Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette
	Bonnie Youngs helps CMU student Robin Chen, left, with some class work during an Elementary French 2 class last week. Click photo for larger image.

To meet the needs of today's global economy, some states are now requiring that all students learn a foreign language.

But Pennsylvania has decided that such a mandate would be "irresponsible," because it would cost too much and because there are too few certified foreign language instructors, said state board of education Chairman Karl Girton.

After years of debate, the board last month voted to drop a proposal that would have required all students to have at least survival skills in a modern foreign language or meet other standards in a classical one.

The action is now going through the regulatory process, which is expected to take six to 10 months. A second vote will be required before anything is final.

"The numbers are overwhelming," said Mr. Girton.

He said mandated foreign language education would require 2,683 additional foreign language teachers. (Only 300 are certified each year in Pennsylvania.) He estimated it would cost school districts $114.5 million to add staff.

"Our board pretty universally believes that students should have proficiency in a second language, but we thought it was irresponsible for us [to require foreign languages] given our inability to provide one dollar for any program that we mandate."

Instead of mandating all study foreign language, the board directed the state Department of Education to issue standards that must be followed by all foreign language programs -- now called "world languages."

State regulations already require school districts to offer at least two languages in addition to English, at least one a modern language and at least one in a four-year sequence in middle and high school. No one is required to take them.

The decision frustrated foreign language education advocates who have been lobbying for years. The most recent draft of the proposed standards dates to 2002.

Bonnie Youngs, president of the Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association and a teaching professor of French and Francophile studies at Carnegie Mellon University, said the state board's action is at odds with the governor's efforts to attract international businesses to Pennsylvania.

"It doesn't look like the state education system is going to go hand-in-hand with what he's trying to accomplish," she said.

Dr. Thekla Fall, retired foreign language director in the Pittsburgh Public Schools and immediate past president of the Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association, sees long-term costs to not taking action.

"What are the costs in long run if we don't have a work force that understands other cultures and can speak other languages?" she said.

Dr. Fall also sees it as an issue of equity, noting that strong, highly academic school districts typically provide foreign languages.

She also thinks the cost is overstated, saying unless the school day is lengthened, it would be a question of students taking foreign languages instead of something else.

In 1999, the state board was charged with approving academic standards in 13 disciplines, including foreign languages. All of the others have been approved and cover mandatory subjects, ranging from math to family and consumer science.

Most states do not require all students to take foreign languages. Some call for all students, or those seeking honors diplomas, to take a foreign language.

The list includes states such as New Jersey -- which requires a foreign language for all in kindergarten through eighth grade and one year in high school for graduation -- and Delaware -- which will require two credits, two years or possibly the equivalent, of a foreign language for graduation for all beginning with the class of 2013.

In addition to those that have approved requirements, some states are talking about how to offer more foreign language instruction.

The push is on because of the growing global economy and national security needs, including the federal government's designation of the ability to communicate in other languages as an "essential component" of national security.

"The fact people are even deliberating these topics is significant for us. So many times we have not even been at the discussion table," said Marty Abbott, director of education for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

She said foreign languages have been a hard sell because "historically we've been a nation that hasn't needed to know about the rest of the world. We've been isolated geographically and economically."

But as the global economy has blossomed, she said, young people realize "the world is fundamentally a different place and these are going to be important skills to have. I'm not sure our senior policy-makers and administrators have gotten that message."

While the debate has continued, the demand for world language instruction has been growing in Pennsylvania.

"I have at least five superintendents calling me every month wanting to start Chinese, Arabic, other languages," said Pam Kolega, the state world language education adviser.

She said at least 225 of the state's 501 school districts have K-12 foreign language programs, some aided by online learning opportunities.

In the 2005-06 school year, 405,467 public school students in grades 7-12 were enrolled in foreign language classes, an increase of 3,645 over the prior year. There are no figures for younger students.

Ms. Abbott acknowledged there is a shortage of foreign language teachers nationwide, but she noted federal legislation, both in the works and approved, offers incentives for foreign language and international education programs.

"I think it's short-sighted to say the teachers can't be trained. They manage to do it in math and science. I think it's whatever you value gets funded," said Ms. Abbott.

Some states have had to be creative to get enough teachers.

In New Jersey, where world language standards were adopted in 1996, colleges and universities have stepped up to the plate to train more foreign language teachers, said Janis Jensen, coordinator of world languages and international education.

The state has encouraged residents who have a heritage in another language to seek certification, and -- like some other states, including Pennsylvania -- has used "guest teachers," native speakers who come on special visas from other countries to teach particular languages.

New Jersey also permits elementary-certified teachers who are competent in a foreign language to teach it for as much as half of the day even if they aren't certified.

By 2003-04, the most recent year surveyed, all but 16 of the 618 school districts in New Jersey had implemented required programs although a 2005 study noted the quality varied widely.

In Wyoming, teachers do not have to be certified in the language to teach it in kindergarten, first and second grades.

The Wyoming Equality Video Network provides online language training for educators, including mentoring native speakers who work as paraprofessionals.

In addition, students in some tiny schools tune in to live classes in larger schools via the state's video capabilities over the Internet.

Wyoming high school students going on to higher education have an extra incentive because foreign language study will be required to qualify for the top levels of state's Hathaway Scholarship, beginning with the Class of 2010.

Some states require students to take foreign language classes to earn an honors diploma, such as Indiana where students must take three years of a foreign language or two years each of two foreign languages for an academic honors diploma.

The proposed world language standards can be found by searching "world language standards" on the state Department of Education Web site, www.pde.state.pa.us. Other academic standards are posted on the same Web site under the state board of education.