I'm beginning to sense that the reason we can't all agree upon what to do to improve the academic achievement of our Hispanic learners in particular is because we don't have a vision or if we do, we don't have a common one. That is the first hurdle we need to overcome.
If our goal is to improve the academic achievement of Hispanic learners then:
- It's not a "crutch" to provide Hispanic learners with bilingual education and other effective strategies and methods that research has proven works for them. (See NOTE below)
- It's not wrong for educators to focus on how best to teach groups of children as well as individual children. That is the role of an educator.
- It's important to focus on what students need to learn to realize the American dream and to have the skills and knowledge to be a contributing member of America's democratic society.
While improving the academic achievement of Hispanic learners is a worthy goal it is important to never forget the ultimate goal of education which is to build character. Academic achievement will be of little use to our Hispanic learners as well as all learners if all the knowledge and credentials accumulated don't make them better people.
NOTE:
Four studies published in the last two years. Number 4 is from the US government report.
1. Slavin, R. and Cheung, A. 2005. A synthesis ofresearch of reading instruction for English languagelearners, Review of Educational Research 75(2):247-284.
2. Rolstad, K., Mahoney, K., & Glass, G. 2005. The bigpicture: A meta-analysis of program effectivenessresearch on English language learners. EducationalPolicy 19(4): 572-594.
3. Genesse, F., Lindolm-Leary, K., Saunders, W., andChristian, D. 2005. English Language Learners in U.S.Schools: An Overview of Research. Journal ofEducation for Students Placed at Risk, 10(4), 363–385.
4. Francis, D., Lesaux, N., & August, D. 2006.Language of instruction, In D. August & T. Shanahan,(Eds.) Developing literacy in second-languagelearners, pp. 365-413. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
