Van Sluys and five eighth-grade ethnographers with a range of linguistic experiences in Spanish and English write about their processes and findings in their shared study of parent literacy practices. Here, they describe a disconnect between their own understandings of literacy and their roles in a literacy learning community. For example, their…

This article describes the effects of placing Spanish-speaking students in an Advanced Placement (AP) Spanish Language course in the 8th grade. Fifty-eight Hispanic students in the AP class and a similar comparison group answered survey questions on parental involvement, peers, sense of belonging at school, and academic aspirations. Data gathered…

The purpose of this study was to describe and evaluate a promising program model, the Joven Nobel curriculum, for Latino male adolescents that promotes positive youth development and addresses prevention of a number of risk-related sexual behaviors within a cultural context. A quasi-experimental design was used that included a pre- and posttest…

When the author was teaching in an elementary foreign language exposure (FLEX) program several years ago, she completed a research project that documented student learning gained from student dialogue journals. The action research initiative taught her the value of being reflective about her teaching practices. Her thesis research requirements…

The Nation's Report Card[TM] informs the public about the academic achievement of elementary and secondary students in the United States and its jurisdictions, including Puerto Rico. In 2003, a trial NAEP mathematics assessment was administered in Spanish to public school students at grades 4 and 8 in Puerto Rico. Based on preliminary analyses of…

How are racial-ethnic identity and acculturation processes linked, and when do they have positive consequences for academic achievement and assimilation trajectory? To address these issues this study integrates two frameworks--segmented assimilation (Portes and Rumbaut 2001) and racial-ethnic self-schema (Oyserman et al. 2003)--that focus on how…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions Latino eighth grade students have of school and schooling factors as they transition to high school and the factors that may influence their self-perceived likelihood of graduating from high school. Middle schools are poised to help Latino students prepare themselves for a smoother…

The purpose of this study was to address the effectiveness of a Spanish-English dual-language test booklet in 8th-grade mathematics. This study used analyses of test data (n = 402) as well as information gathered through focus groups (n = 68) and cognitive interviews (n = 18) to assess the accuracy and utility of the dual-language format as a…

In 2003, a trial National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessment was administered in Spanish to public school students at grades 4 and 8 in Puerto Rico. Based on preliminary analyses of the 2003 data, changes were made in administration and translation procedures for the 2005 NAEP administration in Puerto Rico. This…

The overarching pedagogical goal of this formative experiment was to facilitate engaged reading and writing in a language arts classroom of seventh- and eighth-grade native Spanish speakers who were assigned to a team composed solely of second-language learners for the entire school year. Fourteen students participated in the study. An…

This article focuses on two education-related factors that appear to contribute to the schooling aspirations and self-efficacy of Hispanic youth: (1) sense of belonging at school; and (2) composition of the student's peer group. In particular, middle school students whose home language was Spanish were given an opportunity to participate in the…

This article focuses on factors that impact identification of and services for English-language learners (ELLs) with suspected language-learning disabilities. These factors include (a) home and school environments, (b) the school's philosophy, (c) instructional strategies, and (d) other contextual variables that affect language use. In addition,…

The student population is changing, and teachers need new tools to help their English language learner (ELL) students. ELL students are learning to read, write, and speak English at the same time as they study history, science, math, and all the other subjects taught in our schools. This article describes one tool, the Colorin Colorado website,…

Efforts at improving fieldwork supervision during internship have largely focused on the role of university supervisors and intern teachers. Thus students' perceptions of the instructional practices are not systematically collected, analyzed and discussed in such a way that insights from students' perceptions can inform fieldwork supervision. This…

Although she is now teaching Spanish in a new school full time, Linda Smrokowski, spent 9 years teaching in a once-per-week second language program. Because many once- or twice-per-week programs still exist, she shares strategies for writing and implementing detailed lesson plans that worked for her while she was teaching in a once-per-week…