Most English Learners Task Force members quit in protest
The Task Force wanted BPS to expand native language instruction. The administration decided to do the opposite.
UPDATE November 1:
Boston Globe reports that a ninth member of the Task Force, former state Representative Marie St. Fleur, also resigned, separately from the other eight. She’s quoted as saying she quit because of the “constant disregard of the task force recommendations”.
— — —
Eight members of the Boston Public Schools English Learners Task Force — a majority — resigned October 31 over the BPS administration’s decision to put children who are just starting to learn English in classes where all the instruction is in English. Those who resigned include Task Force co-chair and retired principal Suzanne Lee and former School Committee member Miriam Uriarte.
“[T]he plans as presented will be harmful,” the former Task Force members said in their resignation letter.
The BPS website says the School Committee created the Task Force in 2009 “to provide guidance to the School Committee, the Superintendent, and BPS on the vision and development of a plan of action” for educating English learners — students whose home language is not English and who are not yet fluent English speakers.
About a third of BPS students are English learners.
“At some point, we hoped, the district would place the needs of these students closer to the center of its educational planning. To date this has not happened,” the eight resigning Task Force members said.
BPS administration: “committed to adopting inclusive practices”
BPS administration spokesperson Max Baker said the administration “is committed to adopting inclusive practices so that multilingual students have access to native language services, and receive their required services, while also engaging in learning alongside their peers.”
A BPS official said English learners will have teachers trained in “sheltered English immersion,” with simplified English and other techniques to help them understand the content.
State officials have said BPS must do something to counter the isolation of English learners. But the Task Force members said they proposed many solutions. Instead, they said, the administration adopted an approach that “denies access to content instruction in a language [students] understand.”
The new policy would not affect dual language programs, but only seven percent of English language learners are in these programs, according to the resignation letter.
Task Force pushed for more native language instruction
The Task Force had proposed expanding dual language programs and increasing native language instruction for other English learners, as permitted under the state 2017 LOOK Act. But earlier this fall, the administration presented the School Committee with a plan to integrate English learners into classes where all the teaching is in English. They would still have access to English as a Second Language instruction.
The resigning Task Force members said research “clearly points to the use of students’ native language for instruction, alongside support for learning English” as the best way to teach English learners.
Dueling letters
BPS spokesperson Baker released a September 19 letter from Task Force members in which they laid out their objections to the administration’s plans. “How can we continue to serve when so many children are harmed by the move away from valuing native language and culture and the move towards English-only?”
Baker also released an October 12 reply from Linda Chen, BPS Senior Deputy Superintendent of Academics. Chen said the administration was conforming to what the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) wanted. She cited DESE’s concerns that English learners are isolated from other students.
Chen also said the administration does intend to increase the number of children in dual-language programs, and that the planned changes “are not about removing access to the native language.”
The letter from the Task Force members is posted here and Chen’s response is here.
Former School Committee member Uriarte was one of the authors of a 2009 report that found that English learners in general education classrooms had higher out-of-school suspension rates and middle school drop-out rates, and lower fourth- and eighth-grade MCAS pass rates than English learners in English learner programs. Her co-author on that paper, Rosann Tung, also resigned from the Task Force today.
The others who resigned are Roxanne Harvey, former chair of the BPS Special Education Parents Advisory Council; researcher Maria Serpa; Fabián Torres-Ardila of the Gaston Institute at UMass Boston; and advocates Paulo De Barros and John Mudd.
