Study Shows Gains From Classes Based in English

Aiming to become first in the state to win a permanent exemption from the state bilingual education code, officials of Westminster School District tonight will present trustees with a study showing that non-English-speaking students are benefiting from English-based instruction that makes use of part-time bilingual teaching aides.

Preliminary information indicates that, across this multi-ethnic district, standardized reading test scores have improved in the last two years. Though Westminster’s bilingual students still score below national averages, district officials said, their alternative bilingual program is successful.

“We expect the state waiver will help us close the gap between the national average and our students’ averages,” said Tracy Painter, director of special projects at Westminster, where nearly half of the students speak only limited English.

In February 1996, Westminster quietly became the state’s first district to win a temporary bilingual waiver because it could not find enough bilingual teachers to meet state requirements.

If a school district has more than 50 students who speak a language other than English, it must hire bilingual teachers for those children to conform with state policy.

Now that its waiver is about to expire, the district hopes to demonstrate to the state Board of Education in December that its alternative program is working. If the board finds officials’ arguments convincing, Westminster would be granted an unprecedented permanent waiver and never have to reapply for an exemption.

Such a decision would strengthen a growing statewide campaign by Silicon Valley businessman Ron Unz and Santa Ana teacher Gloria Matta Tuchman for a ballot measure requiring English-only instruction in public schools. Advocates are gathering signatures to put the issue on the ballot next year.

Besides Westminster, only three other California districts, all in Orange County, have obtained temporary waivers. They are Savanna, Magnolia and Orange Unified.

Evidence supporting Westminster’s program includes improved test scores among English learners and a higher rate of students moving from limited-English status to fluency than before the program began in 1996.

In the last two school years, Westminster tracked students’ performance on the nationally administered California Achievement Test IV, which scores on a scale of 1 to 99. Data showed that in the English reading section, students overall gained 4 points to an average of 30; the English language comprehension average rose by 5 points to 39; and math scores improved by 1 point to 47.

The scores still fall below the national average of 50 on each test, Painter said.

“We cannot be at the 50 mark when almost half of our students are not proficient in English,” she said.

The gains, however, exceeded district expectations, Painter said. Administrators set out to lift test averages by 3 points, a goal that they and state officials determined was ambitious.

Some experts, though, question how significant the gains are. According to national testing results, poor readers on average score a 32--a mark Westminster’s students have yet to achieve.

Furthermore, testing experts said, because Westminster does not have comprehensive test results from before it started its alternative bilingual program, it is hard to draw conclusions from the new data.

“How do we know that these students weren’t already scoring 4 points higher in previous years?” asked Margot Gottlieb, director of assessment and testing at the Illinois Resource Center, which evaluates student testing procedures.

Gottlieb said it is not appropriate to use standardized tests for non-English speakers because the exams are designed for students fluent in English.

Standardized tests, however, can be one of a menu of tools used to study limited-English students, she said, such as tests designed to measure English language development and the rate of students moving into English fluency.

Westminster officials said such information was collected but was not available Wednesday.

Silvina Rubinstein, executive director of the California Assn. for Bilingual Education, said Westminster’s study appears to be insufficient because it does not compare non-native students to their English-speaking peers in all subjects. She said regular bilingual instruction is more effective because students are taught all subjects in their native languages, then moved gradually into English instruction.

“Unfortunately, Westminster’s English learners are not well served by a program that does not provide them more access to their primary language so that they understand all academic subjects,” she said.

But Westminster administrators said their bilingual teaching assistants bridge any instructional gaps by explaining and clarifying concepts in the students’ primary language.

“Our program could not succeed without our bilingual instructional assistants,” Painter said.

She and others point to steady progress in the classroom.

In Sarah Silane’s second-grade class, for instance, 17 of the 19 students are Vietnamese and speak limited English. Teaching assistant Hien Pham spends 17 1/2 hours a week in the class, where he speaks Vietnamese to explain concepts to small groups of students.

On a recent school day, Pham presented a science exercise to five students while Silane, at the other end of the class, worked on the same activity with the rest of the class. Once in a while, Pham would insert English words about the ocean and sea creatures.

“When the water runs high up the sand, what do we call that?” Pham asked the pupils in Vietnamese.

“High tide,” they all answered in English.

Acknowledging the heated debate about how best to teach non-fluent students, Painter stands behind Westminster’s program, which she notes was tailored especially to accommodate the needs of the district’s students.

“There’s compelling data on both sides of traditional bilingual education,” she said. “Our goal is not to judge which teaching method is more effective, but to make sure our students are provided necessary resources and assistance to meet our standards.”