Alaia’s mother, who has limited English proficiency, said Alaia is struggling to learn because she has never been taught Spanish, her primary language and her greatest asset, at Orchard Gardens. Gonzalez and her husband are currently in the process of transferring Alaia from Hurley Kindergarten to School 8. The school is one of eight BPS schools offering bilingual education for English learners, but the couple said they didn’t know that option existed in the district. “It’s very difficult for me to help her with her homework because I don’t understand,” Gonzalez said. “I had to put her in an after-school program because I can’t get her to help me with homework.”
Educating students like Alaia whose first language is not English is one of the most pressing challenges facing Boston public schools.
One-third of the district’s students, or approximately 16,800 students, are classified as English language learners. In the lower grades, the numbers for ELLs are even higher, with 47 percent of kindergarten students and 51 percent of pre-kindergarten students having non-native English speakers.
For this group of students, districts must juggle two challenges. One is to teach spoken and written English, which is required by federal law, as well as academic subjects such as math and science.
This is a daunting challenge, and one that school districts have not always faced.
Consider the district’s most recent test scores. This score paints a dire picture for English learners. Only 4 percent of ELLs in grades 3-8 and 2 percent of ELLs in grades 10 met or exceeded expectations on the 2024 English MCAS test, but 8 percent of ELLs in grades 3-8 Six percent of 10th grade ELLs met expectations on the MCAS test in mathematics.
Academic research shows that the best way to serve these students is through bilingual education programs like Hurley’s that provide instruction in their native language while also teaching English. Decades ago, bilingual education was controversial, and the state of Massachusetts even banned it at one point.
But now there are no legal restrictions, and the barriers are staff and funding. Bilingual education is expensive, qualified bilingual teachers are difficult to find, and bilingual education is relatively scarce in Boston.
There is no magic formula to solve these problems. But it also questions whether expanding the bilingual education the district provides for families like González is a much better use of money than keeping underutilized school buildings open. There is no room for that. Boston needs to integrate its schools so it can devote as many resources as possible to closing the disparities that have worsened for too long.
The legacy of the misguided “English only” policy
For English learners, Massachusetts’ recent history has been dark. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a political movement led by conservative Silicon Valley billionaire Ron Antz swayed voters in Arizona, California, and Massachusetts to pass language restriction laws, so-called English-only laws. I let it happen. Education of English Language Learners. Commonwealth voters approved English-only education in a 2002 referendum.
In Boston, the impact was immediate. A University of Massachusetts Boston study found that from 2003 to 2006, the high school dropout rate for English learners nearly doubled, and their MCAS test score growth was slower than other student populations. I did. As a result, the achievement gap between ELL students and other BPS groups widened.
Over the next decade, the situation did not improve. This is despite federal intervention, a task force appointed to address the needs of ELL students, and state legislation in 2017 that effectively repealed the 2002 law. A comprehensive audit of BPS by state education officials, released in the spring of 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, stated, “The district is committed to ensuring that all English learners are achieving academic and English language development.” But a level playing field is not in place to ensure progress.”
In 2018, the four-year graduation rate for English learners was 63 percent, the second lowest of all student groups. From 2015 to 2018, the dropout rate for English learners increased by about 34 percent, the highest of all groups.
Recent BPS data shows that Boston’s multilingual learners have a much lower than average graduation rate. Their dropout rate is almost twice the average.
At the heart of these poor outcomes is the insufficient amount of bilingual education provided by school districts.
Research shows that programs that use English learners’ first language for instruction, such as dual language programs that form part of so-called bilingual education, are more likely to close achievement gaps. A large longitudinal study published in 2017 found that “short-term, English-only transitional bilingual programs only close about half of the achievement gap between English learners and native English speakers; “We found that long-term bilingual programs with high levels of schooling narrowed the gap.” After five to six years of schooling, the gap completely disappears. ”
But only 7 percent of English learners, or about 1,200 students, are currently enrolled in the district’s dual language program, according to numbers provided by the district. The remaining students, including Alaia, are learning under the so-called “English immersion” approach. In this approach, teachers teach academic subjects in English with limited support in students’ native languages. Although lessons are usually taught in English, teachers use a variety of tools and techniques, such as speaking slowly, using simple words, and providing visual aids such as pictures and videos, to help students with their lower English proficiency. We will support you so that you can keep up.
English learners are often described as the fastest growing student population in K-12 education across the United States. Approximately 1 in 10 K-12 students in the United States are English language learners. In the Bay State, the percentage of public school students with ELL status more than doubled between 2003 and 2018, from 6 percent to 14 percent.
Additionally, many English learners have special needs, which further complicates the challenges of their education. In Boston, nearly one in four English learners has a disability.
The majority of English learners in this district have Spanish as their first language. But ELLs who speak Haitian Creole as their first language are an emerging demographic, and Boston’s Haitian population is the third largest in the country. According to the district’s data from last year, a small number of native speakers of Portuguese, Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic and Somali attend BPS.
In an ideal world, all ELLs would be enrolled in bilingual programs. This can also be an attractive option for English-speaking families who want their children to learn a second language. However, there are only eight oral bilingual programs in Boston (there is also an American Sign Language program). Dual language programs include Mario Umana Academy kindergarten through eighth grade (Spanish and English) in East Boston, Mattahunt Elementary School in Mattapan (Haitian Creole and English), and Rafael Hernandez kindergarten through eighth grade in Roxbury. School (Spanish/English) Margarita Muniz Academy in Jamaica Plain is the area’s first and only bilingual (Spanish and English) high school.
Building these bilingual education programs requires funding, primarily to hire certified bilingual teachers. But with so many school districts also grappling with increasing numbers of ELL students, there is fierce competition to hire qualified teachers across the country. In fact, a recent paper from the Century Foundation, a public policy research nonprofit, states that the national shortage of bilingual teachers is the primary reason school districts across the country are not expanding bilingual and dual language education.
Many school systems offer targeted cash incentives to bilingual educators, such as recruiting and retention bonuses. For example, Houston offers new hires up to $8,000. But in Boston, a district spokesperson said the salaries of bilingual teachers are not separated from those of non-bilingual educators. A spokesperson said BPS would like to consider bonuses for bilingual educators and has discussed the idea with the teachers union.
Rebuilding all the infrastructure needed for bilingual education in Massachusetts will take time, given that the pipeline of bilingual teachers dried up while this policy was illegal. Above all, there will be millions of dollars in continued investment in curriculum, training and certification of professional teachers and staff, professional development, and new AI tools to support bilingual education.
A BPS spokesperson said in an interview that the district has submitted nine new program proposals to state education officials to teach multilingual learners. Two of them are dual language programs. “This is a great first step and we look forward to continuing to expand on this,” the spokesperson said. “But we’re trying to strike a balance between doing this well and doing this quickly.” It rejected 17 of the 19 new program proposals because they did not meet state standards.
Boston has a program to train bilingual educators. The Bilingual Educator and Accelerated Community to Teacher program is a free 12-month program for successful applicants that will begin during the 2023-2024 school year. A district spokesperson said the program had 18 graduates last year and 89 current participants. Graduates are not required to teach at BPS, but are strongly encouraged to do so. BPS also offers new bilingual and inclusive education initiatives. This allows graduates of the accelerated teacher program to apply to become resident teachers at one of the district’s bilingual schools next school year and receive a discounted master’s degree through a partnership with Stonehill College. a spokesperson said.
School districts should create more programs of their own. These programs help bilingual paraprofessionals and school personnel become licensed teachers and help multilingual high school students create a career path to becoming an educator.
But to the dismay of many Boston experts and community leaders, the Boston School District does not appear to be fully committed to bilingual education.
Last fall, Boston officials announced a new model for educating multilingual students. This approach involves educating non-native speakers in full immersion general education classes. The idea is that students have access to multilingual services but are not guaranteed instruction in their native language.
Nine of the 13 members of the task force appointed to advise the Boston School Committee on multilingual education resigned in protest.
“The current plan is incomprehensible because it ignores what constitutes best educational practice,” said Mirren Uriarte and Rosan Tan, two of the departing commissioners, in an op-ed for the Globe. In fact, the district was unable to show any research or studies to support its plan.
“This is an English-only dumping operation,” Roger Rice, executive director of multicultural education, training and advocacy, said of the plan last year.
“We’re trying to do something very different than we’ve ever done before. This is the first year we’re going to deploy inclusion in a different way,” a district spokesperson told the Globe last week. “We’re in our second month of doing it, but we’re doing it with a very specific grade level. We’ve got to give it some time.”
BPS claims the plan will allow multilingual learners to be educated in the least restrictive environment. They borrow the term from the special education world, where inclusive practices are encouraged, such as teaching students with disabilities in general education classrooms.
Mainstreaming special education students leads to improved academic performance, social skill development, and many other benefits for students with disabilities. However, students with disabilities and English language learners are two different populations, and what works for one may not necessarily be best for the other. In the words of a former school district official, BPS’s definition of inclusion in the English language learner context is incorrect. The former official said the definition of inclusion is celebrating different cultures and different languages and fully embracing multilingualism.
It remains to be seen how the district’s new approach will pan out. But that’s obviously not ideal. In the long term, increasing bilingual provision by attracting more bilingual teachers and rebuilding the pipeline for training them will provide non-native English speakers with the education they need. is the most promising way to do so.
Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. follow us @GlobeOpinion.
