Back to Sunday's NY Times story about English language learners

In case you missed it, excellent front page story--

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/us/15immig.html?pagewanted=5&ref=education

Another thought about this. We now have about 1 in 10 students in US schools classified as English language learners! A huge increase of 60% between 1995-2005. Yet, schools are confused about how to teach these students and prepare them for life.... Policies are all over the place--no consensus nationally about how to tackle this challenge. And, in terms of long-range results, the story is not clear.

I still believe in immersion. See my last blog.

As well, the article mentions the use of accommodations for students on state tests--teachers reading test questions orally and recording student answers (so they don't have to write them). I wonder: do these accommodations help students? or just lead to good scores on standardized tests. You decide.