That the College of Education at the University of Texas at El Paso is under scrutiny by the State Board for Educator Certification for student failure to achieve teacher certification is a sad situation.
It is disappointing because the students are capable and deserve better opportunities. Inferring from professional and personal experience, several outcomes of teacher preparation programs in place prior to and during my tenure as a faculty member may be causing low student performance, namely that bilingual education as implemented initially and to this day has missed its mark thus affecting educational programs in numerous ways.
In the early 1970's one goal of teacher education was to develop excellent teacher training programs. UTEP achieved that distinction in that in 1976 the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education accredited the College of Education at the national level.
Teacher education focused, in particular and with great emphasis, on one element of teacher preparation -- bilingual education with two major emphases.
The first was to increase academic achievement of Hispanic students, and second to use Hispanic language and culture in the classroom to become fluent in two languages, English and Spanish.
Thus, for the past 30 to 40 years, emphasis in local schools enrolling Hispanic students has been on bilingual education.
A number of bilingual education programs in schools with large Hispanic student populations proved outstanding. For example, Crystal City, Texas, in the mid-1970s.
These programs were then cited as proof that bilingual teaching was the path to improved academic achievement.
However, after many years of implementation in a wide-ranging variety of frameworks, bilingual education has not borne fruit, e,g., in the greater El Paso area and at UTEP.
Not all programs have failed. In the main, however, this particular educational environment has not helped students achieve educational excellence.
One reason is posited: the vision of bilingual education as The Answer was misguided in that it was shortsighted.
As educators we should have looked for excellence in teaching as the major goal. Our focus should have been on thinking skills, knowledge, writing and speaking and in English and in Spanish.
Not surprisingly, a second major impediment to implementing effective bilingual education programs was its political controversy and resulting polarization.
The "them" vs. "us" mentality began in the late '60s and early '70s and continues to this day -- e.g., the Arizona schools' battles over books that support or are related to the concept of bilingual and bicultural education.
Making decisions regarding appropriate educational practices in the midst of political haranguing cannot possibly lead to excellence in teaching, or learning.
And thus it was that bilingual education began in a background of idealism and floundered within myopic and political implementations.
In my opinion, the results of this 50 year-old struggle are:
• El Paso area schools implementing bilingual education have missed the mark. Many students are taught mostly in Spanish (this I know from personal experience) and students do not achieve requisite English language skills to perform satisfactorily in English at a university level,
• Thinking skills have taken a lesser priority with regard to bilingual skills that may not be forthcoming,
• College of Education teacher education students, who tend to have graduated from local schools, have not mastered English language skills requisite at that level. Incidentally, many have not mastered Spanish language skills, either.
The result of reshaping the current teacher preparation program at UTEP should include a comprehensive design of bilingual education with thinking skills in both English and Spanish as its major goal. Future efforts in designing a solution to effective certification will require full participation of UTEP faculty and administration, area school leadership and parental and community support.