House Education Committee Part 2
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Bills discussed (1)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
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HB1874
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1874”
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Pre-2017 bill |
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Speaker 1
0:00
I'd like to start with a little background about our
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
0:12
foreign language requirements in our public school. Until two years ago, the requirement was to have two credits of foreign language for the Academic Challenge Scholarship. The current standard of accreditation requires the 38 units to be taught each year.
And that means that every school has to teach those 38 credits. Foreign language is included in there. The only way a district is not cited by the ADE is to have at least one student enrolled to take each of these two units. The lack of a foreign language requirement for the Challenge Scholarship could ultimately end up having districts in violation of the standards for lack of enrolled student. So in other words, we have a kind of a disconnect.
We have the requirement in the 38 units, but we don't have it in the current academic challenge scholarship, i.e., the lottery scholarship. The Department of Education has informed me that over the last two years since we've taken the requirement out, we have a continual spiraling down of students taking foreign languages. If we don't put it back into the scholarship, then we will, by attrition, lose the ability to teach those classes.
Students who are in colleges in the foreign language track will have no incentive to get their degree because schools aren't teaching the course. I know, for example, my wife is a foreign language teacher. The school she teaches at has had a drastic reduction in the number of students. A year ago, she had 150 kids taking foreign language in the first course, 10th grade course. This year, I think she has about 35. So because the school counselors are advising the students that this was not required.
Right now, we have the capacity. We have the requirement to teach the class. We have 625 teachers in K-6 through 12 currently teaching this, but if we don't put it back into the scholarship mix, we will quickly lose the ability to teach foreign language. And I'd like to bring up a few points, and this is from Arne Duncan, international competitiveness in education.
Any person who takes a foreign language also increases their English skills. They increase their scores on major tests, such as ACT, SAT. They have an increased cultural understanding. They learn about the other countries, the culture of those other countries. They have more job opportunities. If you're going to any health care jobs, law enforcement, they are very competitive, And if you have the ability to speak a foreign language, you are moving to the head of the
line. You get better paying jobs. And they have proven there is a correlation between foreign language and reading skills. It increases your listening skills and you develop sharper memories. And these are all from Arne Duncan's paper. So the question is, and we brought this up, you know, I'm the chair of the Education Caucus and we met earlier in the year and talked about this from the high schools. We talked about it from the superintendents, talked about it from the Department of Education,
talked about it from a higher education standpoint. And everybody agrees that we have a time bomb on our hands. And the question was, what are we going to do about it? So this bill is an attempt, and it has a grandfather clause in there to allow the students time to capture those two years prior to it becoming effective. Of course, right now we still have a large contingent of students taking the class currently, but it is continually starting to degrade. A 2% reduction the first year.
Last year, another 4% reduction. So we are going to lose the capacity quickly to teach this course. And I would entertain any questions. Ms. Hobbs, I'm sorry. I think Ms. Steele
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
4:33
was up first. No, Mr. Chairman, Ms. Hobbs was. Okay.
Speaker 8
4:36
I'm sorry. I apologize, Ms. Hobbs. Thank you,
Representative Debra M. Hobbs
Unverified
4:41
Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Steele. So
Speaker 10
4:44
if they're not taking foreign language now, what classes are they taking instead to
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
4:49
help them qualify for the scholarship? They can take any course they want to. They have – right now the requirement is a 2.5 and the 19 on the ACT, but we've taken the foreign language requirement out. So there's 38 courses the school has to teach. They can take any of those courses to come up with to graduate. What we're saying is that, or what I'm saying is that we need to put the foreign language requirement back in to better prepare them to go to college.
There is a correlation between two years of foreign language completion in a high school and the college graduation rate. students taking foreign language are better prepared and are more proficient at graduating from college than the student who does not, even if they have the same GPA and scores in college, I mean in high school. Just the factor of having the foreign language has to be the difference. I heard you say that.
Representative Debra M. Hobbs
Unverified
5:51
But may I ask how many in this group had foreign language as part of their school preparation? Is that a proper question, Mr. Chair? MS. Okay. MS. All right. Okay. MS. You just made my point. MS. Well, actually, I'm not sure I agree with that, but
Speaker 20
6:17
thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. MR. Secretary Steele. Secretary Steele. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Representative Stewart, and I really appreciate what you're trying to do, emphasizing
foreign language, I also certainly admire your commitment to education, but to make it a requirement for the scholarship, would this affect those individuals who are traditional students but going to two-year institutions and say they're going to two-year institutions to be a welder or a computer technician, would it agree to them? We're already putting SmartCore, so now they're already going to have to take geometry
and a higher level of qualifications in order to take advantage of the 2.5 or the 19 on the ACT. So SmartCore in 2013 will become a requirement, which this was not a part of. So we want to put this on top of that. My concern is that some of those individuals is having a difficult time. Just meeting the minimum qualifications now would even have a more difficult time.
So was there a debate or dialogue about those individuals who may be going to two-year community college, traditional students and not, but mainly traditional students, how this would affect them? Yes, and
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
7:52
a lot of those two-year students are going to get nursing degrees, good degrees working in the public sector where there is a need for that foreign language requirement or foreign language ability. And so there is a demonstrated need for a lot of the jobs that even come out of the
two-year colleges and also a demonstrated increase in graduation rate for those going to a four-year school. So not everyone may need it, but not everyone needs geometry, but we're putting it in. So what we're doing is hoping, you know, having a more polished and well-rounded student going into the, you know, to
Speaker 20
8:34
the global marketplace. And certainly I am for advancing education and even raising the bar, but there's certainly a lot of indication that our kids are not even getting the three Rs to the level
that they need to get them, the reading, writing, and arithmetic on a basic level. We wouldn't be having so much dialogue on remediation. So that kid that's remediated, and we're talking about starting that remediated process earlier, they're going to have to start that possibly in high school, if not this time, the next time around probably, go through that process, make the level that they need to make on the ACT, which now they're doing more time teaching the test than ever before instead of spending time on the curriculum.
then they have smart core which requires a higher level but i'm not seeing the emphasis on getting these young people ready to even get to that level and i just think we're cutting a lot of people off um and i know foreign language is important you're going to need it this is a diverse society i'm just not sure we're to the point now where you you need to make it an absolute requirement to have two whole years before you're even eligible for the lottery scholarship,
Speaker 24
9:53
for the academic challenge scholarship. Is there some connection between taking a foreign language and improving one's grade on the ACT score? Because I understand now
Speaker 25
10:10
the ACT score is completely in English and no foreign language on the ACT
Speaker 26
10:17
test. Is that correct? That's correct, but there is a correlation. A two-year completer
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
10:22
of foreign languages has increased scores on the major test to include the ACT and SAT.
And these are students with exactly the same background, same GPA. One of them took the foreign language, one of them didn't. That foreign language component then translates into a higher score on the ACT because it has improved their reading ability, their memory, their ability to read, and that's what we're looking at is the writing and reading and the math. I'm not sure the math skills so much, but especially the comprehension skills, the writing and reading is enhanced by taking a foreign language. Right, but I
Speaker 24
10:59
think my question, and I'll wrap up, Mr. Chairman, I promise.
But my question is the two requirements now is the ACT and the 2.5. Right now, there is no foreign language questions, no foreign language in print on the ACT, which is half of the requirements now for that. So why should we make something that is not even addressed
Speaker 20
11:24
in the ACT test a requirement to get the scholarship where the ACT is at least half of the factor in order to become eligible for the scholarship?
Do you follow what I'm trying to say? What
Speaker 24
11:38
I'm saying, and I kind of follow you, there are no Spanish questions on there. Exactly. French questions, Russian German questions on the ACT test. But there are questions about... Gentlemen, I hate to interrupt this. We've got four minutes.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
11:47
The House is going to take up in four minutes, and we cannot meet while the House is in session. So, Mr. Stewart, I hate to say this, but you may need to come back at 3 o'clock. Okay, that'll be fine. And finish this conversation. We'll take some more questions now, or do you want to wait until we get back? Well, I don't think we really have time, Mr. Stewart.
I'm sorry. And we'll try to finish that up in about three minutes when we come back, I hope. Meeting is adjourned. We'll meet again in the middle of some time around 3 o'clock probably.
Agenda
HB1874
Adjournment
Documents
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Speakers
Speaker 1
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
Speaker 8
Representative Debra M. Hobbs
Unverified
Speaker 10
Speaker 20
Speaker 24
Speaker 25
Speaker 26