The Business of Bilingual Education
The Texas business community has an essential role in the public dialogue on education. Why: Because Texas employers are the overwhelming consumers of the education system. Our state’s ability to produce an educated workforce affects whether companies will locate their operations in Texas. To date, our state has been successful in attracting and retaining some of the most influential companies in America.
To build upon that success, Texas must address the most looming challenge facing our state: educating and preparing our booming Hispanic population to enter the workforce or pursue a post-secondary education. With over fifty percent of Hispanic students dropping out of high school, this challenge is becoming a grave crisis. The education that we are providing these students misses the mark; something must be done.
At the center of this issue is bilingual education, a controversial topic for both its racial and political implications. There are some who view bilingual education reform as a watering down of education, a perspective that shapes policy and leads to the growing number of dropouts in Texas.
The current approach has produced negligible positive results, as students who show the slightest bit of progress in learning English are immediately moved out of bilingual programs. Hispanics make up the majority of students in the largest school districts in Texas. The current head-in-the-sand system ignores the reality of demographic trends that will shape our state for generations to come.
A recent Texas Monthly profile of El Paso’s Ysleta Independent School District provides insight into what could and perhaps should be the future of bilingual education. Select schools in the district teach advanced English and Spanish in a dual language environment that has yielded stunning results. I recently visited a Central Texas school that utilizes similar techniques with remarkable success.
Students who have participated in dual language programs are “outscoring native English speakers on the [Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills] tests.’ The Ysleta success provides Texas with a benchmark that other schools with large Hispanic populations can view as a model for their own programs. Whether the Ysleta model will gain traction remains to be seen, but Texas must provide our English learners with rigorous and relevant instruction to better prepare them to meet future challenges. Does the current statewide model that does not hold schools accountable for progress, and then encourages students to enter English-only classrooms before they are prepared really meet the needs of the student in the long run?
During the most recent session, the Governor signed into law House Bill 3, a watershed bill to improve public school accountability. In creating a more honest academic system, the public can hold the Texas Education Agency and the education establishment accountable for student performance.
It is not a stretch to say that what’s going on in Ysleta is a revolutionary approach. However, the political realities make changing the way Texas educates English learners more difficult than the obstacles that made passing HB 3 arduous. Overcoming divisive issues like immigration, race, and politics in order to make true progress is absolutely necessary to create a better education system producing students ready to enter the workforce.
In a moment in our nation’s history when financial turmoil has gripped the lives of all Americans, the Lone Star State shines brighter than the rest of the country. However, our state must not only focus on the challenges of today, but focus on the future to guarantee success for all Texans.
Bill Hammond is President and CEO of the Texas Association of Business, a broad-based, bipartisan organization representing more than 3,000 small and large businesses and 200 local chambers of commerce.
