language skills among many African American students, according to the Amended Resolution of the Board of Education (1997), the scores on the standardized test were below state and national levels. In addition to the low standardized test scores, Wasserman (1997) argues that the grade point average among African American students is D+. The program they envisioned "featured African American system principles to move students from the language patterns they bring to school to English proficiency (Amended Resolution of the Board of Education, 1997. P.2)." According to The Daily O'Collegian Editorial Board (1997), the Oakland school district believes that in order to teach their African American students to be proficient in English language, the teachers must first understand how ebonics is spoken through learning the way it is spoken, used, written and the actual meaning of the material. In addition, teachers will become more effective instructors if they "understand the cognitive constructions associated with Black Vernacular English (Oubr. 1997, P. 5)." According to Oubr, the teachers who have the experience to relate to this dialect is better equipped to communicate, and teach this population. Furthermore, by learning the dialect, teachers are bridging the gap between themselves and African American ebonics speaking students. They are also helping overcome the "constraints of ethnic prejudice, value judgement and social condemnation in the classroom (Oubr. 1997. P. 5)."According to Faull (1997), who is a child development and behavior specialist, she places ebonics into the bilingual category. Faull's (1997) views are that students who speak ebonics are similar to bilingual students who switch from his or her native language to American English and back again, and a student who speaks ebonics should be able to follow the same pattern as the bilinguals . Therefore, Faull (1997) states that a teacher m...
