Across the United States, Dual Language Immersion (DLI) programs have risen in popularity in recent years with the promise of producing biliterate and bicultural students. Many families of both the dominant and minority culture have gravitated towards these choice programs to enrich the school experience for their children. With the success of DLI…

This mixed methods descriptive case study explored the perceptions of 162 leaders and French immersion (FI) teachers related to their roles and responsibilities for the target-language proficiency (TLP) of FI teachers in an urban school division. To date, no research has explored leaders' and FI teachers' knowledge and understanding of the system…

The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to explore the implementation of the third pillar of dual language education (DLE), sociocultural competence. Teachers' perceptions of the structures both supporting and challenging implementation of the pillar were examined. An Elementary (K-5) two-way immersion DLE Program in the lower Hudson Valley…

While dual language immersion (DLI) programs have emerged as one approach to promote culturally and linguistically sustaining education, teachers are not prepared to instruct students who live in the intersection of ability and linguistic differences. Dual language learners (DLLs) with disabilities often do not have access to culturally and…

Research has shown that parental involvement serves as a protective factor for students whose families lack financial and educational resources. Hispanic parents often find barriers at school that prevent them from participating in school-based activities such as communication problems, lack of time to go to the school at prescribed times, and…

This dissertation examines how critical thinking skills are addressed in university-level intensive language programs for international students in the United States. The theoretical framework for this study was built upon Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. Three research questions inquired about language instructors' ability to conceptualize…

This qualitative phenomenological study explores U.S. principals' challenges, successes, and best practices in leading Mandarin Chinese immersion programs in high-need rural schools in a Midwestern state. The study addresses cultural efficiency, increasing student enrollment through principalship preparation, and attracting the interest of parents…

This qualitative study explored the awareness and perceptions of a select group of parents about specialty and charter school offerings in a large countywide school system in a mid-Atlantic state. The study utilized focus groups as the primary source of data collection to obtain information from parents about their knowledge and opinion of current…

In 2007, Arizona voters passed House Bill (HB) 2064, a law that fundamentally restructured the Structured English Immersion (SEI) program, putting into place a 4-hour English language development (ELD) block for educating English language learners (ELLs). Under this new language policy, ELL students are segregated from their English-speaking peers…

The growing English learner student population in California faces the daunting challenge of both meeting the academic expectations of school curriculum while also learning to speak, write, read, and understand a new language. Often it is the task of school administrators to choose, plan, implement, and maintain instructional programs that best…