Although U.S. schools that provide bilingual education typically must negotiate English-only policies and pressures to sustain their programming over time, little is known about what this entails at the individual school level. Our research examines in detail how the leaders of an elementary school in New York City with a Spanish-English…

Simply put, children with poor English skills are less likely to succeed in school and beyond. What's the best way to teach English to young children who aren't native English speakers? In this article, Lisa Barrow and Lisa Markman-Pithers examine the state of English learner education in the United States and review the evidence behind different…

Those who work in second- and foreign-language testing often find Koretz's concern for validity inferences under high-stakes (VIHS) conditions both welcome and familiar. While the focus of the article is more narrowly on the potential for two instructional responses to test-based accountability, "reallocation" and "coaching,"…

For many years English learners (ELs) have lagged behind native speakers of English in the academic community. In an era of accountability, the pressure to achieve and maintain Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status is increasing the burden of success on ELs, especially when trying to learn a second language. The population of English learners is…

Popular views about language and how children and youth learn language are based mainly in cognitive approaches in support of a common knowledge theory of language development. This common theory feeds into the efforts to increase teacher and learner accountability as measured on narrow assessments of what it means to use language well and in…

The focus of this paper is on US language policy statements that govern the priorities for teaching languages other than English in public schools and the language ideologies implied by specific management moves by the federal government to regulate language education, starting with the Bilingual Education Act (BEA) of 1968. Following introductory…

Language and cultural preservation efforts among different communities of language speakers in the United States have received increasing attention as interest in linguistic rights and globalization continues to deepen. In addition to mounting evidence of the cognitive, psychological, and academic benefits of heritage language/community language…

Following the No Child Left Behind Act (2001), which mandates standards-based accountability for the academic progress of all students, much attention has been given to integrating language and content instruction for English learners (ELs) in K-12 classrooms in the US. Although TESOL and other state-approved language proficiency standards…

Public schools are attempting to work with a growing number of immigrant English language learners (ELLs) in the U.S. education system at a time when the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has mandated that ELLs achieve proficiency on assessments even if they have not acquired sufficient language proficiency. The purpose of this qualitative case…

In this article the authors explore the role of critical hope as an essential quality in teachers' preparation to teach English Language Learners (ELLs) in the era of No Child Left Behind. The authors found that high stakes testing with inappropriate measures combined with teachers' lack of preparation to teach ELLs resulted in a downward spiral…

Some teachers are justifiably concerned that primary-age students who continue to use their native language skills might hamper their acquisition of English literacy. After all, isn't time spent in writing in the first language time that could have been spent writing in English? Many other teachers agree conceptually with the notion that…

Increasing standardized test scores in reading and math is of high importance to the California Department of Education to meet requirements mandated by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act of 2001. More research is needed to understand the best ways to improve tests scores to meet concerns of the NCLB act. The purpose of the study was to evaluate…

While there is evidence that the dual language model has the potential to raise the academic achievement of English language learners (ELLs), the policies mandated through the No Child Left Behind Act do not support maintenance of the student's heritage language which is an integral part of the model. Using symbolic interactionism as a framework,…

With the provisions of both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 1997 and 2004), educators must ensure that all students have the opportunity to participate and progress in the general curriculum. These requirements are further bolstered by the No…

This booklet presents practical, research-based principles and instructional strategies that mainstream teachers can use to meet the needs of linguistically diverse students who are English Language Learners (ELLs), focusing on the following: "In Context: English Language Learners and No Child Left Behind"; "The Implications of No…