ERIC Number: EJ829129
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 33
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1467-9620
EISSN: N/A
The Role of Advocacy in Shaping Immigrant Education: A California Case Study
Olsen, Laurie
Teachers College Record, v111 n3 p817-850 2009
Background Context: Throughout United States history, immigrant education has been shaped and defined by political struggles over immigration, language rights, national security, and educational equity and access. Bilingual education has become the contemporary battleground for these struggles. In 1996, in California, a struggle ensued between supporters of bilingual education and the English Only movement, culminating in a public ballot initiative, Proposition 227, designed to end bilingual education. Purpose/Focus: This article explores the ways in which advocacy groups engage in efforts to protect immigrant students' access to, and inclusion in, schools, and how that engagement is shaped and seeks to impact on prevailing policies and ideologies. Design: This qualitative case study is based on historical records from the Proposition 227 campaigns, analysis of media coverage, and interviews, and was written as a reflective piece by a social scientist who was active in the campaigns. Conclusions and Recommendations: The battle over Proposition 227 was just one episode in a historically broader and deeper societal struggle between fundamentally different perspectives about the role of public schools in a diverse society. Although the explicit conflicts between English Only and bilingual education forces in California before, during, and after Proposition 227 were focused on English learner program design--the language to be used for instruction, materials, and credentialing--this was and is an ideological struggle. Advocates for bilingual education were unprepared for fighting this battle in the public arena of a ballot initiative. In the course of the Proposition 227 campaign, advocates drew lessons that informed a revised strategy: to shift the basic paradigm within which immigrant education is framed beyond the framework of civil rights and a compensatory program to redefine immigration schooling in an affirmative, additive 21st-century global vision. This has resulted in a renewed advocacy movement, illustrating the role that advocacy organizations play in adapting and reshaping the dialogues and policies over immigrant education.
Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Ideology, News Reporting, Immigration, Immigrants, Case Studies, Politics of Education, Advocacy, Access to Education, Educational Policy, Interviews, Educational History, State Legislation, English Only Movement, Language Attitudes
Teachers College, Columbia University. P.O. Box 103, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027. Tel: 212-678-3774; Fax: 212-678-6619; e-mail: tcr@tc.edu; Web site: http://www.tcrecord.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Proposition 227 (California 1998)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A