Educators and linguists testified on the question of "Ebonics" today before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee which oversees education funding. Officials of the Oakland, California school district, which sparked a national controversy over the use of ebonics in public schools, replied to criticisms that the district's actions were based on political correctness. They explained that the district was trying to address the "chronic underacheivement" of black students and using ebonics to increase the students' proficiency in standard English. NPR's Dean Olsher reports.
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