Cummins (2018) argued that "emergent bilingual students struggle, often unsuccessfully, to escape from the externally imposed identity cocoon within which they find themselves" (p. x). This struggle leads to negative views and deficit thinking approaches to educating these students. In today's educational context, meeting the cognitive…

This study examined the reading performance data for a grade level of fifth graders using the Web-based Accelerated Reader assessment program. Based solely on student archival data, this study focused on the hypothesized relationship between the volume and complexity of quizzes taken from books read using the Accelerated Reader assessment program…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the perception of the principal and teachers regarding what transformational leadership practices meet the needs of EBs in a DLI PK-8th grade campus in South Texas. The research site was selected for having 40% emergent bilingual students. The campus principal has been implementing a…

Administrators and teachers are tasked with the opportunity to implement bilingual programs to accommodate the growing population of multilingual learners, or MLs. There is a debate in the field about the most appropriate structure for bilingual programs. Sheltered Instruction (SI) is a way to "shelter" MLs from the anxiety of regular…

This research uses a descriptive quantitative statistical design to examine campus-level results from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR). The focus is on describing the achievement disparities between campuses that implemented Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE) programs and those implementing Dual Language (DL)…

The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of instruction delivered in both English and Spanish using the "Preview-View-Review" (PVR) strategy on the language development of English Learners (ELs) newcomer students in Title I elementary school (matriculated in a large, urban southern school district). For this study, the…

This quantitative causal-comparative study investigated the growth performance scores of English learners in grades three through five in reading, mathematics, and science in four English language educational programs: English as Second Language (ESL), Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE), Dual-Language Immersion (DLI), and No Services. I used…

This three-article dissertation examined how policy choices in three key policy areas -- initial enrollment, service provision, and reclassification -- impact English learner (EL)-classified students. The first article examined the national landscape of state statutes, regulations, and state education agencies' (SEA) guidance that support…

This mixed-methods study investigates the ideologies, attitudes, and understandings of language, bilingualism, and second language acquisition among students, teachers, and parents in a Bay Area dual immersion (DI) program. The work shows that despite rhetoric and awareness of language variation, students' and teachers' approaches to language…

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of selected academic, demographic, and instructional program related factors on the retention rates of elementary school students. More specifically, this study was concerned with the relationship and predictability of the reading and mathematics variables scores, gender, ethnicity, program…

Two-way immersion (TWI) programs teach English Learners (ELs) and native English speakers in the same classroom using both languages in an immersion approach. Studies suggest that TWI programs result in greater student integration, thus providing a promising alternative for Spanish speaking ELs, who are frequently concentrated in high poverty,…