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Education and recently published proposed regulations for the Refugee Education program. These measures will increase the effectiveness of these programs and will ensure that funds are used to provide supplementary educational services to eligible students.

The Department's budget request for Bilingual Education is proposed for later transmittal pending enactment of H. R. 5., the omnibus reauthorization of elementary and secondary education programs. When action on that legislation is completed, we will submit a final budget proposal. Our request for Immigrant Education is proposed for later transmittal contingent on enactment of our proposed legislation.

Bilingual Instructional Programs

For Part A, Bilingual Instructional Programs, $113.1 million is requested. This is an increase of almost 12 percent over the 1988 level. The increase would fund some 83 additional school district projects serving 26,900 additional limited English proficient students. To the maximum degree possible under the new law, the Department intends to consider new applications for transitional bilingual education and special alternative instruction on the basis of quality, rather than instructional methods.

Bilingual Support Services

Under Part B, Bilingual Support Services, $9.9 million is requested, the same as the 1988 appropriation. Part B grants are made to State educational agencies for data collection and for a variety of technical assistance activities. Contracts are awarded for two Evaluation Assistance Centers, research and evaluation studies, and the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.

Bilingual Training Grants

Under Part C, Bilingual Training Grants, $33.6 million is requested, a $1.9 million reduction which would fund the program at the 1987 level. We believe that this level is adequate, and that these funds can be better used under Part A where they provide services to students. Part C grants are made for educational personnel training, fellowships, training, development and improvement programs, and short-term training institutes. Contracts are also awarded for regional Multifunctional Resource Centers.

Refugee and Immigrant Education Programs

Under the Immigrant Education Program, $28.7 million is requested, the same as the 1988 appropriation. For the Refugee Education program, $15.2 million is requested, also the same as the 1988 appropriation level.

I believe that the program regulations, which were issued in 1986 and 1987 as part of Secretary Bennett's Bilingual Initiative, have already led to significant increases in program effectiveness. In 1989, we intend to build on these achievements as well as implementing the flexibility and other program changes in the new

legislation. I am confident that the legislative proposal for Immigrant Education and the new regulations for Refugee Education will have similar positive effects. If our 1989 budget policy is enacted, the Department will be better able to meet the needs of limited English proficient children as well as the educational needs of recently arrived immigrant and refugee students.

My colleagues and I would be happy to respond to any questions you have regarding our 1989 budget request for the Bilingual Education, Refugee, and Immigrant Education programs.

NAME

POSITION

BIRTHPLACE
AND DATE

EDUCATION

Biographical Sketch

Alicia Coro

: Director, Office of Bilingual Education and
Minority Languages Affairs

: Havana, Cuba, March 28, 1937

:

EXPERIENCE :

University of Havana, Cuba, 1961, (Foreign
Language Teaching)

University of Maryland, 1972, M.Ed.

1987-Present : Director, Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs, U.S. Department of Education

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1967 - 1968

1966 - 1967

:

:

Acting Assistant Secretary, Office for Civil
Rights, U.S. Department of Education

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations, Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education

Director, Horace Mann Learning Center, U.S.
Department of Education

Executive Development Coordinator, U.S. Department of Education

Branch Chief, Consultation and Training,
Medicaid/Medicare Management Institute, Department
of Health, Education, and Welfare

Senior Regional Liaison Staff, Immediate Office of the Secretary, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare

Education Specialist, Social and Rehabilitation
Service, Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare

Supervisor and Teacher, English as a Second
Language (ESL) Programs, Adult Education,
Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville,
Maryland

: Teacher, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington, D.C.

: Editorial Assistant, Migration and Refugee Service Newsletter, U.S. Catholic Conference, Washington,

D.C.

1956-1959 : Teacher, Arts and Languages Elementary School, Havana, Cuba

NEW LEGISLATION

Mr. NATCHER. Thank you, Ms. Coro.

What major changes are being made in the reauthorization of the Bilingual Education Act?

MS. CORO. Primarily the lifting of the 4-percent cap, which is what we sought for flexibility to fund special alternative programs. The Senate bill allows up to 25 percent of the funds to be used for these programs. And the House bill does provide for lifting the cap. Mr. CORWIN. We have learned that the House has agreed with the Senate on that point. There will be increased flexibility for those programs.

Mr. NATCHER. Your statement refers to a final budget request to be submitted after reauthorization is completed. Will your revised budget change be a total amount requested for these programs? Ms. CORO. No, we do not-

MS. CHRISTENSEN. We don't think so, particularly with the increase from 4 percent up to 25 percent in funds available for alternative programs. I would think it would be very close to the totals in the justification, if not the same amounts.

STUDIES AND EVALUATIONS

Mr. NATCHER. How many studies on bilingual education do you have going at the present time?

Ms. CORO. We have several research and evaluation studies. The research agenda is coordinated with the Office of the Secretary, and we have for-in fiscal year 1988? Are you talking about the present time?

Mr. NATCHER. Present time.

MS. CORO. We have planned on ongoing studies of two Evaluation Assistance Centers, one for the East and one for the West. We have a program assessment, which is a descriptive evaluation of the scope and analysis of the refugee and immigrant programs.

We have the analysis of the longitudinal study data. We have the Immersion study, comparative studies of outcomes from long and short-term Transitional Bilingual Education and Structured Immersion. Those studies are at various stages.

We are going to evaluate the personnel training program. We are funding a bilingual fellowship supply and demand study, which will tell us the type of fellowship participants, completion rates, positions obtained, and the demand for graduates. We will have a school and staffing survey to determine the supply and demand for specially trained teachers of limited English-proficient students.

We have a capacity building study which will describe State educational agency and local education agency efforts to build capacity to provide instructional services for limited English proficient students.

We also have a study of exemplary alternative programs which will describe major features of these programs.

In 1989-do you want me to go over those activities as well?
Mr. NATCHER. Please put those in the record.
[The information follows:]

1989 PROPOSED RESEARCH AGENDA

CONTINUATIONS

Innovative Approaches for Educating LEP Students

Descriptive Study of Exemplary Alternative Programs
Refugee and Immigrant Program Assessment
Capacity Building Descriptive Analysis

Study of Bilingual Education Personnel Training
Bilingual Fellows Supply and Demand Study

National Data File Analyses

NEW ACTIVITIES

OBEMLA has contributed to several major departmental studies including: the National Educational Longitudinal Study—1988, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and the Chapter I Study. The Data File Analysis project will further analyze the data collected under these studies to estimate the achievement of language minority students.

Special Issues Analysis Center (recompetition)

The Special Issues Analysis Center provides a variety of data analysis and other services for the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs. The current contract expires in 1988 and a competition will be conducted to select a new contractor. The contract will be for one year with two one-year options.

Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)

The Office of Educational Research and Improvement administers a program though the Small Business Administration that sponsors innovative approaches to education. OBEMLA takes part in this program and routinely sponsors research related to bilingual education. The focus of this research has been the use of technology in the education of LEP children.

BEST INSTRUCTIONAL METHOD

Mr. NATCHER. Based on past research studies, which is the best instructional method for meeting the needs of a limited Englishspeaking student?

Ms. CORO. There is no one definite answer as to what is the best instructional method. We want to leave that to the discretion of the local education agencies in deciding and implementing programs to meet the needs of limited English-proficient students. We want to ensure they learn English as quickly as possible and are integrated into regular classroom activities.

There is not a conclusive answer as to which methodology works best under all circumstances.

Mr. NATCHER. Do more school districts use the transitional bilingual instruction method?

Ms. CORO. Yes. We fund more tansitional bilingual programs because we are mandated by Congress to fund those programs. Our Federal funds are used primarily for what we call TBE programs. Mr. NATCHER. Has the Department endorsed any one system over another?

Ms. CORO. NO. That is not our philosophy.

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