E-learning can be particularly challenging for emergent bilingual students or English learners (ELs). Emergent bilingual students rely on readily accessible supports in the classroom such as body language, word walls, gestures, and collaborative work with a partner or group (August et al., 2014). Face-to-face exchanges are critical for these…

Emergent bilingual 1 (EB) students are students who are not proficient in English and who must be provided the option of either a bilingual or an ESL program. EBs who are in the district's two main bilingual programs (transitional and dual language) are instructed in both English and Spanish. The relative amount of instruction in each language…

Federal legislation requires every student, upon completion of their secondary education, be considered college and career ready. Many states have developed and implemented career and technical education (CTE) programs of study (POS) to answer these mandates. Some stakeholders, familiar with historical vocational education programs, see current…

There is lack of inclusive diversity within gifted and talented education programs, which has been a persistently clear problem since their inauguration in 1962. Existing data shows there are more girls than boys identified as gifted and talented, yet a disparaging difference continues where girls identified for English as a second language…

This study employs an exploratory descriptive quantitative statistics design. District-level results in the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) are explored to describe the achievement gaps that exist in districts implementing Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE) programs and districts implementing Dual Language (DL)…

The Texas Education Code (§ 29.051) requires school districts to provide every language minority student with the opportunity to participate in either a bilingual or English as a second language (ESL) program. This evaluation report summarizes the performance of students who participated in the district's bilingual and ESL programs during the…

The purpose of this report is to provide information about the academic performance of emergent bilingual students in the Austin Independent School District (AISD). This document summarizes performance on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests, end-of-course (EOC) tests, the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment…

The Migrant Education Program (MEP) is authorized under Title I, Part C of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015. Title I, Part C states that the purpose of the MEP is to assist states in their efforts to meet the special needs of migrant students by providing migratory children with the opportunity to meet the same challenging State content…

The intention of this paper is to add to existing knowledge of how building-level spending is prioritized toward horizontal and vertical equity during severe economic downturns. Using a sample of all public schools in Texas during the Great Recession, we examine how schools undergoing the greatest spending reductions reallocated their spending on…

Failure to adequately prepare teachers of emergent bilingual (EB) students could have devastating consequences for student achievement, EB reclassification, and eventually, high school and college completion. To enhance the policy discourse, we explore how teacher certification requirements relate to both EB student achievement and teacher…

This study evaluated the Science and Literacy Instructional Model aimed at helping primarily Hispanic bilingual/English Learners (ELs) and economically disadvantaged fifth grade students with science achievement as measured by high-stakes standardized science achievement scores. The model combined purposeful planning, innovative academic…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "School District Health." Contents include: (1) Habits of a Healthy School…

This report presents data on equity in AISD, using an index of student performance, an index of the instructional services provided to students, and school per pupil expenditures.

This fact sheet provides demographic information for the young Dual Language Learner (DLL) population in Texas, based on Migration Policy Institute (MPI) analysis of U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) data pooled over the 2011-15 period. DLLs, defined as children ages 8 and under with at least one parent who speaks a language other…

As informed by scholarship on transformative leadership, cultural work in educational leadership, and preK-20 collaborations, this article draws from a qualitative research project between a university that is a Hispanic-serving institution and an elementary school located in a Latino/a area. We examine the perspectives of a Latino principal and a…