Standard 5.

a Reflection: ESC 759 Bilingual Education Policies

This paper was written for ESC 759, Foundations of
Bilingual/Bicultural Education. It traces the history of local and federal
bilingual education policies, and examines the implications for English
Language Learners in New York City.
Using scholarly research sheds a light on how the policies affect
second language acquisition. For instance Transitional Bilingual
Education (TBE) has been fazed out of use in NYC public schools in
response to NCLB. The paper cites how this conflicts with scholarly
research that shows the benefit of native-language literacy to SLA. In
this way, this artifact demonstrates an understanding of the impact of
NCLB and other federal, state, and local laws and policies on the
instruction and achievement of ELLs.
The paper explains the impact of legislation on their classrooms
and the schools community. It begins with the genesis of bilingual
education in NYC in response to a demand by community groups to
address the high dropout rate of immigrant Puerto Rican students due
to English-only instruction offered in the 1960s. The existing
legislation was hurting the community, and the community retaliated
in such a way that they could change legislation. This artifact reminds
me that not only do I need to stay informed regarding education
legislation, but I also need to be aware of the community in which I am
teaching and what their needs are regarding policies so I can advocate

for them.