Describes Project Orillas, a telecommunications network designed to improve the writing skills of bilingual and foreign language students studying English and Spanish in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the United States. The electronic bulletin board system used for communication is explained and guidelines for joining the network are included. (LRW)

This document provides an overview of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), the state's student testing system. MCAS measures the performance of students, schools, and districts by assessing student knowledge of the academic learning standards contained in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. The purpose of this document is…

Describes the Optimal Learning Environment (OLE) Curriculum, a resource for teachers of Spanish-speaking children, which looks for the upper range of the bilingual child's academic, linguistic, and social skills. Details principles governing the OLE curriculum, including the effect of students' sociocultural background and learning handicaps on…

Describes a successful reciprocal bilingual exchange program between Anglophone fourth-year high school students of Spanish and native speakers of Spanish in an elementary school. Plans and specific activities are outlined for weekly interactions which serve as a sociocultural and linguistic bridge between the two groups of Spanish speakers. (PMJ)

A method for assessing the cognitive and linguistic stages of second language learning in individuals is discussed. The approach is based on a psycholinguistic theory that views language learning as a process of concept formation in three domains: cognitive, cultural, and linguistic. According to the model presented, Spanish-English bilingual…

This sampler of student responses to mathematics and science items was assembled to show how student responses differ depending on whether students are tested in English or in their native languages. The sampler aims to promote awareness among teachers and assessment developers that low language proficiency in English is a factor that can penalize…

This videotape and workbook offer a framework for developing curriculum and materials that speak to the most basic and most pressing issues in English language learners' lives. They are based on the belief that English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and literacy classrooms could and should be settings where adults find opportunities to develop…

The establishment of bilingual/bicultural programs for Puerto Rican preschool children in the United States is discussed. The rationale for and importance of bilingual education, the training of teachers, and the acquisition of materials and needs assessment are treated in some detail. An extensive outline for curriculum design is presented, and…

This resource for program planning offers guidelines for providing Nevada's limited-English-speaking (Spanish-speaking and American Indian) students with equal access to quality education. The following chapters are included: (1) "Educating Limited-English-Speaking Students: The Record," (2) "State Board of Education Position on…

Spatial and temporal factors in the bilingual classroom that can be manipulated to maximize the bilingualism of Spanish-speaking elementary school children (that is, to minimize their lexical code switching) are presented in terms of models. The advantages and disadvantages of the dual language teaching model are compared to those of two…