Federal and Arizona educational policies challenge U.S.-Mexico border educators to meet the diverse needs of bilingual, bicultural students while also being required to use instructional pedagogies that offer monolingual and monocultural schooling experiences. Ethnographic research captures American schooling experiences of Latino…

This in-depth case shows how five Mexican-American community college students use their "pedagogies of survival" to build resistance and navigate through the barriers of community colleges. Pedagogies of survival emanate from social, cultural, economic, and historical struggles of the students, their families, and their communities which…

Compares academic outcomes for 24 Spanish-dominant and 118 English-dominant Mexican American children in primary grades. Assesses impact of the experimental group's exposure to the transitional bilingual education program by examining their Spanish and English academic performance. Discusses implications for the education of bilingual learners.…

Among over 600 Arizona students in grades 1-8 in maintenance bilingual programs, fluent Spanish-speaking students outperformed limited-Spanish-speaking students on a measure of Spanish reading, mathematics, social studies, and science achievement; girls achieved higher reading scores than boys; and 16 of 18 grade mean scores were equal to or…

A study investigated 261 Mexican American mothers' estimations of their preschool children's cognitive performance. Existing literature on parental estimations was reviewed. The McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA) were administered to 107 boys and 154 girls, ranging from 32 to 75 months of age. The children's mothers were then asked how…

Phenomenological study focused on a Spanish-speaking immigrant mother's interactions with primarily English-speaking educators in schools attended by her son. Interactions around four disciplinary actions reveal language and culture as barriers to the mother acting on her son's behalf. She didn't understand school practices and culture and felt…

A followup of 380 limited-English-speaking Hispanic children in 20 Texas elementary schools found that most acquired English oral language skills at expected rates and were reading in English at expected levels by third grade. Reading achievement was related to instructional factors and early oral competence in either language. Contains 22…

The Early Childhood Observation Form was developed to compare and evaluate two distinct curriculums used in Title I and Title I Migrant Pre-Kindergarten classrooms in the Austin Independent School District during the 1979-1980 school year. Variables recorded on the form included language spoken, group size, activity, adult instructional…

Acculturation and biculturalism of four populations (first-, second-, and third-generation Mexican American school children, and a comparison group of Anglo American children) were measured by teacher ratings of classroom behavior, using the Bicultural Identity/Respect for Cultural Differences Scale, developed expressly for use in…

A communication skills program, initiated in the Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas, in 1974, as part of the Experimental Schools Program, was conducted as part of a locally designed and implemented effort to improve the academic achievement of its largely Mexican American student body. Coinciding with the initiation of the…

A bilingual, bicultural program in the Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas, part of the Experimental Schools Program, was designed to reverse "negative self concept, motivation, and attitudes" of its Mexican American students, and by so doing, improve their academic achievement. Efforts were employed to: (1)…

To gather information to assist policy makers, curriculum designers, and classroom teachers in planning and delivering language and reading instruction that will promote success in school of children from complex language backgrounds, a 6-year longitudinal investigation begun in 1978 tracked approximately 250 Spanish-speaking children from low…

To examine some of the linguistic aspects of Chicano English (a variety of English commonly spoken by Mexican American bilinguals in the Southwest) which present problems in the acquisition of written Standard English, sample writings were collected from 15 University of Texas-El Paso students enrolled in an English as a Second Language course. To…

In 1987, a study was conducted by the Los Angeles Community College District's (LACCD) English as a Second Language (ESL) Institute to establish baseline data on the English language needs for the LACCD's service area. The study drew upon census data provided by the Southern California Association of Governments, information on elementary and…

This classic study is one of a series of reports of investigations carried out during 1936 and 1937 under the "Project in Research in Universities" of the Office of Education. The report describes work done during a 6-year period (1930-36) in a school for Spanish-speaking children where English (language, spelling, writing, reading) was…