SHORTCHANGING OUR SCHOOLS
BY ANNE BRIDGMAN
Foreign Language Squeeze
BUDGET CUTS REDUCE CHOICE OF LANGUAGES, BOOST CLASS SIZE
Eugene public schools have been hit hard by budget
cuts. Since the 2008 fi nancial crisis, 4J has made
more than $32 million in budget cuts and spent nearly
$37 million in reserves. It’s diffi cult to conceptualize
what such continuous loss in school budgets means. To
supplement the anecdotal evidence, EW is publishing this
column to draw attention to the cuts, compare current
conditions to that of past school years, and highlight
programs that attempt to fi ll some gaps.
O
ne Eugene high school used to offer seven
foreign languages. Today, it offers three.
Three of the eight middle schools in 4J
don’t offer any foreign language classes,
and one offers only one language.
And although research suggests that foreign language
is best learned in small classes, some high school classes
here have more than 40 students.
As in many districts across the U.S., budget cuts have
forced 4J schools to make stark decisions about funding
— and foreign languages have borne the brunt.
“Decision makers often don’t understand how
critical it is for our students’ future to know other
languages and understand other cultures,” says Martha
G. Abbott, executive director of the American Council
on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), which
promotes the study of foreign languages and cultures.
“It is no longer something nice to have, but something
necessary to have in working and living in our new global
economy.”
Oregon is one of 19 states in which the percentage
of students enrolled in foreign languages has declined,
going from 15.7 percent in the 2004-05 school year to
14.6 percent in the 2007-08 school year, the latest year
for which ACTFL has data. Although 4J doesn’t compare
language enrollment over the years, discussions with
school administrators and teachers here suggest that
numerous languages and classes have been cut over the
last decade.
For example, Churchill High School is phasing out
French and its feeder middle schools no longer offer
foreign languages. Madison Middle School phased out
Spanish several years ago, and Spencer Butte Middle
School cut French last year.
To graduate from high school, students in Eugene
are required to take any combination of arts and foreign
languages. To get into an Oregon University System
school, they have to take two years of a foreign language.
International High School students have to take three.
And other colleges have different requirements regarding
foreign language instruction.
So as long as all 4J high schools offer at least one
foreign language, why does it matter that they’re cutting
other options?
“It’s almost the same as [asking] why should we offer
any choices in other disciplines?” says Randy Bernstein,
principal at South Eugene High School, which used to
offer seven languages and now offers three. “Students’
interests vary quite a bit. While Spanish certainly is
a practical language around here given the need for
bilingual professionals and people in business and trades
as well, there’s a lot of kids whose life plans might take
them in other directions.”
“To siphon them all into just one language just isn’t
desirable,” he continues. “When kids have choices,
they’re more engaged in classes.” Bernstein says, “We
could just offer drawing [to fulfi ll the arts requirement],
but some students like to sing.”
Moreover, Bernstein notes, offering languages like
Japanese that have totally different alphabets “exercises
the mind in a different way, not to mention where a
student might take that in terms of business and trade.”
The narrowing of options has other effects, according
to Catherine Wiebe, who teaches French at Roosevelt
Middle School. It’s harder to offer classes in other
languages at the University of Oregon, she notes, because
kids are afraid to start a new language in college and tend
to take what they’ve already had. “The less exposure you
have early on, the less interest and knowledge you have
later.”
Decisions to cut courses — and whole languages —
are made by administrators on a school-by-school basis
and refl ect student interest amid fi scal realities.
At Churchill, when students were asked in the spring
to forecast which languages they wanted to take in the
fall, French didn’t fare well, according to Principal Kim
Finch, who says the school will offer the language to a
handful of IB students next year, then phase it out. In
its place, Asian languages are gaining momentum in
the region, spurred by Churchill’s new STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering and Math) program.
At Sheldon High School, “course offerings, many
times, really depend upon the demand,” explains
Christopher Engstrom, who has been teaching Spanish at
Sheldon for 17 years. If only a handful of students sign up
for a class, it isn’t feasible to offer it — even if research
suggests that learning a foreign language is best done in
small classes.
At South, where administrators have phased out
German and are offering less French because of declining
enrollment, “these days, unfortunately, when classes get
down to 20 or less, it’s hard to justify offering the class,”
according to Bernstein.
Which is ironic, because ACTFL recommends
language classes of no more than 15, citing the value
of developing students’ ability to communicate and
the importance of “opportunities for frequent and
meaningful student-to-teacher and student-to-student
interaction, monitored practice, and individual feedback
during instructional time.” Both the National Education
Association and the Association of Departments of
Foreign Languages echo the recommendation.
The reality in Eugene is much different. “The main
way that budget cuts have affected our classes has been
with class size,” notes Julie McCauley, a Spanish teacher
who has worked for 27 years at North Eugene High
School, which phased out German in 1989 and French
last year. She says that when she fi rst started “It was rare
to have a class larger than 20.” Today, she says, “classes
typically start in the high 30s and low 40s.”
As a result, she says, “It’s easy for the students to not
get the individual help they need to be successful when
they are in such huge classes.” And as her department
anticipates teachers going from three classes a day to four
next year with the new district schedule, she says, “there
will be even less time to help those struggling students
as our teaching time, number of preps [times allotted for
preparation], and number of students increases, and our
planning and open time to help students decreases.”
Mary O’Connor, a Spanish teacher at South, has 39
students in her second year Spanish class. Language
instruction today is more focused on oral communication
than it was when she started teaching in the late 1970s.
Today, with larger class sizes, she says, “There is less one-
on-one contact and less getting to know the students.”
In addition, large classes are more likely to use such
tools as partner practice, where students learn with
another student, not just from the teacher, and not all
students take to this type of learning. Finally, O’Connor
says, “We do go a little bit slower,” which she conceded
can be diffi cult for students who learn at a faster pace.
Sheldon’s Engstrom also has seen class sizes rise.
He says that her fi rst few years at Sheldon, his average
class size would be between 27 and 32: “You know,
manageable,” he remembers. “Now it’s at 40,” a number
he says he could never have imagined when he fi rst
started teaching. One Spanish class at his school has 48
students.
“I have found that it is relatively easy to keep 25
students on task at all times,” he says. “It is nearly
impossible to do so with 37 to 47 students and one
teacher,” given the greater number of disruptions
during class. He adds that there are a “greater number
of instructional minutes lost,” Engstrom says, as it takes
more time to complete activities, catch up those who have
been absent, take attendance, get the class’s attention,
check homework, return written evaluations and pass out
work.
“The hardest thing with the bigger classes, obviously,
you have more kids fall through the cracks. It’s harder to
manage the class,” he says. “I’ve had to become more
severe,” and adds, “In a foreign language class, you want
to be more relaxed and to have [the students] let their
guard down because you want them to experiment with
the language.” Engstrom says, “The more apprehensive
kids are because of the numbers, and maybe the teacher
[has to be stricter], the harder it is for them to acquire the
language.”
Engstrom also says that although he doesn’t think
instruction has changed that much, he can’t cover as
much material. “I have to cut out an activity maybe every
couple of days.” He estimates that he’s accomplishing
similar goals, but perhaps with less depth.
At the end of each year, he measures students’
profi ciency on written and spoken evaluations and has
seen a decline in profi ciency. “Class grade averages have
dropped nearly 1 percentage point per year, even though
the material, instruction, expectations, evaluations,
requirements, grading scales, etc. have remained
extremely consistent.” While many factors could account
for this drop in students’ performance, Engstrom says,
“Intuition and research tell me that class size is
a signifi cant player in this fi nding.”
Note: This column deals with
issues related to foreign language
instruction outside of immersion
programs. Educators in Eugene
say that the immersion programs
— which operate in three of the
four regions — have also been
stretched.
Anne Bridgman is a freelance
writer and editor and an ad-
vocate for public schools
and children in poverty.
She lives with her hus-
band and daughter in
Eugene. To share ideas
or stories about how
the budget cuts in Eu-
gene have affected your
school or child, email
her at shortchangingour-
schools@gmail.com
eugeneweekly.com • January 17, 2013
7