English-Fluency Proposition Has Failed

The Times interprets gains in test scores for English learners as a mark of success because “many” children with only a “slight grasp” of English last year are now considered proficient (editorial, April 5). Proposition 227 was touted to be common sense, stating that students would learn English “like sponges.” Bilingual education was called a failure. Proposition 227 was promoted in 1998 as the salvation for generations of future students to become English-fluent in one year.

Five years after the “English for the children” law passed, only 32% of students in the intensive English immersion program can speak in basic English, according to the California English Language Development test. At a higher level of expectation, the California Department of Education states that only 7% of these students can understand a school textbook at grade level, according to the Stanford 9 test. If Proposition 227 had kept its promise, all of these children would have reached the proficiency level in 1999. Five years later, the vast majority of students are being left behind. Proposition 227 has failed.

Denis O’Leary

Education Advisor

National Far West Region

League of United LatinAmerican Citizens, Oxnard