News: In Focus

To Learn a Language

A leading scientist speaks out on what English-language learners need to succeed in school.

In the contentious debate over how best to teach English-language learners, Kenji Hakuta is not a name that readily pops to mind. Yet this Stanford University professor is helping shape the national discourse-not with political rhetoric, but with his own research.

Dr. Hakuta is an experimental psycho- linguist-he studies how language is learned and used-and his work on how long it takes children to become proficient in English has made him one of the most sought-after thinkers in America on the question of what works best: English immersion, bilingual programs, or something in between. His research has even landed him in lively face-offs with Ronald Unz, the California businessman who has funded anti-bilingual education propositions in several states.

It's an unlikely role for a man who firmly believes "horse race" comparisons of English-language learner programs are beside the point. While bilingual education shows slightly better success than English-only-Hakuta has analyzed the data-the real key to helping kids learn English, he insists, is to improve their schools.

"Three-quarters of English learners attend high-poverty schools, which have the highest percentage of teachers on emergency credentials, the highest student turnover, the most difficult circumstances generally," Hakuta says. "The students will suffer regardless of the program."

Unfortunately, he adds, this focus rarely finds its way into the debate over bilingual education. Claims by Unz, for example, that test scores in California soared because of the English-only mandates in Proposition 227 cloud the bigger social issues-and are misguided, to boot, Hakuta says. Scores shot up in districts that used bilingual programs, too, he notes.

Hakuta, who also chairs a key U.S. Department of Education research policy board, studied a California school district that had the fastest rate for designating English-language learners "proficient" and found it took four to seven years to get students to that level. A host of factors, however, can slow that process or quicken it: parent education, literacy in the child's first language, and age.

Hakuta hopes that one day, the issues of equity and access for English-language learners won't loom so large, and bilingualism-which his research shows leads to higher "cognitive flexibility"-can be appreciated on its merit.

"I've documented that native Spanish speakers who haven't received much support in their own language retain their oral skills, but won't develop the academic aspect of their own language," he says. "It's a shame."

--Marilyn Milloy

For more: Visit www.stanford.edu/~hakuta/. Hakuta is featured in the National Association for Bilingual Education Star Series professional development kit. Find it under products at www.nabe.org.

Flirting or Hurting?

Four years ago, several boys at Avondale Middle School in Rochester Hills, Michigan, were suspended for sexual harassment. The boys thought they were just flirting.

The very next week, Maria Kopicki's eighth-grade criminal law class decided to rework the school sexual harassment policy.

That policy banned four broad categories of harassment: verbal abuse, pressure for sexual activity, persistent remarks about one's body, and physical assault.

The class expanded the list, put in specifics, and divided of-fenses into three levels of severity.

Deliberate staring is mildly offensive, they decided. Joking about sexual orientation is a moderate transgression. Threatening sexual behavior is severe.

The students said the difference between flirting and harassment is that harassment makes someone uncomfortable. "Ninety percent of the time, people do not think their behavior is harassment," says Kopicki.

The project won first prize in Michigan's Project Citizen competition, which is cosponsored by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Kopicki's class and their work drew national attention with a Nickelodeon feature.

The school board approved the new guidelines for the school district. Avondale Middle School reports a 90 percent drop in sexual harassment complaints since the new policy took effect.

--Lauren Fischer

For more: E-mail Maria at Maria.Kopicki@Avondale.k12.mi.us.

A Global Study Of the Moon

The Moon shining down on Alabama is the focus of a project that has linked fourth and fifth graders in Tuscaloosa's Northington Elementary School with other budding scientists around the globe.

Funded partly by a grant from The NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education (NFIE), the effort involved the University of Alabama, Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, and several public schools. "It was a true partnership in every way," says Alabama Professor Kathy Shaver.

The main goal was to teach students why the Moon has phases. National science standards say that's something students should know, but research shows even most adults can't explain it. Admitting that teaching science was never her passion, Northington teacher Randy Moodie says the project had teachers and students learning together.

That's just what Ball State Professor Walter Smith had in mind when he launched the project in 2001. He started small, electronically linking fourth graders, preservice teachers from his campus lab school, and Navajo students in New Mexico. The next semester, he added more schools and by last spring, had more than 300 children worldwide.

The most basic step, getting students to make nightly drawings of the Moon's appearance, proved the hardest for the Alabama children. Many lived in low-income housing units and their parents did not let them go out at night, says Moodie. "If they couldn't see the Moon from their windows, they couldn't do the log." So other classmates shared their sketches and students used newspapers and calendars to find each day's phase.

Moodie says the children loved chatting online with students from Indiana, Alaska, New Mexico, and Australia. Videoconference equipment allowed students to draw the Moon for their new buddies.

"They were amazed that students in other places saw the same phase of the Moon," Moodie says.

Students also kept journals, wrote Moon poems, sang oldies like "Bad Moon Rising," and studied Moon-related vocabulary, getting a kick out of Latin-derived words like lunacy and lunatic. Werewolves were a hot topic when students discussed Moon-based superstitions. Online conversations allowed students to share and discover Moon legends from other cultures.

For more: Go to http://web.bsu.edu/moon/ or e-mail Shaver at kshaver@bamaed.ua.edu. Go to www.nfie.org for information on NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education grants.

Website Brings Lessons of September 11 to Your Classroom

What will you do with your classes on September 11?

Educators across the country are asking themselves that question as the anniversary of the terrorist attacks approaches-and many of them have come up with good answers.

NEA's Health Information Network has created a website to help educators share those ideas. Educators can write their lesson plans and other ideas on a website form and read what other people plan to do.

"Anniversaries are important to recovery," says HIN Director Jerald Newberry, "Teachers are overloaded and time is a challenge. We can relieve some of that pressure."

Among the first lesson plans posted on the site is a set of units developed by the Red Cross called "Facing Fear: Helping Children Deal with Terrorism and Tragic Events."

In these lessons, students learn to cope with feelings of loss and anger, discover how to discern facts from embellished fiction in the media, and consider positive actions in light of a national tragedy. The material is tailored for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, or 9-12.

The HIN site includes contributions from other organizations as well, but Newberry believes some of the best, most useful ideas will come from individual educators across the country who are wrestling with how to teach children about a great national tragedy.

Sponsored in part by a $50,000 grant from Johnson & Johnson, the site is designed in the same spirit as the website created by NEA immediately after September 11, which supported educators and parents as they helped children come to terms with what happened.

To contribute your ideas or to read those of other educators, go to http://neahin.org/programs/schoolsafety/september11/index.htm.

--Lauren Fischer