Arizona Proposition 203, English for Children, is an initiative that was passed by 63% of Arizona voters on November 7, 2000. This piece of legislation limits the types of instruction available to English Language Learner (ELL

English language learning and teaching

English as a second language , English for speakers of other languages and English as a foreign language all refer to the use or study of English by speakers with different native languages. The precise usage, including the different use of the terms ESL and ESOL in different countries, is...

) students. In Arizona there are 1,742 public schools where 48% of students are minorities. 16.1% are ELL students, and 19% live in poverty. Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

 is second to last in per-student spending and has the highest average classroom size. Before Proposition 203, schools had freedom in terms of instruction of ELLs and a variety of methods were employed. However, like in many other states, Arizona had a shortage of bilingual teachers. Despite the state's high percentage of minority language speakers, only 30% were enrolled in bilingual education programs.

Proposition 203 is also known as the Unz initiative, named after its financial supporter Ron Unz

Ron Unz

Ronald Keeva Unz, is a former businessman and political activist, best known for an unsuccessful race in 1994 for the governorship of California, and for sponsoring propositions promoting structured English immersion education. In March 2007, The American Conservative named him its new publisher...

. Unz a wealthy chairman of a financial services software company from California. Unz was successful in promoting a very similar proposition (Proposition 227) in California so he decided to conduct similar campaigns in Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, and Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

. However, he was unsuccessful in Colorado. Unz's goal was to replace bilingual education with English immersion programs.

Text

The actual text of the legislation begins with a series of declarations that state the importance of English and learning English. It states that immigrant parents want their children to learn English and become fluent bilinguals and he asserts that the government and schools have a moral responsibility to teach it. It continues to say that public schools do not do a satisfactory job educating ELLs and immigrant children, but blames "costly bilingual education programs." It then examines the psycholinguistic dimension of bilingualism by saying that young immigrant children have the ability to quickly learn a second language. However, it does not take into account that children who do not acquire literacy in their first language are likely to have reading difficulties in English (or other second language).

The resolution states that "all children in Arizona public schools shall be taught English as rapidly and effectively as possible." ELLs should be educated in immersion programs during a temporary transition period which should be no longer than a year (a school year of 180 days). Parents may request for their children to be exempt if it can be determined that the child already knows English, the child is ten years old or older, or is identified as having special needs. However, for children claiming to have special needs, it must be confirmed that education in English is not the best option for the child.

Media Coverage

The New York Times ran a front-page story in August prior to the November 2000 election, representing that Proposition 227, California's version of the initiative, had been highly successful. Subsequent scholarly showed the Times claims regarding Proposition 227 to be without foundation, essentially a repetition of key talking points circulating by the initiative's financial backer Ron Unz., . Nonetheless, the Times story had a powerful effect on national media and is believed to have strongly affected public opinion.

Implementation

Implementation of the policy occurred at the beginning of the 2001-2002 school year. There was widespread confusion throughout the state because of the ambiguous language used in the text of the proposition. Following the implementation, many schools changed their approach to educating ELLs, but many districts obtained waivers for their ELL students and continued their bilingual education programs. Research showed the English-only program to be ineffective, with fewer than 11% of the state's ELL students achieving proficiency in a year's time.

External links

• text of Proposition 203, form Arizona Secretary of State website