(NAME-MCE) New Report: Asian American Students Do Not Benefit from NCLB

[Anselmo Villanueva]

From: Brian Redondo [bredondo at aaldef.org]
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2008 4:45 PM
Subject: NEW REPORT: ASIAN AMERICAN STUDENTS DON'T BENEFIT FROM NO CHILD
LEFT BEHIND ACT - MAJOR REFORMS NEEDED

MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, May 5, 2008

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Khin Mai Aung, Staff Attorney
212.966.5932 x219
kaung at aaldef.org

Brian Redondo
212.966.5932 x210
bredondo at aaldef.org

NEW REPORT: ASIAN AMERICAN STUDENTS DON'T BENEFIT FROM
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT--MAJOR REFORMS NEEDED

New York, NY — At the first-ever National Asian American Education Advocates
Summit held at Columbia University last month, the Asian American Legal
Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), a 34-year old civil rights
organization, released its new report detailing several provisions of the No
Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that must be overhauled in order to meet the
needs of Asian American students.

AALDEF's report, Left in the Margins: Asian American Students and the No
Child Left Behind Act,  demonstrates how Asian Americans who are English
Language Learners (ELLs) are currently set up to fail under NCLB.  Citing
Census statistics and numerous examples in school districts around the
country, AALDEF illustrates how this marginalized community is falling
through our public education system's cracks.  Left in the Margins puts a
spotlight on particular school districts where Asian American ELL students
are the most visible and also highly vulnerable due to the lack of
appropriate services.

Margaret Fung, AALDEF executive director, said: "Since the No Child Left
Behind law was enacted, we have not seen significant improvements in the
quality of public education. Instead, Asian Americans-- especially
immigrant, poor and non-English speaking students--have been left behind to
fend for themselves in securing basic educational services. "

Key recommendations from AALDEF's report propose several major changes in
NCLB:

Provide targeted language services for Asian American ELLs, since nearly a
quarter of all Asian American students are ELLs.  Among those between the
ages 5 and 17, over half of Hmong Americans, 39% of Vietnamese Americans,
and 34% of Bangladeshi Americans are ELLs.

Use absolute numerical thresholds and/or population ratios in smaller
districts or counties (rather than states) to determine the need for native
language materials.  Asian American ELLs are densely populated in specific
neighborhoods throughout the country.  For example, Vietnamese-speaking ELLs
in Seattle constitute 16% of all ELLs in the city, but only 4% of the total
ELL population in the state of Washington .  If native language materials
were available only for language minority groups that made up at least 10%
of ELLs in a state, then large numbers of Vietnamese-speaking ELLs would not
benefit from native language materials.

Use multiple forms of assessment to measure ELL student achievement and
limit the use of testing-based sanctions to abate high dropout rates among
ELL students.  In New York City , the class of 2006's ELL population had a
dropout rate of 30% compared to 6.9% of all students citywide.

Provide states with funds to hire more ESL specialists, bilingual education
specialists, and teachers bilingual in Asian languages.  Although Vietnamese
is the second most common native language of ELLs in California , there is
only one bilingual teacher for every 662 Vietnamese-speaking students in the
state.

Provide states with more funds to translate school documents, hire
interpreters, and conduct community education for immigrant families.  Over
40% of Vietnamese, Korean, and Chinese households are linguistically
isolated.

Require every state to collect comprehensive student data that is
disaggregated by ethnicity, native language, socioeconomic status, ELL
status, and ELL program type.  Without this information, the educational
needs of individual groups are concealed and will remain unaddressed.

Copies of Left in the Margins: Asian American Students and the No Child Left
Behind Act are available at
www.aaldef.org/docs/AALDEF_LeftintheMargins_NCLB.pdf.

###

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), founded in
1974, is a national organization that protects and promotes the civil rights
of Asian Americans.  By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and
organizing, AALDEF works with Asian American communities across the country
to secure human rights for all.