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From http://www.dailynews.com/opinion/20140219/english-learners-an-asset-for-global-multilingual-future-arne-duncan-and-libia-gil

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the director of the Office of English Language Acquisition Libia Gil recently published an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Daily News. Here are some excerpts:

“Today, a world-class education means learning to speak, read and write languages in addition to English.

“In an interconnected, interdependent global economy, we must prepare our children for a future in which their social and economic success will depend on their ability to understand diverse perspectives and communicate with people from other cultures and language groups. This isn’t a matter of getting ahead — it’s a matter of catching up. …

“In our country, we have a valuable yet untapped resource within the estimated 4.6 million students learning English — the fastest-growing student population in our schools. These students come to school already speaking a variety of home languages, most commonly Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic or Hmong.

“Many schools and communities across the country have established programs to encourage mastery of multiple languages. In effective dual-language classrooms, English learners and English-proficient classmates are provided opportunities to learn academic content while simultaneously becoming proficient in both languages.

“That’s why our department is encouraging innovations in education of English learners, in part by making it a priority in the federal Investing in Innovation (i3) program.”

Read the full editorial at http://www.dailynews.com/opinion/20140219/english-learners-an-asset-for-global-multilingual-future-arne-duncan-and-libia-gil

Read Lesli Maxwell’s reaction to it at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2014/02/arne_duncan_schools_should_inv.html