This article reports on a formative experiment involving the implementation of long-term multifaceted vocabulary instruction in second-grade Spanish-English dual-immersion classes. The findings indicate that students in the second year of the project showed accelerated growth in English vocabulary knowledge in comparison to the norming sample of a…

Articles in this issue examine (1) the primary sources of variability in reading and language achievement among Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs) in the United States, (2) the extent to which poor performance at the end of grade 2 is identifiable in developmental trajectories beginning in kindergarten, (3) the relations among core reading…

In Texas, English language learner (ELL) students are assessed annually in academic subject areas using the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) at elementary and middle school levels. This supplemental report describes continuously enrolled Austin Independent School District ELLs' performance as compared with all AISD…

AISD staff's top three suggested priorities for the Dual Language (DL) program in 2013-2014 were: professional development opportunities, program alignment, and increased availability of materials and resources.

Two-way bilingual immersion education, offered in a fast-growing number of primary schools in the United States, provides primary language maintenance to minority language speakers while simultaneously offering an enrichment "foreign" language immersion experience to English-speaking children in the same classroom, generally with the same teacher.…

Two-way immersion is a model for bilingual education designed to help language-minority students develop additive bilingualism while at the same time offering language-majority students a chance to learn a second language. There is a great deal of rhetoric around two-way immersion that claims these programs aim to improve overall equity among…

For new educators, the obstacles of high-stakes testing, curricular mandates, and their own inexperience and self-doubt can render teaching for justice and equity overwhelming, seemingly impossible ideals. However, as students are increasingly tied to prescriptive curricula and academic performance standards, the goals of social justice and…

The extent to which primary school students participating in an English-Ukrainian bilingual program in Manitoba, Canada, were acquiring skills in Ukrainian and English language arts was evaluated for the 1981-1982 school year. This program, which was instituted in 1979, provides half of the instruction in English and half in Ukrainian. Using…

Reports on a case study of face-to-face interaction around and about texts between a second grade dyad in a dual-immersion (English/Portuguese) programme. Reveals multiple pedagogical scaffolds, few of which were unexpected. Concludes that Buddy Reading encouraged the peer readers to acknowledge and draw upon each other's expertise, as they…

Focuses on interactive journals and literature study to illustrate four principles: connect students' background knowledge and personal experiences with literacy lessons; foster the use of students' primary language in literacy lessons; create opportunities for students to meaningfully and authentically apply their developing oral language and…

Describes a second-grade teacher-researcher's efforts to foster her Latino/a students' growth in writing. Focuses on her strategies (sometimes successful, sometimes not) to make the tacit aspects of writing explicit to her bilingual students via classroom talk. Searches for the right measure of explanation in two areas: fostering revision and…

The academic achievement of 144 second, third, and fourth graders in two Tucson elementary school bilingual education programs was measured by pre- and post-test scores on the California Achievement Test (CAT) and California Test of Basic Skills-Spanish (CTBS) in the fall and spring of the 1982-83 school year. The study was undertaken to examine…

A study assessed an intensive fluency intervention for low-achieving at-risk beginning Spanish readers in grades 1-2. Data from 53 first- and second-graders in bilingual classrooms in southeast Texas indicated that implementing intensive reading fluency interventions in bilingual classrooms is feasible and valuable if conducted with fidelity and…

The effects of a cooperative learning program, Bilingual Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (BCIRC), on the Spanish and English reading, writing, and language achievement of second and third graders of limited English proficiency in Spanish bilingual programs in El Paso (Texas) were studied. BCIRC was expected to improve student…

This study analyzed a public school prekindergarten Montessori bilingual program, investigating second grade reading achievement scores on Spanish and English norm-referenced tests and comparing students who had participated in the Montessori program with those who had participated in a prekindergarten traditional bilingual program. Participants…