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Welcome

Parents of African American Students Studying Chinese (PAASSC) is a parent and community driven organization that is committed to providing support to and encouraging African American children who are pursuing Chinese as a second language.

The U.S. has seen an explosion of language immersion programs and recently there has been a tremendous growth in the number of Chinese Immersion programs that are being made available for our children. It is estimated that there are at least 50 Chinese-language immersion K-12 programs at U.S. schools, compared to about a dozen six years ago and at least 22 of those programs are located in the Bay Area. Chinese (Mandarin) is the most popular language spoken worldwide . There are more than three times as many Mandarin speakers in the world as Spanish speakers – the second most popular language.

As the number of students learning Chinese has grown so has the number of African American students that are immersing themselves in the Chinese language and culture. This is an incredible endeavor for these young children and the peers but as a mother of two African American daughters that are enrolled in Chinese Immersion programs it is my concern that there are additional community and social supports that parent groups need to create to ensure that African American children are able to maximize their learning potential as well as their social and cultural development.

PAASSC was founded in April 2011 in Berkeley, CA as a parent-driven, community based organization to provide play dates, workshops, school fairs, and support to ensure that African American students and their parents are actively participating in their child’s language acquisition and cultural development to support the continued well-rounded growth of our children.

We invite you to look at our Events page to view our upcoming activities and we hope that you and your family will take the time to connect with other African American children that are learning to speak Chinese.

Are African American Parents Interested in Bilingualism

The obvious and accurate answer to this question is a resounding “YES!” The question is raised because there is a void in the pool of research available on even the most general exploration of bilingualism as it relates to African Americans.

According to D. Batts “The body of scholarly research related to parents’ attitudes towards bilingualism have focused on English speaking and non-English-speaking parents’ perspectives about their children’s participation in bilingual programs aimed at teaching English to language minority students.”  Batts went on to “explore the attitudes of African American parents relating to their children learning a second language in elementary school” and went so far as to interview parents of children attending a language immersion program and parents with children enrolled in an elementary school.

Batts found that “in general, African American parents have positive attitudes towards second language learning in elementary schools.”

Research results from the interviews suggest that African American parents with children attending language immersion program have positive attitudes about second language learning in elementary schools. The parents cited two primary benefits for learning a second language.

  1. The first benefit is the creation of linguistic capital. The ability to speak a second language is perceived to provide future access to personal and professional opportunities that may not otherwise have been available.
  2. The second benefit from learning a second language is cultural sensitivity. The parents indicated that the ability to interact with other cultures was becoming increasingly important in a global environment. These parents viewed learning a second language as a core academic requirement.

Less than half of the African American children that were not enrolled in a language immersion program were studying a second language although their parents held positive attitudes towards learning a second language. The researcher suggests that this could suggest that “learning a second language is a desirable but not mandatory option” for African American parents.

More research is needed to further assess “bilingualism within African Americans’ social structures.”

African-American Achievement Gap to Disappear in 40 Years

By Rebecca Nuttall, Special to the NNPA from the New Pittsburgh Courier –

The latest report by A+ Schools revealed that the achievement gap between White and Black students continues to decrease. However, at the rate it is narrowing, it would take 40 years to be eliminated.

Even more disappointing is that the report also notes that while Black student achievement, as demonstrated through performance on Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests, has increased, a decline in White student achievement also contributed to narrowing the gap.

Despite an unclear picture of how the achievement gap is changing, the report, released in mid-November, concluded that high schools, which have the largest achievement gaps in the district, remain the key areas most in need of improvement. Despite gains made in elementary schools, PSSA scores for grade 11 declined in all subjects.

“Gains made in earlier grades are disappearing in high schools. That threatens our youth’s future prospects for achieving the Pittsburgh Promise, college or job training, and becoming independent members of our community,” said Carey Harris, A+ Schools executive director. “These issues deserve our urgent attention.”

The achievement gap narrowed …read more…

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