Virginia F. Doherty

     Looking at the percentage of Spanish in the chart, it would be difficult to tell which is the dual language class and which is the regular one.  The use of English in the dual language class is greater than the use of English in one of the regular classes.  The Spanish instruction part of the DL day is more than 50% in English.  In one of the regular Kindergarten classes, since the assistant is not fluent in English, there is more Spanish spoken than in the Spanish part of the DL class. 

     The four brief observations showed that the DL program is not following the program design that specifically states that the languages of instruction must be treated equally and that they must be kept separate.  In both DL classes, Spanish was not used as much as English during the Spanish part of the instructional day. 
     The observations also point out that in the regular Kindergarten classes, since there is an assistant whose primary language is Spanish, a great part of the instructional time is in Spanish.  When the two groups are tested for progress in English at the end of the year, the results should show that since the dual language children are learning in both languages, their progress in English should be slower at the beginning and then accelerate.  But, with all four observed groups using Spanish 40-60% of the instructional time, the results should be very similar.
     These observations show that the dual language program is not complying with good program design.  Translation method, which is found not to be efficient, is consistently used.  Since program design for an effective dual language program requires equal instruction of the two languages (Cloud, et al 2000; Collier, 1995, Cummins, 2001) then non-compliance with the design will skew the results of the testing at the end of the academic year.  This program cannot be considered a true dual language program since Spanish is used less than 50%, as the language of instruction during the Spanish part of the day.  When evaluating dual language programs, we have to look at not only the program design but also the implementation of the program in terms of actual language division and use. 
     Equal use of the two languages in a dual language program is a critical feature of program design.  When the program does not comply with this feature then the students’ test results will not be a valid evaluation of the program.
 

     As I reread and reflect on this class and this project in particular, I realize how judgmental I was in undertaking the study.  I was determined to show that a program was not working and that I knew why.  As I reiterate in my current goal statement, my motivation for my studies at that time was not to be a scholar but rather to be a program savior.  I went into the study with the idea of showing that a program was broken and I could fix it. 

     One valuable part of the class for me was the discussion of surveys and questionnaires.  We spent time looking at survey design and how to format a questionnaire.  This could prove important to me in my dissertation if I choose to study the parents of the two culture/language groups in the dual language program.  I can imagine that I could design a survey of the parents to find out basic information on their background--literacy level, education level, understanding of the dual language program and other information that can help me profile the two groups.  I can definitely say that my dissertation will not be a quantitative study but it could be a mixed methods study.

     What I learned in this class was mostly technical.  I feel that I can work well with EXCEL and SPSS (with a bit of a refresher).  I also believe that I read and understand most terms in quantitative research studies.  For that, I am thankful. 
 

     The thought of taking a statistics course scared me.  I am a math-phobe.  In college I had taken advanced calculus and gotten through it but not with a grade that I'm proud of.  And that was the last time I had even though of a math class.  Until this class.
     We started with a quiz to show what we knew.  It was a laugh.  We were worse than our students when they take a quiz on something that they have never seen before.  Some of us passed and some of us didn't but we all agreed that a pass was a fluke.  The next class started with a return to basics, starting with the definition of statistics and a discussion about the meaning of data.
     The course progressed nice and slowly.  If I had to take this course again, I would try to schedule it with no other classes. This semester I took three courses and I felt that I didn't have enough time to really understand and practice all the concepts and formulas I learned.  I bought a number of other books on statistics to help me understand the concepts.  I read the textbook chapters and then went to the Idiot's Guide to Statistics and Statistics for Dummies. 
     This course got me thinking of my interests and passions in terms of quantitative research methods.  Up to this point, I had thought that my research would be qualitative.  In this course, I started to think of the kind of information I would need in order to study the program design of the dual language program at my school. 
      I had difficulty deciding on a topic for my project.  I had wanted to look at standardized test results of some students who were in the dual language program compared to a group of students of the same grade who were in a regular class.  When we realized that I would not have actual  data to use for the study, I decided to revert to my main complaint about the dual language program at that time:  too much English and not enough Spanish.  What I found was that in the non-dual language kindergarten class, there was more Spanish used than English during the times that I observed. This happened because the assistant in the kindergarten class was much more comfortable in Spanish than in English. So, she took small groups of Spanish speakers and translated the lessons or explained in Spanish what was going on.  I will address what was happening in the dual language class more in the section about my research ideas.

     In retrospect, this course was a killer but I do see why it was necessary. I wish that I had taken it at a time when I could have spent more hours on it.  The professor might have taught in depth but I learned only on the surface.
 

     We started studying the historical development and multiple conceptions of multicultural education.  From there we looked at ME as a facilitator of academic achievement.  In this section of the course we read and discussed not only the research but also original voices of ethnic groups which comprise our public school system.  We also looked at gender issues in education through research and original voices such as the video of Qiu Ju. 

     The next section, multicultural education as a facilitator of intercultural communication brought in the topic of teacher education and preparation for multicultural classes.  And the final topic, ME as a facilitator of reform took in education reform as well as societal change.

     Throughout the class we presented summaries and critiques on selected readings and lead the class discussion for those readings.  We had two major writing assignments in the course with the purpose of developing in-depth knowledge on a selected topic or area of ME.  The first one introduced the topic and the second one refined the points or analyzed the issue presented in the first project.

     For my projects I chose the area of bilingual education.  In the first one, I presented bilingual education, especially dual language (two-way bilingual) programs as  an effective option for students learning English in the U.S. public school system (Program Options for Language Minority Students in Elementary Schools).

     The second project built on this first by looking at the critical features of a dual language program and analyzing a specific program in terms of one of the critical elements (Dual Language Program Design in Practice).  This second paper presented a problem because I had not stipulated clearly enough that I was dealing with only one aspect of dual language program design rather than all of the critical elements of it. I had to rewrite it.  Here is the rewritten paper. (Second paper for EDUC 894

     As you can see, the choice of topics once again showed that I had found a broken program and wanted to fix it. I think that I looked at the research and looked for research that cast a very one sided view of dual language program design. I specifically focused on the one area of equal time use of the two target languages to the exclusion of other aspects. As I look at this in retrospect, I feel that I missed an opportunity to learn more about dual language programs from a multicultural education perspective.  That will be one area that I will need to address by reading more of Sonia Nieto, Guadalupe Valdes and keeping up with recent research on the cultural aspects of dual language programs.

    I had to rewrite the second paper and that gave me more time to hone my writing skills. I learned that I am weak on putting out the thesis at the beginning and then developing the thesis.  David, you will roll your eyes when you read this because you have been saying that since my first paper in EDUC 802.  I'm working on it!

     Another benefit of this class is that I met colleagues whose interests are very close to mine.  Since all my courses up to this point had been in Ed. Leadership, I had not met many students who were passionate about bilingual or multicultural education.  In this seminar, I met people whose interests were very similarly aligned with mine. It was refreshing and gave me hope that I was not alone in trying to educate my peers about the value of home language education.

     In this course we were required to search the internet and to read extensively to find what we considered an emerging issue.  And then we looked at the issue in terms of the factors that could 'tip' it into the public eye.  We looked at the types of people who are normally involved in taking action on issues: the connectors, the mavens and the salesmen.  Then from the weekly sharing of what we thought could be emerging issues that could become major issues, we had to choose one and write about it in terms of potential for change.

     I chose to write my paper on the issue of Text Messaging and how instant messaging is changing English.  I decided to use this issue when I found a news article from the Vatican press saying that the Pope would not accept IM or text messaged confessions as legitimate compliance with the rules of the Catholic church!  What I had thought was something that American teenagers and young adults do for fast communication was becoming an issue world-wide and in the most conservative realms.  Research for this paper introduced me to an entire new set of sources and resources since all of my research up to this point had been in the academic realm. 

   One of the required activities in the course was to attend a school board meeting and analyze it in terms of the issues and the people who supported them.  We also had to look at the roles that the members took during the meeting and decide which of the issues would be supported by which of the board members.  It was a very interesting activity and having the framework of The Tipping Point gave us the vocabulary to use when discussing our issues.  (School Board)

     Another project we had to do was to write a memo to a decision maker based on what we saw as an emerging issue. It was an exercise in memo writing as well as defining issues. (Memo to Joel Klein)  Of course, I chose to write about education for the language minority population in the NYC city schools. Even though I looked at this course as one to help me broaden my knowledge base to other aspects of education, I found that I gravitated to bilingual education issues.

     All of the exercises as well as the discussions were aimed at broadening our thinking to look at issues in terms of who was involved in them and the potential power to emerge that some issues intrinsically had and some did not.  Then we looked at our own field/special interest and speculated about what would happen.    I took this course during the time when Massachusetts and Colorado voted on propositions to eliminate bilingual education.  It was interesting for me to follow the aftermath in Massachusetts and to speculate on what would happen in the future.   As I follow the Massachusetts situation, I still see that my prediction is starting to emerge: more dual language programs because they offer a way to circumvent the ban on bilingual education by offering a program for the language majority population.
 

     This was an extremely refreshing and stimulating course and it was given right before EDRS 811 which was very dense.  So it was a joyful time to share experiences and share what we thought could be emerging issues before we settled down into the computer lab for statistics. 

     An emerging issues class is a necessary part of a doctoral program because it makes you think beyond what is happening right now.  So many of the courses focus on what has gone on before.  Research looks at what is done, finished, documented.  With emerging issues, you get to look ahead and see what might be an issue that will hit a tipping point and burst onto the scene. 

    The only distraction in this course was the focus on issues outside of our topics. I kept finding issues that I wanted to explore and as I look over the kinds of articles I downloaded during this course, almost none of them fit into my research interests. I wanted to keep branching out to leadership issues involving school boards, district policy making and school management.  I found that this course brought me back to EDUC 802 with its emphasis on decision making and policy making.  The book, The Tipping Point offered another way (much more readable way) to look at how decisions are made. I think that it would make a good addition to EDUC 802 as outside reading.  The book presents potential for change in very readable and discussible terms. 

     Good course, good book, good experience!