An evaluative study in New York (New York) comprehensive half-day public school prekindergarten programs serving language minorities is reported. The study investigated effectiveness of city policy supporting the use of the children’s native (home) languages for some portions of instruction. Information was gathered on: (1) supervisory staff’s identified goals and strategies for language-minority children; (2) program achievement of student needs through classroom activities and staff language use; (3) differences in classroom activities and language use between bilingual and monolingual groups; and (4) differences in overall student growth between groups. Student growth measurements included 23 items in 5 skill areas (gross motor, fine motor, language, visual discrimination, memory). All staff identified effective transition to English instruction as a goal, and many identified language maintenance and/or instruction. Home-to-school transition was also mentioned. One staff member was explicitly opposed to native language use in school. All schools used strategies intended to promote gradual transition to English. A variety of classroom factors (supplies, equipment, instructional materials, activities) were identified as having differential effects on development. Bilingual classroom teacher native language use was seen primarily in experiential and instructional contexts. Achievement results suggest that developmentally appropriate inclusion of children’s first language is beneficial. (MSE) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
THE EFFECTS OF NATIVE LANGUAGE USE IN NEW YORK CITY PREKINDERGARTEN CLASSES Barbara Busse Paul and Carolyn H. Jarvis Office of Research, Evaluation and Assessment New York City Public Schools Paper presented at the 1992 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association San Francisco, California April, 1992 “PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 2 REST COPY NAM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Tnis document has been reproduCed as cf received from the person or organization Originating d Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction Quality Points of ‘new or Opinions stated in thiSclocurnent do not necessarily represent plliCal OERI position or policy PROGRAM DESCRIPTION In 1986 the Mayor of the City of New York and the New York City Board of Education initiated a publicly-funded, comprehensive half-day prekindergarten program for four-yearolds. The program, called Project Giant Step, provided educational, health and nutrition services to low-income children and their families. By the 1989-90 school year approximately 5,000(check 4) children were enrolled in 139 classrooms located in 81 elementary schools in 20 community school districts. In August 1987 the Mayor’s Office of Early Childhood Education established an Advisory Committee on Linguistic and Cultural Diversity for Project Giant Step to make recommendations on how the program might best respond to the needs of the nonEnglish speaking and culturally diverse population enrolled in Project Giant Step classrooms. According to the Advisory Committee report, young children acquire fluency in a second language easily as long as they have -ufficient exposure to the second language and have opportunities to use it in meaningful situations. On the other hand, the report also emphasized that because their first or native language is a “primary vehicle” for learning for all children, children deprived of the opportunity to use that language in school are “robbed of access to further cognitive development….(and of] equal educational opportunity.” The Committee recommended that teachers identify the home language and language proficiency of the children in their classrooms and use their native language for part of classroomÂ
