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James Ceaser is the Harry F. Byrd Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, director of the Program for Constitutionalism and Democracy, and was a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is the author of several books on American politics and American political thought, including...
Education Next: Fueled by Federal Stimulus Package, Education Spending Will Likely Increase Over Next Decade Despite Lack of Achievement Gains for Students
Despite an economic downturn and new data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released last month that show no learning gains in math for American 4th graders, the nation`s public schools will likely have more money and a larger and better paid labor force than they had in 2009, according to education researchers James W. Guthrie and Arthur Peng of Vanderbilt University. . . .
Has School Accountability Outlived Its Shelf Life?
One of the earliest casualties of the COVID-related school closures was school accountability for academic results, and many education leaders want it to stay that way.
The Dance of the Lemons
Why is the quality of teachers so low? Just try getting rid of a bad one. Hoover media fellow Peter Schweizer explains.
Abbott districts need better incentives
"[T]he cost per academically qualified high-school graduate in [Camden and Newark] is nearly $1 million."
School for $6 a Month
When governments abroad fail to offer decent schools, entrepreneurs rush in. By Chester E. Finn Jr.
Smaller Is Better
The evidence is coming in: Smaller schools produce results. By Hoover fellow Hanna Skandera and Hoover senior associate director Richard Sousa.
Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut
Universal preschool education is not the solution to America’s long-standing education achievement gaps.
Why School Lunch is “Nasty!”
Commodity surpluses and policy shortcomings
Bilingual Education: A Critique
Bilingual education has been a subject of national debate since the 1960s. This essay traces the evolution of that debate from its origin in the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Bilingual Education Act (1968), which decreed that a child should be instructed in his or her native tongue for a transitional year while she or he learned English but was to transfer to an all-English classroom as fast as possible. These prescriptions were ignored by bilingual enthusiasts; English was neglected, and Spanish language and cultural maintenance became the norm.
Bilingual education was said to be essential for the purposes of gaining a new sense of pride for the Hispanics and to resist Americanization. The Lau v. Nichols (1974) decision stands out as a landmark on the road to bilingual education for those unable to speak English: bilingual education moved away from a transitional year to a multiyear plan to teach children first in their home language, if it was not English, before teaching them in English. This facilitation theory imprisoned Spanish speakers in classrooms where essentially only Spanish was taught, and bilingual education became Spanish cultural maintenance with English limited to thirty minutes a day. The essay discusses the pros and cons of bilingual education.
Criticism of bilingual education has grown as parents and numerous objective analyses have shown it was ineffective, kept students too long in Spanish-only classes, and slowed the learning of English and assimilation into American society. High dropout rates for Latino students, low graduation rates from high schools and colleges have imprisoned Spanish speakers at the bottom of the economic and educational ladder in the United States.
This revolt, the defects of bilingual education, and the changes needed to restore English for the Children are covered in the essay. The implications of Proposition 227 abolishing bilingual education in California are also discussed.