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Bill would bring back option of bilingual education to Massachusetts

BOSTON — Local lawmakers want to bring back bilingual education to the Bay State for all students.

A bill in the statehouse would get rid of a requirement that students without a waiver be taught totally in English.

An Act for Language Opportunity for Our Kids or "LOOK" bill was already approved in the House. Everett Democrat Sal Didomienico debated it in the state Thursday.

“What's happening with today's model is not working. Another generation of kids are going by, they're not succeeding at the same rate as their peers and we're allowing school districts more flexibility to educate these children because not one size fits all for everybody," he said (D-Everett).

The bill upends the 2002 law for English immersion voted in by referendum. Opponents like Dr. Rosalie Porter say English-only curriculum does works and she points to examples in California and Florida. Porter co-lead the ballot initiative 15 years ago.

"It's not unusual for a teacher to have children in an English language classroom from six, eight or 20 different language backgrounds we have developed an excellent strategy for teaching all these kids together without using the native language,” she said.

Another challenge is the number of languages spoken by students.

In Boston Public School, the state's largest school district, 140 foreign languages are spoken.
Deputy Superintendent of Student Support Services Karla Estrada said BPS is in favor of the bill but would need state support to recruit and hire more bilingual teachers.

“Being able to work with the state to ensure what they kind of certification and licensing would require, may change. But also making sure that we're recruiting,” she said.

The bill says there will be the creation of a teacher endorsement for those who have completed coursework and field-based experience within dual-language programs.