by Lance T. Izumi, Fellow in California Studies
Pacific Research Institute
May 30, 2000

Announcer lead: Time for Perspectives. Lance Izumi says that despite roadblocks, Prop. 227 is improving student achievement.

Although it passed in a landslide in 1998, many school districts have been slow to implement Proposition 227, the anti-bilingual-education initiative. Despite this foot-dragging, however, 227 is resulting in improved performance and greater English learning by limited-English-proficient students.

According to a recent University of California report, the number of students in bilingual-education programs has fallen by 60 percent since 227's passage. However, the study notes that some districts have interpreted 227's mandate that instruction be "overwhelmingly" in English to mean that only a bare majority of instruction be in English. Further, other districts have urged parents to request waivers to allow their children to continue in bilingual classes, a procedure permitted by 227. In fact, some districts secured waivers from 100 percent of the parents of limited-English-proficient students.

Despite this flouting of the spirit of the initiative by some districts, many districts have dropped bilingual education entirely. Also, even where bilingual education has continued, the state's testing program, which is conducted only in English, has ensured that greater emphasis is placed on English learning. The results of this change have so far been encouraging.

Although pro-bilingual-education advocates predicted disaster when 227 passed, it now turns out that under 227 many more limited-English-proficient students are becoming fluent in English. In Los Angeles, for example, the number of limited-English-proficient students transitioned into English fluency increased by more than 32,000 between 1998 and 1999. Also, last year the San Jose Mercury News found that as 227 is implemented, students rapidly acquire English skills and perform better on tests.

These results are making believers of many teachers. First-grade teacher Sheryl Rosario says that English-only classes are working. Ms. Rosario says that teaching students in Spanish only ensures that's all that they learn. Which all goes to show that sometimes common sense does triumph in the end.