Welcome...

Welcome to the Oregon Association of Bilingual Education website.

The following link is to President Obama's Budget Fact Sheet, and it includes funding for the development of appropriate assessments for English language learners. It is reassuring to see that such an important issue is recognized by this administration, and is included in its list of budgetary priorities. That is certainly a step in the right direction! One hopes that the additional funding makes its way to institutions, and researchers, with a proven track record of addressing ELL issues. It has been exciting to see how the conversation about ELLs' academic performance and educational needs has moved from occasional periphal circles to front and center stage in public education, across the country.

For the last 40 years, the Office of Civil Rights has witnessed slow implementation of the guidelines it produced in the aftermath of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's and 70's. Finally now, in the era of accountability, wide consensus exists regarding the need to measure ELLs' skills with appropriate tools so we can stop painting a distorted picture of chronically poor academic performance by diverse student groups.

President Obama's Fiscal 2010 Budget

Liliana Heller Mafrica, Ed.D. OABE President