Articles in this issue examine (1) the primary sources of variability in reading and language achievement among Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs) in the United States, (2) the extent to which poor performance at the end of grade 2 is identifiable in developmental trajectories beginning in kindergarten, (3) the relations among core reading…

This qualitative study explored Spanish-speaking teacher credential students' beliefs about academic language that might promote or inhibit their decision to become bilingual teachers. Data includes interviews with 11 bilingual teacher candidates who were heritage Spanish speakers. Findings show that most were only aware of English-only…

In this longitudinal study, the cross-language transfer from second language (L2) to first language (L1) was examined among Spanish-speaking English-language learners in an English intervention (Grades 1-3) in the southwest United States. Path analysis revealed statistically significant transfers (ps < 0.05) for the treatment group from English…

At the intersection of social studies and world language curricula are opportunities to explore students' prior learning with vocabulary-rich content designed to support language acquisition goals. "Funds of knowledge" is defined as socio-cultural, economic, and historical knowledge from home and community settings. The instructional…

This critical ethnographic study investigated how gentrification processes shaped an elementary school's community and two-way bilingual education (TWBE) program in Central Texas. Findings revealed how these gentrification processes impacted the principal and vice principal at the ontological and epistemological levels, as their ways of being and…

The growth of TWBE programs--mainly due to the surging interest of White English-speaking families--presents the field with myriad challenges and hopeful possibilities. Critical scholars in bilingual education point to an urgency to reissue Guadalupe Valdés's "cautionary note" due to a neoliberal path targeting TWBE programs, posing a…

These maps provide an overview of existing dual language programs in the district for the 2012-2013 school year and the distribution of Spanish-speaking English language learners.

This study aimed to describe home literacy (HL) activities of Spanish-/English-speaking children of low-socioeconomic status backgrounds and examine the relationship between HL and performance on standardized assessments. Parents of 65 dual-language learners (DLLs) in kindergarten completed an HL questionnaire. Parents reported an average of 17…

The Houston Independent School District offers two primary bilingual programs for Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs). In the Transitional Bilingual program (TBP), students may move into a pre-exit phase of bilingual education so long as they meet certain performance criteria. In this Pre-Exit phase, predominantly English-language instruction…

This article explores how middle school Latina/o youth articulate their intersecting language identities as part of larger institutional and transnational experiences. Students navigated the multiple labels ascribed to them as members of the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program as they shaped perspectives of their bilingual…

Prior research suggests that Spanish-speaking Dual Language Learners (DLLs)--young children who must master two languages simultaneously, their home language and English (Espinosa, 2013)--differentially benefit from quality Early Childhood Education (ECE), and in particular from Head Start, compared with children of other subgroups and…

"Diálogos" is an English/Spanish parent group at a bilingual school in California that offers language classes to parents of varying socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. Situated within Yosso's (2005) model of community cultural wealth, this case study argues that parents positively evaluate "Diálogos" as a space that builds…

This study used a within-subjects design to explore two instructional conditions for developing vocabulary in second-grade Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs)--extended instruction and embedded instruction implemented during shared interactive reading. Words assigned to the extended condition were directly taught using a multifaceted approach…

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 Dual Language Bilingual Program. Included…

According to 2016-2017 school enrollment data, 31.6% of K-5 students were English Learners (ELs) in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). Of the many languages spoken at home by students, the most popular languages other than English are Spanish (19.14%) and Cantonese (15.88%). To respond to their needs, SFUSD offers programming that…