The Darien Times

Is Darien's proposed early foreign language program worth it?

Written by David DesRoches
Monday, February 13, 2012 09:11 AM

It was déjà vu for Darien's education community recently when the Board of Education decided to put the new elementary world language program on the chopping block during the upcoming budget negotiations. Parents filled the Town Hall auditorium to near-capacity last Tuesday for the school budget public hearing, and nearly every voice spoke in support of the program.

"We believe the investment is a sound one," said Sarah Schneider Zuro, a representative of the Council of Darien School Parents. "The parents of Darien school children say, 'Yes.' World language is a significant part of the foundation that we want to build for our schools."

But not everyone said Yes... at least not for the program on the table.

The 45-minute, once per week program is not intended to provide fluency, as Schools Superintendent Dr. Stephen Falcone has said, but would instead introduce children to the culture and language through what is known as a foreign language exploratory program, also known as FLEX. The program intends to give the children novice proficiency, but opponents say it won't even do that.

• Foreign language program maintaining board support
• School board considers several cuts to $80.6 million budget

Some residents are asking themselves, Should the schools spend $320,000 for a program that does not intend to provide high-level proficiency? Board member Amy Bell argued against such a program in her statement last December.

"The case could be made that even more important than proficiency measures is the overall cognitive benefit that occurs when children learn foreign language at an early age — benefits that the research says will improve thinking and performance across disciplines," Bell said. "I believe the research may well be true, but I am not convinced that we have an adequate explanation as to if, and how, only 45 minutes a week will realize this intellectual gain."

If the program gets cut, this would be the second consecutive year that the language program got axed to save money.

Bell was the only board member to vote against this year's program, primarily because the cost did support the minimal proficiency benefits. The only person to speak out against the program at the public hearing was long-time advocate Karen Christiansen.

"We do want foreign language and we want it immediately, but it is very disappointing to think that this is the best we can do," Christiansen said.

Lois Schneider, the Representative Town Meeting's Education Committee chairman, told the school board last month that her committee supports language in the elementary schools, but not in the current incarnation.

"The inclusion of five teachers in the budget to support this did not get (committee) support," Schneider said. "If you're going to put in a more frequent and more involved program that might require more (teachers) that would be OK... Basically we're talking about frequency and repetition will have more of an impact on what the kids learn."

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Judith Pandolfo has said the program would take up 2.5% of total instructional time, which is within the 1-5% range recommended for FLEX programs. "We're trying to get as much as we can from the program without making it overwhelmingly expensive," Pandolfo told the board in December.

Dr. Gladys C. Lipton, director of the National FLES Institute (FLES being a program that is more intensive than FLEX and aims at building proficiency), has said that shorter programs are not useless and that some proficiency can be gained by once-a-week programs that incorporate language and culture.

Many parents agreed that learning a culture and nurturing diversity was as important as learning the language itself, with each supporting the other. Tokeneke parent Brad Snyder said his child was learning French while he and his family lived overseas and gained much from the experience aside from the actual language.

Tokeneke parent Arpita Muchhal agreed. "It is a gateway to understanding foreign cultures," she said at the hearing.

However, Darien's program is not curriculum based, meaning the students won't learn about topics that are covered in other classes. Pandolfo emphasized how the program was an "infusion into the whole school community." She said that while the 2.5% is the actual time spent on the language, total exposure would more likely be 5%, as the children would be exposed to Spanish throughout the school.

"I think some of those are even more nurturing, because you're applying the language in other settings," Pandolfo said.

Nancy Rhodes, director of foreign language learning at the Center for Applied Linguistics, agreed, but with a caveat. "It's really important in the 21st Century that students in the U.S. get an early jump-start in language learning," Rhodes told The Times in an interview. "My hope would be you start with this program, get the kids engaged, get parents excited about it and down the road there would be a possibility to expand the program."

Superintendent Falcone has said the program is open to change, and the schools could "adjust things" as time progressed to better meet the needs of the students. But Christiansen said this mentality should be avoided.

"I question if we were voting on an initiative for the middle school or high school would we be voting on 'something is better than nothing' or would it be a program that we know would add value to our children's education?" she asked.

Snyder disagreed. "I would disagree that nothing is better than something," he said, admitting that he would also like to see a more extensive program but that this was a start. Many parents and school officials have agreed.

"This program may not be perfect, and it may not be as rigorous and transformative as the proponents of early foreign language instruction... had hoped for, but it is a start," stated parents Susan and Brian Daly in letter to The Times editor. "Let's take what is on offer now, test it out, and hopefully build on its success in the future."

However, Rhodes noted that many elementary foreign language programs around the country continue to be cut or diminished, as federal and state funding continues to shrink and the No Child Left Behind Act pushes for high test scores in other areas while not incentivizing districts to implement world languages early. Pressure to meet federal testing standards can make or break some school districts, especially the ones that rely on non-local money to operate.

"Ideally, I would strongly recommend a program that meets three to five times a week," Rhodes said. "On the other hand, it's really important in the U.S. to expose children to different languages and cultures. We want our students to be part of a global society and communicate with other people and understand their culture."

The Daleys agreed. More "information on and exposure to other cultures and traditions is a necessity in today's world (and here in our suburban enclave), and that comes through language," they said.

Christiansen feared the program would soon be cut because it would not meet its proficiency goals, and would fall the way of the LinguaKids program, which has seen enrollment decrease over the years.

There seems to be no voice in town calling for no foreign languages at the elementary level. The argument continues to be over which program would be best for Darien Schools. Last year's proposal was a 45-minute class every six days, and only board members Susan Perticone and Jim Plutte voted against it. The two voted in favor of the program this year, which reduced the time between classes to five days.

For board member Bell, the administration's failure to provide a program that was significantly different than last year's proposal was its undoing. "I would have been receptive to a more enhanced program with increased instructional time for our students, integrated into existing curriculum as our peer schools do," Bell said. "I think the increase in cost could have been mitigated by a phased-in approach."

New Canaan, Greenwich, Westport and Weston are similar towns that already have a foreign language program at the elementary level, but incorporate the language in the curriculum, unlike Darien's proposal which focuses on culture and language rudiments.

The $320,000 foreign language proposal breaks down to money for teachers, $23,000 for textbooks and $1,000 for curriculum development. Cutting this from the $80.6 million budget would save less than 0.4%.

ddesroches@darientimes.com

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