Letter to The Times: TEACHING ENGLISH FOR BETTER RESULTS … a little History lesson from a former ESL teacher

LETTER TO THE EDITOR | http://lat.ms/nkbkND

Re "L.A. Unified settles civil rights probe," Oct. 12

I retired several years ago from the Los Angeles Unified School District. My last position was as a coordinator of bilingual programs at Noble Avenue Elementary in North Hills.

Until the passage of Proposition 227 in 1998, we were having great instructional success with our English learners. A great many of our students, transitioning into an all-English program, were scoring higher than English speakers on standardized tests.*

With the loss of our bilingual program, teachers began teaching all subjects in English and scores began to fall. Teachers were teaching in English but not teaching English.

There is a great need for an English-learning program in the entire state. District officials should take a look at the statistics in the dual immersion programs in several district schools.

Carolyn Daniels
Indio

* smf:  As they should. Hard data and anecdotal evidence show that Bilingual/Biliterate Students outperform all other subgroups – including Asian students and White children of elevated socioeconomic status.