The potential advantages of bilingual educational programs for Spanish-speaking students in South Texas are discussed in this paper, which gives data on the academic achievement among Spanish-surnamed children in Texas. The paper covers both the traditional solutions to the academic difficulties of these students and bilingual education as an…

Latinos in the United States have fought hard to attain equality, especially in the field of education. "The Praeger Handbook of Latino Education in the U.S." focuses on this fight for equal educational access and represents a significant addition to American educational literature. The contributors to this volume reveal that many Latino…

Describes and analyzes more than 75 years of research on the relationship between bilingualism and scholastic performance. Emphasizes studies of particular interest to educators, explains apparent contradictions in the research, and makes recommendations for policies with regard to bilingual and foreign language programs. (JHZ)

The Elementary Secondary Education Act Title IV-C Bilingual Project instituted in the Detroit (Michigan) Public Schools consisted of two bilingual learning centers at a target school which served 114 students in grades one through five during the 1978-1979 school year. Materials and assistance were also offered to a parochial school. A total of…

To help young Japanese students adjust to American schooling, a suburban Illinois elementary school district developed a bilingual English Language Acceleration Program. Its goals are facilitating English language mastery, easing students' transition to American culture, and emphasizing content area skills. Japanese parents have high expectations…

The purpose of this article is to describe a school that has successfully prepared its students for a multilingual society using a 2-way bilingual immersion program. Students' high SAT scores, as well as their participation at school and in the community, provide evidence that acquiring 2 languages does not sacrifice academic achievement.…

The Boston Public Schools (BPS) Department of Early Childhood commissioned a needs assessment of current kindergarten (K2) and preschool (K1) programs (1) to inform the BPS Department of Early Childhood about professional development needs to improve the quality of existing K1 and K2 programs; and (2) to inform the Department of additional…

This practitioner issue brief outlines successful strategies and recommendations for state-level policymakers, administrators, schools, and districts that are based on a 5-year evaluation study on the learning environment for ELLs in the state of California. This brief offers four critical building blocks that should be in place to effectively…

This document discusses research findings related to the question of how long language minority students need special services such as English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) courses or bilingual education before they develop oral and academic English proficiency. It draws conclusions based on a study of four different school districts, two in…

The Bilingual Mini School focused on educational services of a bilingual nature for students in kindergarten through grade six. At the kindergarten, first and second grade levels all classes were comprised of Spanish-dominant or bilingual students. At grades three, four and five the students were grouped based on language dominance (Spanish or…

Through a review of school desegregation in Los Angeles, discusses issues that arise where desegregation is multiracial and Hispanics form a significant proportion of the student population. Reviews the literature on Hispanics in desegregated settings and suggests the effects that school desegregation might have on Hispanic social and educational…

Reports on a study of the bilingual program in the Milingimbi community in Australia. For four years, children from both English-only and bilingual classes were tested for achievement in academic subjects. By the seventh year, children in the bilingual classes were performing better than the English-only children. (Author/AMH)

Discusses the achievement gap of Mexican Americans and other groups in the United States as essentially a question of economics and, suggests that the solution lies in greater access to the wider society. (48 references) (JL)

Studied the effects of two adaptations of the Success for All program, a Spanish bilingual version (Exito para Todos) and an adaptation that integrates English-as-a-Second-Language strategies with English reading instruction using data from six studies. Notes substantially positive effects of both approaches on students acquiring English. (SLD)

This article suggests that there is a tendency to argue for or against bilingual education in terms of productivity (student attainment expressed as test scores), and that productivity is discussed in terms of division of time, curriculum and speakers. Although this orientation has produced some valuable macro-level accounts, it does not address…