children out of school in america - University of Tennessee Digital ...

must be a uniform measure by which school districts
can determine what constitutes "limited" Englishspeaking
ability.
2. ESEA Title J
o figures were available on the number of children
participating in English as a Second Language
(ESL) programs or bilingual programs funded un-:ler
ESEA Title I. As in trying to determine the nun Jer
of pupils participating in special programs for the
handicapped, the only available sources of data were
the Annual Evaluation Reports submitted by the
various state departments of education. Two states
included in our study, Colorado and Massachusetts.
have significant numbers of children whose dominant
language is one other than English. However, only
in the Massachusetts report was there any indication
of the number of children participating in Title I ESL
classes. There were no figures on participation in
Title I ESL programs in Colorado. New Mexico,
whose Annual Evaluation Report we had an opportunity
to review, also did not provide any data on
children participating in Title I bilingual programs.
Figures on ESL or other bilingual programs are submitted
to the state departments of education by the
local education agencies, but never to the federal
government.
3. ESEA Title J (Migrant)
The Title I Migrant program has never collected
any figures by language or other program component
on the approximately 360,000 migrant children
being served by Title I programs. Officials
estimate that between 80 and 8S percent of tht:sl:
migrant children are of limited English-speaking
ability, and they suggest that most of them are getting
some language training, "because it is an essential
component to any overall program." The Uniform
Migrant Student Record Transfer System, a
computerized data system which provides education
and health information on migrant children, contains
no information on the English-speaking ability of
the migrant children. These data and information
about the types of special programs being provided
these children should be added to the system.
4. ESEA Title III .
Although there are bilingual programs funded
under ESEA Title lIT, no data are available on how
many programs there are or the number of students
being served. A review of the abstracts of the over
1,400 individual projects funded under Title ITI last
year should provide the total number of children
being served by bilingual programs, but no indication
would be given about the percent of children
served who had a dominant language other than
English.
5. ESAA
1973-74 was the first school year in which bilingual/bicultural
programs were eligible for funding
under the Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA).
Four percent of the funds allocated under Title VII
of the Education Amendments of 1972 were mandated
for children whose dominant language is other
than English. One of the criteria for ESAA assistance
to bilingual programs is the number of children
whose dominant language is other than English who
are enrolled in a district. We were not able to obtain
centrally the number of pupils served by the 39
bilingual programs funded under ESAA, although
we did obtain the amount of funds received by each
of the programs.
6. OCR Survey
OCR requests some data on bilingual instruction
in its annual survey. These data, which are collected
only at the district level and not school-byschool,
do not include information about the sources
of program funding. They do, however, provide an
indication of the number of children who receive
bilingual instruction - instruction in any subject
matter in a language other than English. An item
wa added to the survey this past fall asking for the
number of first grade pupils in the school district
whose primary language is other than English. We
understand that a question asking how many students
who need bilingual instructions are not receiving it
may be added to the Fall 1974 Survey Report.
In 1973 the Center for Applied Linguistics (a
private organization in Arlington, Virginia), attempted
to collect data on the various types of bilingual
programs offered in public and private
schools throughout the country. They were interested
in gathering information for each program on: 1)
the nature of instruction and the materials being
used; 2) the dominant language of instruction; 3)
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