 percent, much higher than any other ethnic group.

The groups, represented by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, asked Judge Justice to order the state to improve its bilingual and ESL programs to remedy the current high failure and high dropout rates among Hispanic students in Texas. About one in six students has limited English skills – the vast majority Hispanic.

A trial on the complaint was held in federal court in Austin last fall.


Plaintiffs surprised

MALDEF attorney David Hinojosa, who argued the case before Judge Justice, said the plaintiffs "are very surprised and disappointed with the decision of the court."

In particular, he said: "We are quite shocked at how the court lumped the success of the bilingual program at the elementary level with the failure of the ESL program at the secondary level. Our focus throughout the trial was on the pitiful ESL programs being administered throughout the state and the state's failure to evaluate those programs and hold school districts accountable."

Mr. Hinojosa said it was difficult to understand how state officials "could stand there with a straight face and say the secondary level program is succeeding when you have an astronomically high failure rate for these students on the TAKS, an astronomically high dropout rate and an alarmingly low graduation rate."

Texas Education Agency officials applauded the decision.

"The ruling says it all in its conclusion," said DeEtta Culbertson, a TEA spokeswoman. "The judge found we were attempting to respond in good faith to the complex demands of this program and that we're doing our job."

It was one of the few times that Judge Justice has ruled for the state in a major case involving state services. Among his more far-reaching decisions affecting the state was a series of orders demanding improvements in the prison system.

During the trial, state officials defended the bilingual and ESL programs required in Texas schools, citing achievement gains for many of those students in recent years. That included improved results on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.

But attorneys for the plaintiffs said TAKS scores tell a different story, with four out of five limited-English students in grades seven through 10 failing to meet the state's minimum standards on the exam in 2005. They also noted that limited-English students have been retained or held back at much higher rates than for other students in both elementary and secondary grades.

They also pointed out that limited-English students drop out of school at a much greater rate.

Mr. Justice noted in his ruling that most limited-English-proficiency students are in the elementary grades, where test scores have been the most positive.

"The overwhelming majority of LEP students are served in the very grades where Texas public schools are achieving the most dramatic success," he wrote in the opinion.

He acknowledged that performance of limited-English-proficiency students in middle school and high school is less impressive but said it would be inappropriate to gauge the success of the overall program on that small slice of the population.

The plaintiffs, he added, did not link those low scores to flaws in Texas' bilingual education.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/n ... fb2e2.html

The plaintiffs, he added, did not link those low scores to flaws in Texas' bilingual education.

No, it doesn't, it just means those low scores are linked to students not studying and whose parents don't keep up with what's going on with their children's English classes because they themselves don't care to assimilate by learning English. Guess those kiddies are going to have to buckle down and learn English. That's alright, they'll be better people than their parents for it. No reason to water down OUR education system just for some kids who don't want to learn or are too lazy to.

Schools can do only so much.
Parents and students need to take more responsibility, that's how it use to be when schools nationwide did much better.
Good for Judge Justice (good name too).

I wish this judge ruled in the Hazelton case.

But the judge, in a 34-page opinion, wrote that problems for Hispanic high school students – including low test scores and high dropout rates – can't be directly linked to the state's bilingual and English as a second language programs.

TRANSLATION: These Hispanic students have low test scores and high dropout rates because even though they are receiving FREE public education, the negative conditions are either because they are inherently stupid and lazy AND/OR their parents are not properly instilling a respect for education and hard work with their studies.

Translation: WE NEED ENGLISH ONLY EDUCATION - MAKE EM LEARN FASTER!!!

Originally Posted by zeezil

TRANSLATION: These Hispanic students have low test scores and high dropout rates because even though they are receiving FREE public education, the negative conditions are either because they are inherently stupid and lazy AND/OR their parents are not properly instilling a respect for education and hard work with their studies.

Or maybe the parents are also inherently stupid and lazy?

I just heard on our local radio tonight that 90% of the children in the preschool program are bilingual... with only two monolingual classes. Shocking really...

The callers said this is a perfect time to teach these little sponges English. Our school districts tends to leave kids in bilingual forever though... We just elected three new school board members who say they will change this. One board member called in to say he wanted to see one to two year max. They are also hiring a new bilingual director. Is change coming???

Originally Posted by zeezil

But the judge, in a 34-page opinion, wrote that problems for Hispanic high school students – including low test scores and high dropout rates – can't be directly linked to the state's bilingual and English as a second language programs.

TRANSLATION: These Hispanic students have low test scores and high dropout rates because even though they are receiving FREE public education, the negative conditions are either because they are inherently stupid and lazy AND/OR their parents are not properly instilling a respect for education and hard work with their studies.

right, we're providing a free education in both their native language and English so they can be better prepared for their futures and these "leaders" still want more? What else can we do? What is their solution? Spanish only? Employ Mexican teachers, even though their education system isn't one to be envied?
I grew up in Dallas and the HS I went to was about 90% Hispanic. I'd say almost half of the Hispanic students were "newly arrived" the rest were Americans. My freshman year my class had 400 students, by the time we were juniors we were down to 200, most of the drop outs were girls who had gotten pregnant. Here's the kicker though, this was considered normal and desirable for the girls. That's right girls were looked down upon if they didn't want to start a family until after graduating!!!
This isn't about receiving a better education this is a culture war!

This isn't about receiving a better education this is a culture war!

...an exceptionally profound and completely true statement. More and more Americans are getting their heads out of the sand and waking up to the realization that our culture is being "3rd world-ized" and our country, as we had established, fought for and know it...is being literally given away.