Bilingual education: A very good thing

Sent to the Los Angeles Times, Sept. 7, 2016

I strongly agree with the LA Times editorial: "Proposition 58 would bring back bilingual education in California. And that's a good thing." 

In fact, bilingual education is even more effective than the Times' sources indicate.  The most rigorous research design is to compare the progress of children in bilingual programs and children in all-English programs with similar backgrounds. In general, these studies have shown that children enrolled in bilingual programs do better than children in all-English programs on tests of English reading.

In the most recent analysis, Professor Grace McField (Cal State San Marcos) and Professor David McField (MiraCosta College) examined 89 studies comparing bilingual education and English immersion. They concluded that when the programs and research design are set up correctly, the superiority of bilingual education is considerably larger than previously reported.

Bilingual programs do not prevent the acquisition of English – they facilitate it.

Stephen Krashen

Most recent analysis: McField, G. and McField, D. 2014.  "The consistent outcome of bilingual education programs: A meta-analysis of meta-analyses." In Grace McField (Ed.) The Miseducation of English Learners. Charlotte: Information Age Publishing. pp. 267-299.

original article: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-proposition-58-20160906-snap-story.html