78S41029 CAS-D

By:  Shapleigh                                                    S.B. No. 19 



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a two-way developmental bilingual education pilot 
project in certain school districts.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  (a)  This Act may be cited as the "21st Century 
Texas Educational Competitiveness Act."
	(b)  In the 2002-2003 school year, over 50 percent of the 
students enrolled in the first grade in the three largest school 
districts in this state, the Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth 
Independent School Districts, were Hispanic.  Forty percent of 
those students were classified as students of limited English 
proficiency.  The data for those school districts represent a 
growing statewide trend that will pose significant challenges to 
educators of children who are required to learn in a language other 
than the primary language spoken in the home.  Two-way 
developmental bilingual education programs provide instruction in 
both English and the native language of the non-English speaking 
students.  Those programs promote bilingualism, biliteracy, and 
grade-level academic achievement by placing both native 
English-speaking and non-English speaking students together in one 
classroom.  Wayne Thomas and Virginia Collier conducted a study in 
which they examined the records of 700,000 students in various 
bilingual education programs.  The study found that those students 
who received grade-level cognitive and academic instruction in both 
their first and second languages for many years were succeeding at 
the end of high school.  In fact, by the eighth grade, nonnative 
English speakers in two-way developmental bilingual education 
programs were found to outperform native English speakers on 
standardized tests.  Those programs also experience lower dropout 
rates than other bilingual education programs.  The 21st Century 
Texas Educational Competitiveness Act establishes a pilot program 
to study the effectiveness of two-way developmental bilingual 
education.
	SECTION 2.  Subchapter A, Chapter 28, Education Code, is 
amended by adding Section 28.0052 to read as follows:
	Sec. 28.0052.  TWO-WAY DEVELOPMENTAL BILINGUAL EDUCATION 
PILOT PROJECT.  (a)  The commissioner shall establish a pilot 
project in five school districts selected by the commissioner under 
which the agency examines two-way developmental bilingual 
education programs and the effect of those programs on a student's 
ability to graduate from high school.
	(b)  In selecting school districts under Subsection (a), the 
commissioner shall select districts with a high percentage of 
students of limited English proficiency, as defined by Section 
29.052.
	(c)  The agency shall report to the legislature describing 
the agency's activities under the pilot project, the effect of the 
project on grade-level completion and high school graduation rates, 
and the recommendations arising from the project.  The agency shall 
submit an interim report under this subsection not later than 
January 1, 2007, and a final report not later than January 1, 2009.
	(d)  This section expires August 1, 2009.                               
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the 
legislative session.