Letting English Learners Down: Federal Bilingual Education Programs in Arizona

Research Study

Federally-funded programs account for one-third of the money Arizona spends on education programs for its 140,000 English learners. Much of that takes the form of Title VII bilingual education grants. This study examines official reports filed with the U.S. Department of Education by recipients of those grants. Among its findings:

• Nearly all programs examined either failed to meet major program objectives, submitted unmeasurable objectives, or contained no outcome-based objectives.
• Some programs failed to demonstrate any significant growth in English proficiency for more than half of their students.
• Meanwhile, program funds were spent on tangential activities, including out-of-state travel for program officials and seminars on “The Hegemony of English” and “Cultural Teaching of Wildlife.”

Details follow.

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