A majority of parents would rather enroll their children in a bilingual school, where students can become proficient in a second language in addition to English, than in a school that focuses solely on English, according to new national polling data from the Century Foundation, a progressive think tank. found to be preferred. .
Morning Consult, a public opinion polling company, conducted a nationally representative public opinion poll. A survey of 579 parents was conducted for the think tank this spring.
The findings add to growing research on the demand for bilingual education, with all 50 states now supporting special notations for students on their high school diplomas, known as certifications of bilingual proficiency..
“The 2-to-1 preference for bilingual education was very encouraging. I certainly wouldn’t have bet that high,” said Conor Williams, senior fellow at the Century Foundation.
The results also benefit researchers investigating equitable access to dual language programs. Better determine supply demand for such programming.
However, the current provision of bilingual education programs at the national level remains low, in part due to the low number of bilingual educators.Researchers at the Century Foundation said:
Opinion polls challenge assumptions about preferences for bilingual education.
By disaggregating the survey results by race, income, and political affiliation, the researchers found preferences for bilingual education that contradicted some of their previous assumptions.
For example, 69% of Hispanic adults prefer bilingual education for their children, Williams said. These parents tend to have the image that they prefer their students to focus only on English. According to updated federal data:As of fall 2021, 77.9% of English language learners nationwide were Hispanic.
Jonathan Zabala, senior policy associate at the Century Foundation, said non-Hispanic black parents prefer bilingual education more than white parents.
Parents who identified politically as Democratic were more likely than Republican participants to favor bilingual education (65% vs. 45%), but more Republicans preferred bilingual education over English-only programs (45% vs. 36%). %).
The poll data also found discrepancies in preferences for family income. Families earning more than $100,000 per year were most likely to prefer bilingual education for their children, while families earning less than $50,000 per year were least likely to prefer this program.
Low-income families were also most likely to say they did not prefer bilingual education or English-only programs.
“Maybe it has to do with exposure to bilingual education programs, whether they have seen them or not. This is because sometimes these programs can be exclusive and target the upper class. [families]Although it is not where it should be,” Zabala said.
To get a more detailed look at the demand for bilingual education programs, future polls will show how high a priority such programming is for parents, given concerns such as proximity to bilingual education schools, and what their preferences for such programming are. We can investigate whether this varies depending on the language taught. Williams said.
For example, would parents' preferences for enrollment in a bilingual education school be different if the school offered instruction in English and Spanish versus in English and Chinese?
Additional survey questions could also focus on regional preferences, such as the extent to which parents prefer bilingual education in rural, urban and suburban areas, Williams added.
Research has revealed the cognitive, cultural, and economic benefits of bilingualism.
Joel Gomez, president and CEO of the nonprofit Center for Applied Linguistics, said the growing demand for bilingual education from parents likely stems from the many benefits students gain from being multilingual.
Research shows that fluency in multiple languages increases students' cognitive flexibility, Gomez said. Multilingualism also provides the social value of being able to process information from different perspectives, which helps us better understand others. There are also economic benefits to being successful in a global, multilingual market.
Gomez and the Century Foundation researchers both acknowledge the challenges of offering bilingual education programs in schools without a large number of bilingual educators. But Gomez sees an opportunity for state leaders to step in and ensure teacher certification requirements build a pipeline of bilingual educators.
“On the one hand, all states support ensuring biliteracy. But on the other hand, states have been very slow to revise teacher certification requirements for colleges and universities, Gomez said.
Gomez also spoke about how parents interested in accessing dual language education programs can appeal to school districts to make it a priority.