Show-and-Tell activity provides emergent bilingual (EB) children with an opportunity to engage oral language skills to support their developing bi/literacy. In dual language bilingual education (DLBE) preschool programs, teachers utilize translanguaging practices to facilitate communication, scaffold learning, and encourage participation. Using a…

This report compared the academic achievement of prekindergarten students who were enrolled in Houston Independent School District (HISD) early childhood centers (ECC) during the 2015-2016 school year to their peers who attended school-based programs. Academic achievement was measured on the HISD CIRCLE English and Spanish language, literacy, and…

This evaluation compared mean scores and proficiency levels on the 2016--2017 CIRCLE English and Spanish language, literacy, and mathematics assessments between students enrolled in Early Childhood Centers (EECs) with their School-based Program (SBP) peers. The evaluation helped to determine whether there were observable differences in academic…

Using Latino critical race theory as a lens, this qualitative study explored ways in which young children's translanguaging practices informed the design of culturally relevant sociodramatic spaces in a bilingual early childhood classroom located along the Texas/Mexico border in South Texas. The authors identified aspects of language development…

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) has provided free prekindergarten classes for eligible Houston area four-year old students since the 1985-1986 school year. HISD offers full-day prekindergarten programs to all eligible students within its attendance boundaries. HISD collaborates with four federally-funded Head Start agencies that…

Changing demographics have led to a need for dual language teachers to adjust their pedagogy to best meet the needs of second language learners in dual language programs. However, the development of linguistic and cognitive skills for dual language learners continues to challenge early childhood teachers (Martinez, 2010; García & Kleifgen,…

English-Spanish cognates are words that possess identical or nearly identical spellings and meanings in both English and Spanish as a result of being derived mainly from Latin and Greek. Of major importance is the fact that many of the more than 20,000 cognates in English are academic vocabulary words, terms essential for comprehending school…

Capitalizing on preschoolers' inherent enthusiasm and capacity for learning, the authors developed and implemented a dual-language program to enable young children to experience diversity and multiculturalism by learning two new languages: Spanish and American Sign Language. Details of the curriculum, findings, and strategies are shared.

By the start of kindergarten, there are already large gaps in achievement between black and Hispanic children and their white peers, between children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and their higher socioeconomic counterparts, and between dual language learners (DLLs) and their native English-speaking peers. This dissertation examines the…

The purpose of this research-to-practice article is to describe dialogic reading (DR) as a professional development intervention that took place in a state-funded public universal prekindergarten program, partnering with a university. Our goals were to use a research-based literacy program to measure child outcomes related to vocabulary…

This study hypothesized that HISD prekindergarten participation consistently correlated with better educational outcomes for students. Taking into account students' age differences through kindergarten enrollment, propensity score matching controlled for students' background characteristics. Three cohorts of students in this study were eligible or…

This study describes the dimensionality and continuum of Spanish phonological awareness (PA) skills in 3- to 6-year-old children. A 3 x 4 factorial design crossed word structure of test items (word, syllable, phoneme) with task (blending multiple-choice, blending free-response, elision multiple-choice, elision free-response) to assess 12 PA…

Professional development was conducted to assess the effects of dialogic reading (DR) on child outcomes related to vocabulary development in English and Spanish. Six teachers and 72 children enrolled in a state-funded public universal prekindergarten program, partnering with higher education, participated in the study. The content of the…

Administrators in the Chicago public schools are seeking to strike the right balance between providing guidance and permitting flexibility as they put in place the nation's first state mandate for providing bilingual education to preschoolers. New rules approved by the Illinois state board of education in June flesh out a January 2009 change that…

This article explores the benefits and challenges of a Spanish language immersion preschool from the perspective of a non-Spanish speaking African American family. Data explored include the decision to enroll, reactions from peers and family, home-school communication issues, language development, and family involvement. In addition,…