nov 7, 2000 - Arizona Proposition 203
Description:
-English for the Children Initiative-Authored, funded, and led by CA software millionaire, Ron Unz (modeled after Prop. 227 in CA)
-Unz believed bilingual education programs violated immigrant children’s right to learn English; he used misleading statistics and data and false claims in making the case for eliminating bilingual education.
-Goal: to ensure AZ students learn English “as rapidly and effectively as possible”
-Expressly prohibited subject matter instruction in any language other than English; stated children must read and write “solely in English”
-LEP students must be taught in English-only Structured English Immersion (SEI) programs until scoring as proficient on state language assessment
-Prop 203 was projected to result in savings of up to $20.3 million as soon as 2004.
-Prop 203 was passed at 63% November 7, 2000
After being passed…
-In 2006, the Arizona Task Force was formed to develop and adopt research-based Structured English Immersion (SEI) programs. They implemented the following:
-include a minimum of 4 hours of daily English Language Development (ELD) for LEP students in the first year
-define ELD as separate from content instruction, focusing solely on the English language
-mandate a specific number of minutes for each element of language instruction
Added to timeline:
Date:
nov 7, 2000
Now
~ 24 years ago