This document addresses the subject of reading Spanish in a bilingual-bicultural classroom. Sections of the document focus on the following: rationale, definitions, required skills, final criteria, and competencies in reading Spanish. Three classroom modules are discussed. The first focuses on the stages of development in Spanish reading, the…

There is some disagreement among educators and theoreticians concerning the definition of bilingual education. The Department of Education of the State of New Mexico has set forth two plans designed to establish a clear position for any local school district in the matter of bilingual education. The first model, full acculturation, represents a…

The evaluation of the first year of the English as a Second Language Tutorial Program of Boulder Valley Public Schools included on-site observations, interviews with coordinators and teachers, a linguistic evaluation of each student (elementary and secondary levels), a classroom teacher's questionnaire, a parents' questionnaire, and a tutor's…

This paper provides a literature review, staff development information, and a guidebook for elementary administrators and educators that explains the academic benefits of Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE) for prekindergarten through fifth grade students. TBE allows limited English speaking students to learn a second language while being…

This document provides guidance on the appropriate evaluation and placement of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) preschool students with disabilities. The document discusses the need for providers to be aware of the individual needs generated by disabilities and their interaction with early development and take specific cultural and…

National evaluation of Head Start bilingual curriculum development project indicated bilingual children receiving bilingual preschool services made greater preschool gains than comparison group children receiving regular English-language preschool services; English-preferring children placed in bilingual classrooms achieved similar preschool…

Discusses whether urban schools' efforts at reforming mathematics should specifically address students acquiring English or assume students' needs will be addressed under the broader aegis of reform. The article addresses thoughts about the bilingual mathematics learner, curriculum, teaching, assessment, and evaluation in which collaborative…

Analyzed how members of a bilingual sixth-grade class constructed knowledge as they interacted within a particular event of a social studies project. Through classroom observations, a range of features of classroom life were identified that shaped the opportunities students had to construct knowledge, including temporality, interactionals, spaces,…

Examines four exemplary classes that participated in a study of secondary schools which successfully promoted achievement for language minority students. Common elements of good teachers included respect for students, enthusiasm for teaching, high expectations, promoting language development, promoting content knowledge development, encouraging…

Explores the conflicting cultural perspectives associated with studying English, drawing on two studies of Mexican students. P. Ryan (1994) studied the perceptions of culture related to language learning for six college teachers and their urban students. N. Francis (1994) studied the perceptions of rural bilingual (Spanish/Nahuatl) elementary…

This article criticizes application of linguistic interdependence theory to the bilingual/bicultural model of English literacy for deaf students, suggesting that deaf learners do not match theory assumptions. It draws on the work of Vygotsky and Halliday to develop a conceptualization of literacy processes and argues that becoming literate…

This study looks at predicting the length of time the students in the Dallas Public School District (Texas) will remain in a limited English program. Student growth rates determined from 3 years of data were analyzed and compared to expected growth rates identified by the "Woodcock-Munoz Language Survey (WMLS)." The WMLS annual expected…

A qualitative method for assessing the cognitive and linguistic development of bilingual children is presented, and its underlying model is discussed. The model views language learning as a concept formation process in three domains: cognitive; cultural; and linguistic. This method has been found useful in accurately differentiating genuine…

Project BEAM-UP offers English as a second language (ESL), native language arts, and bilingual content-area instruction to students of limited English proficiency (LEP) in grades 9 through 12 at Sarah J. Hale High School in Brooklyn, New York. The student participants speak Spanish or Haitian Creole. The goal of the program is to help these…

The bilingual education programs of Connecticut are described. The 12 programs serviced 11,482 students in 1985-86; 93% of the program participants were dominant in Spanish. Seventy-one percent were in kindergarten through grade 5. Over 3,000 were new entrants to the program in that year. About 1 in 5 students in bilingual education were late…