The Cultural Heritage Bilingual Program (CHBP) was developed for English Language Learner (ELL) students from language groups not served by current bilingual programs in the Houston Independent School District (HISD), which are designed for Spanish-speaking ELLs. The largest group of students in this category consists of ELLs whose home language…

There has been a scarcity of studies exploring the influence of students' American Sign Language (ASL) proficiency on their academic achievement in ASL/English bilingual programs. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of ASL proficiency on reading comprehension skills and academic achievement of 85 deaf or hard-of-hearing signing…

This study explored deaf and hearing university students' metacognitive awareness with regard to comprehension difficulties during reading and classroom instruction. Utilising the Reading Awareness Inventory (Milholic, V. 1994. "An inventory to pique students' metacognitive awareness of reading strategies." "Journal of Reading"…

One dimension of language proficiency considered important for reading and writing academic texts is morphological awareness--the understanding of how complex words are formed from meaningful smaller units (i.e., affixes, roots) that contribute to words' meanings and functions. This quasi-experimental study evaluated the effects of instruction on…

This study examines the effect of 30 min of small group explicit instruction on reading outcomes for first-grade Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs) at risk of reading difficulties. Participants were 78 ELs from seven schools who were receiving Spanish only, or Spanish and English, whole group reading instruction in first grade. Students were…

Much of the achievement gap between rich and poor students can be attributed to out-of-school factors, yet few schools have a comprehensive, coordinated system for addressing students' nonacademic needs. Within a group of Catholic schools located in one city, this study examined academic achievement on the Stanford Achievement Test battery in…

This study examines the effect of 30 min of small group explicit instruction on reading outcomes for first-grade Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs) at risk of reading difficulties. Participants were 78 ELs from seven schools who were receiving Spanish only, or Spanish and English, whole group reading instruction in first grade. Students were…

This study of the negative side of children's writing utilized an experimental group and a control group equalized according to sex and the results of the language sub-tests of the Stanford Achievement Tests. Students wrote two 1,000 word composition samples, one during the first month of the study and one during the ninth month. The purposes of…

The authors conducted a quasi-experimental investigation of effects on achievement by grade-level teams focused on improving learning. For 2 years (Phase 1), principals-only training was provided. During the final 3 years (Phase 2), school-based training was provided for principals and teacher leaders on stabilizing team settings and using…

This report reveals the problems with claims made by Arizona state public education officials that English Language Learners (ELLs) are thriving under English-only instruction. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the state's accountability system, Arizona LEARNS, require all students, including ELLs, to participate in statewide…

Examines Dade County (Florida) Public Schools' process for exiting limited English-proficient students (LEPSs) from the English-for-Speakers-of-Other-Languages (ESOL) Program. Results with 500 LEPSs show that exiters perform successfully in regular classrooms. The Stanford Achievement Test discriminated between LEPS and non-LEPS performance on…

This study addresses English learner students' (ELs') reading achievement in San Diego public schools in the years after the passage of the "English only" initiative (Proposition 227). To comply with Proposition 227's requirements, all of California's public school districts administered a newly adopted English-language norm referenced…

Hispanic children with (n=148) and without (n=148) limited English proficiency were given the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT; J. A. Naglieri. 1997a) and the Stanford Achievement Test-9th edition (SAT-9: 1995). The groups were selected from the NNAT standardization sample (N=22.620) and matched on geographic region, gender, socioeconomic…

The primary focus of this study was to evaluate the impact of an intervention reading program on students repeating the 8th grade in a large urban inner city school district. Two years of Reading and Language Art scores (n=537) were analyzed (NCE scores) across various demographic variables (attendance, English language proficiency, and…

Effects of multiage grouping on achievement and self-concept were explored. No significant differences were found between children in multiage and single-age classrooms on any of the achievement measures. Multiage classrooms had higher mean scores on one of the six factors of the self-concept scale, Happiness and Satisfaction. (Author/GK)