From Heritage: The Obama Administration last week unveiled new federal policy recommendations[1] that instruct states to support and encourage children to retain separate languages and cultural attachments. The policy was included in a joint policy statement[2] by the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services (HHS). The Administration stresses that these are mere recommendations that “do not confer any legal obligations,” but notes that failure to implement them may result in the loss of federal dollars.
The statements observe that there exists a “stubborn achievement gap” between dual-language learners (DLLs) and their monolingual counterparts.[3] The former are “behind their peers” in kindergarten, and experience “higher high school and college drop-out rates.” However, the Administration cites “a growing body of research,” which it says indicates that multilingualism confers all sorts of “cognitive and social advantages.” The reason for the mismatch between the promised potential in the cited studies and the observed facts on the ground is due to “the quality of experience [the DLL children] are currently receiving,” it says. “Not recognizing children’s cultures and languages as assets may also play a role in the achievement gap” because of the “low social prestige of minority languages,” say the statements.
The Administration maintains that the solution is to preserve these differences and recommends that early childhood programs nurture the “cultural and linguistic assets of this population of children.” It advises that states follow this path by such approaches as creating curricula and educational early childhood systems that “support children’s home language development” as well as English, employing credentialed bilingual staff, and communicating with the family in their primary language. Kindergarten entry assessments must be “culturally appropriate” and administered by professionals who speak the children’s home language. To ensure that teachers are “linguistically and culturally responsive” the states are urged to collaborate with Hispanic-serving institutions, or universities that serve immigrants and their children. Tolerance of and respect for cultural differences is not enough, say the recommendations. Early childhood programs must “embrace and celebrate their diversity.”
The Administration identifies four types of classroom models: (1) Dual immersion, (2) native language with English support, (3) English with native-language support, and (4) English only. The Administration encourages No. 2 as “the most feasible in programs where most of the DLLs in a program speak a common language at home,” and discourages No. 4 because “DLLs are less likely to receive the benefits discussed above.” It cited as reasons for action high numbers of immigrants and a globalized world. “The growing diversity of our nation’s children requires that we shift the status quo.”
