Global Strategies

Immersion hearing in Lake Oswego

I was last night in Lake Oswego at meetings of the Lake Oswego School Board. They had a public hearing on “strategic initiatives” followed by a regular Board meeting.

One of their possible strategic initiatives is to add Spanish and Mandarin immersion programs. Lake Oswego Superintendent Bill Korach is recommending the following:

Therefore. I recommend that the district concentrate now on the development of a Spanish immersion program and continue our study of the workability and feasibility of a Mandarin immersion program to be implemented sometime in the district’s future. Our initial efforts to venture beyond a language immersion kindergarten must be taken in a staged, focused progression in order for it to be successful.

The public hearing lasted one hour and a half with about thirty speakers each getting three minutes. About half were primarily concerned with a middle school scheduling issue with the other half largely speaking in support of one or both immersion programs.

Then, just a bit later, early in the regular Board meeting, Lake Oswego Mayor John Hoffman, who has visited China numerous times, spoke about what he saw in China and the potential for the Lake Oswego School District to work with the Confucius Institute at Portland State University. He said “China is going to be more important to us” and urged the Lake Oswego School District to be in the forefront (of Mandarin and China related education). Profession Meiru Liu, head of the PSU Confucius Institute, then described the K-12 programs and support offered by the Confucius Institute.

Two thoughts:

First, one of the ways the Confucius Institute could help the Lake Oswego School District is by providing free Mandarin teachers and Mandarin materials for their immersion program. The Lake Oswego School Board indicated an interest in meeting more with the Confucius Institute. I hope they focus in on getting Mandarin teachers and related issues. It could make the difference between Lake Oswego having a Mandarin immersion program or not.

Second, I have been emailing legislators as an Oregon legislative session is about to begin. I was struck that the really important issues, the rise of China, the changing global economy,  and how to respond, were more in play and in discussion at a local school board meeting than is likely to happen at the Oregon Capitol during the legislative session. Given the nest of special educational interests with their set agendas, discussions in Salem of more Mandarin immersion programs or sending high school students to study in China (as I am urging) is unlikely. Governor Kitzhaber has his own educational agenda, and it does not include worrying about China. So it is up to local school districts, and more specifically those groups of parents, my heroes, who for their variety of reasons are calling for the needed educational change. Power to those people!

Update: The Oregonian's Nicole Dungca covered the meetng here.

"Immersion students tend to outperform their English-only peers on standardized tests."

The Deseret News (Utah) has an article “Language immersion classroom: Programs are popular, diligence translate to performance” by Mercedes White that revues some of the research on foreign language immersion programs (here):

….. In 1981 there were fewer than 30 immersion programs in the country, today there are 448, according to a 2011 report released by the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), a non-profit organization that advocates for foreign language instruction. States like Minnesota and Utah are leading the way with 52 and 58 schools offering language immersion options. American students are being educated in Spanish, French, Mandarin, Japanese, German, Arabic, and Norwegian.

One of the most intriguing aspects of these programs, both for parents and educators, is that immersion students tend to outperform their English-only peers on standardized tests. Why this phenomena exists is not entirely clear, but several factors unique to these programs provide some insight. Learning a new language simulates brain development in ways that enhance mental flexibility and develop problem solving skills says Ellen Bialystok, a research psychologist at York University in Toronto Canada. Parents with children in immersion programs may be more invested in their kids education, which has strong positive impact on student achievement notes Fatima Baig an education researcher at the University of Iowa. Finally, the nature of language immersion teaches students how to stick to difficult tasks. This diligence translates to better performance on exams, because students will be more likely to persist on challenging problems, according to a report released by the department of education at the University of Pennsylvania….

"Children who were from socio-economically underprivileged backgrounds benefited from immersion instruction as much as their more affluent peer."

And, for Oregon’s Governor Kitzhaber and other educators focused on getting high school graduation rates up among underperforming students, foreign language immersion programs could help:

….. In a study of French immersion students in the Cincinnati Public School system researchers found that children who were from socio-economically underprivileged backgrounds benefited from immersion instruction as much as their more affluent peers. "Bilingual education helps to level the socio-economic playing field by giving students from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to acquire and excel in another language ... in some cases (they) perform as well as students from more advangtaged backgrounds," said Fred Genesee, researcher on the study, from his office at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.

"Bilingual education helps to level the socio-economic playing field by giving students from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to acquire and excel in another language..."

 

"The World Has Changed" - on working abroad

"Companies want globally competent employees – including multilanguage competency."

From the NY Times' "The World Has Changed" by Stacy Nevadomski Berdan, author of "Go Global! Launching an International Career Here or Abroad" (here):

But the world has changed since then. Today many Americans work abroad, competing with global graduates proficient in three to four languages and ever-stronger emerging market talent pools. Companies want globally competent employees – including multilanguage competency. Few starting out today could succeed as I did speaking only English. Some could squeak by, but why set ourselves up for even partial failure? Research shows early language learning works best, and aids cognitive development beyond language arts. Why miss that window?

Video: London hosts Europe's biggist Chinese New Year celebration

China's "geostrategic position is more difficult"

Robert Kagan has a longish article “Not Fade Away: The myth of American decline” in the New Republic. It, of course, mentions China in many places. One such is (here, p.5):

Today, in the case of China, the situation is reversed. Although China is and will be much richer, and will wield greater economic influence in the world than the Soviet Union ever did, its geostrategic position is more difficult. World War II left China in a comparatively weak position from which it has been working hard to recover ever since. Several of its neighbors are strong nations with close ties to the United States. It will have a hard time becoming a regional hegemon so long as Taiwan remains independent and strategically tied to the United States, and so long as strong regional powers such as Japan, Korea, and Australia continue to host American troops and bases. China would need at least a few allies to have any chance of pushing the United States out of its strongholds in the western Pacific, but right now it is the United States that has the allies. It is the United States that has its troops deployed in forward bases. It is the United States that currently enjoys naval predominance in the key waters and waterways through which China must trade. Altogether, China’s task as a rising great power, which is to push the United States out of its present position, is much harder than America’s task, which is only to hold on to what it has.

Video: Singapore's Lee Hsien Loong on China

Fareed Zakaria interviews Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of Singapore, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In part:

Fareed Zakaria: Do you think that the forces within China that are for that kind of a conciliatory approach versus a more hardline approach are gaining or losing strength right now?

Lee Hsien Loong: I think the generation which saw the war, the generation which experienced the Cultural Revolution will know the limits and will understand that the priority is to make sure that China is well internally, and not to push their weight around externally. The generation which grew up as China is prospering and rising, and is proud of so many things -- fast trains, Olympic games, cosmonauts (or astronauts, taikonauts) -- so many achievements, whether they will have the same balance and perspective is the 64,000 dollar question.

Can the Oregonian tell the difference between educational reform and reschuffling the status quo?

The Oregonian’s editorial “Keep school reform moving” is a disappointment. It’s core argument is silly (here):

The choice now is to spend more time in this underfunded and failed system, or to grab hold and pass Kitzhaber's proposed reforms, and then shape and strengthen them on the fly.

Go with the governor. If Oregon is going to err, let's for once err on the side of action, rather than continue pretending that our early childhood programs, schools and universities are better than they are, and talk, talk, talk until every proposed change is beaten flat into a form that feels safe and fits neatly onto dusty shelves.

Passing impossible, wasteful (how could we ever fund enough programs to graduate everyone, 100% from high school) and shifting educational bureaucracies about is not educational reform. It's pretend reform that mostly reschuffles the status quo.  So, not only are we now pretending all our schools "are better than they are", but we are now pretending to reform them. “Every proposed change” has already been “beaten flat into a form that feels safe.”

Several better paths are available. The legislature could enact them. The Oregonian could support them (or at least mention them): More foreign language immersion programs (especially Mandarin), more high school and university study abroad programs, and more online education (especially many more independent online courses at the high school and university levels.).

Recall what Arvind Subramanian, author of the Eclipse, said in a recent post (here):

China, by 2030, will have a fifty percent larger economy than the United States, fifty percent more trade, it will continue to control the financial spigots of the world, and it will, perhaps, be issuing the world’s number one currency.

Does the Governor’s education reform effort really seem adequate to prepare today’s students for that world? I don’t think so!

Delaware expands foreign language immersion programs

While Oregon rearranges its state educational bureaucracies and gives them more power, a few other states are moving ahead with real educational reform. Like Utah (here), Delaware is now planning to expand foreign language immersion programs.  From the CNN article “The growing alternative to English-only education” (here):

..... Delaware recently partnered with Utah to build a similar immersion instruction program in their state. Dr. Gregory Fulkerson with Delaware’s Department of Education said they hope to have five programs implemented next year and are using Utah’s model as an example of how to structure a state led immersion initiative.

Like Utah, Fulkerson said, Delaware has an economic incentive to create dual language programs.  Many of the country’s Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Wilmington,Delaware.  Fulkerson said when one large insurance company in Wilmington decided to expand in Brussels instead of Delaware, state leaders were left asking, “why?”

The reason the company gave: “The average person in Brussels speaks three languages,” Fulkerson said, “and the average person in Wilmington, Delaware, speaks one.”

“The average person in Brussels speaks three languages, and the average person in Wilmington, Delaware, speaks one.”

“Language learning is not just about a college prerequisite skills, it’s about real world skills, language learning is about jobs,” Fulkerson said.  “So we have to do a much better job to create advanced language skills that will keep jobs in Delaware or create jobs here.”

Fulkerson also noted that while language fluency is important in business deals, it’s also the softer side of cultural competency that comes with understanding another language that businesses look for in an employee.

“What businesses really want from the people they hire is not only advanced language but an ability to communicate culturally - being appreciative of how to communicate with people of other cultures,” he said.....

Support Spanish and Mandarin Immersion Program in Lake Oswego

As part of its “Strategic Initiatives,” the Lake Oswego School District is considering adding Spanish and Mandarin immersion programs. A public hearing on the proposals will be held at 6 pm on Monday, 1/30/12, just prior to the Lake Oswego School Board meeting at 7 pm (here). The Lake Oswego School Board should, of course, move ahead with this modest immersion proposal.

The group “Advocates for World Languages at LOSD” has asked the following (here):

We ask that Lake Oswego School District expand elementary world language programs in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese starting Fall 2012, for the following reasons:

• New Revenue: Language immersion programs will help our school district combat declining enrollment and support existing programs. Every new student at LOSD brings between $6500- $8500 in revenue. If we can grow our elementary student population, we will be in a better position to protect and potentially expand existing programs (PE, Music, etc).

• Doing nothing has a cost: More families will take advantage of statewide transfer legislation and leave LOSD for new language immersion programs at Portland, Beaverton and West Linn. The district will make boundary decisions this winter that will impact the ability to plan for language immersion in the long term. We should put the children first, and move forward without delay.

• Equity in student populations: If LOSD decides to offer language immersion at River Grove Elementary, this may require portables to support additional students. Increasing the capacity at River Grove will bring it on par with the size of schools in the rest of the district. More students at River Grove will mean a stronger PTO and the ability to raise funds to support the entire school (technology, etc).

• Our group is strong and growing: 224 families representing 400 children have signed a petition asking LOSD for language immersion programs. Parents have been asking for these programs for over four years. We know our efforts will result in programs that will better serve children at LOSD.

Video: "Inside a Chinese Communist Party school"