The final message of this long posting is not clear. It can be interpreted in various ways.
Based on my previous employment as a compliance officer with the California Department of Education, I must agree with the assertion that most schools in California have no clue what effective structured English immersion instruction even looks like, let alone implement it. Most school and district administrators have even less of a clue.
Their gross ignorance makes implementing a bilingual program the only choice they are not likely to mess up. All programs for English learners must include a component of instruction in English. The assertion that bilingual programs are in Spanish "all-day" is completely false. In most schools, such programs limit the use of the home language to less than 50% of the instructional day. Second langauge acquisition research has consistently shown that high skills in the home language accelerate acquisition of another language. Thus, if we want kids to learn English quickly, we first need to develop their literacy skills in their home language to high levels.
Posted as a reply to:
structured immersion by ann myers
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