79R833 PAM-D
By: Shapleigh S.B. No. 78
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, 2009, and a final report not later than January 1, 2011.
(d) This section expires August 1, 2011.
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 September 1, 2005.