This paper argues that young Hispanic (or Latina/o) children (ages 3 to 8 years) should be of particular interest to policymakers, practitioners, and researchers in education. Young Hispanic children constitute an urgent demographic imperative. Young Hispanic children are not only the largest racial/ethnic group in the U.S., but also the youngest…

The Title VII Bilingual Education Act was enacted in 1968 and reauthorized in 1988 to counteract the low academic achievement of limited-English-proficient students (LEPs). Through a competitive grant program, funds are provided to local education agencies (LEAs) to establish programs to serve LEP students. Based on findings of a national study…

A decade of research on immersion programs in Ontario is synthesized. The immersion programs studied over this period include three major alternatives: early total French immersion, early partial French immersion, and late partial French immersion. The programs all serve an English speaking students population, devote at least one half of each…

Discusses the author's experience as director of the Program in English as a Second Language (ESL) at Lehman College of the City University in the Bronx, New York. ESL, bilingual, and mainstream (ie., curricula that assume English proficiency) programs should be better coordinated to meet their common goal. (BJV)

This book contains a collection of formal and informal reading assessments for use with students in Grades K-12. These assessments assist the teacher in targeting areas of strength and weakness, in monitoring student reading development, and in planning appropriate instruction. Unlike large-scale achievement tests, the majority of these…

Bilingual education has been an extremely controversial and contentious topic in recent years among both educators and the general public in the United States. Long a bastion of what some writers have called "ideological monolingualism," the United States has not demonstrated either great sensitivity to or tolerance of linguistic…

The benefits of bilingual education for a disadvantaged indigenous population as an investment in human capital are significant. Students of bilingual schools in Guatemala have higher attendance and promotion rates, and lower repetition and dropout rates. Bilingual students receive higher scores on all subject matters, including mastery of…

A review of 10 major studies, conducted since 1976, assessing the effectiveness of Title VII bilingual education programs suggest that bilingual education is a viable instructional program for children of limited English-speaking ability. The studies examined are: "Bilingual Education: An Appraisal of Empirical Research," Zappert and…

Describes field experience, integrative, collaborative, systems approach, and institute bilingual teacher training models. Also provides a description and evaluation of a teacher training model at Wayne State University. The study shows that "facility stretching" will strengthen teacher training programs and train teachers who have a greater…

This report describes an evaluation of Project Information Packages (PIPs), sets of manuals and other materials intended to help a school district adopt and implement an exemplary education project. Four PIPs were evaluated in a field test, each PIP describing a different bilingual project. It was concluded that the awareness materials produced…

The meta-analysis by A. C. Willig of bilingual education evaluation literature was not successful in comparison with and did not replicate the Baker and de Kanter narrative review. Willig's conclusion that bilingual education is effective is not supported by the analysis. (SLD)

This report presents an evaluation of the Bilingual Readiness for Achieving through Valued Opportunities (Project BRAVO), an Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title VII-funded project in its first year of operation at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn (New York) and Louis D. Brandeis High School in Manhattan (New York). Participating…

Reviews the history of bilingual education in the United States from the 1974 Supreme Court ruling to the present. Concludes that federal policy must be flexible in allowing districts to select the program that best meets their needs. Discusses three specific programs. (JOW)

This report summarizes responses to a survey about the effectiveness of the 1989 Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE) Program in Seattle (Washington). A large majority of TBE teachers and instructional assistants (IAs), and a little more than half of the principals of schools housing bilingual programs responded. The following findings are…

Argues, on the basis of research carried out in Canada and Belgium, that not only does the formal learning of the ancestral language in school enhance the overall cognitive abilities of immigrant children but also constitutes the optimal means by which such children can gain literacy in the dominant language. (37 references) (MDM)