Three bilingual kindergarten classrooms were studied in depth in their school settings to see what conflicts arise between the expectations of the mainstream administrative structure of the school and the expectations of the bilingual curriculum of the district and how such conflicts are handled. Particular attention was given to potential…

An approach to designing diagnostic/prescriptive staff development programs for bilingual education, in which bilingual education is viewed as an innovation in the process of change, was explored. The aims were to: provide a method for defining bilingual programs in progress and determining the degree of implementation; determine teacher concerns;…

Change process research had developed some practical tools and concepts which can assist in the determination of essential variables for an evaluation design. The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) Project at the Texas Research and Development Center in particular has developed specific measures which can be applied directly: "Levels of Use…

In 1976, two California school districts, the Alhambra City School District (for elementary students) and the Alhambra High School District, were cited for noncompliance with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Lau v. Nichols, which requires public schools to teach non- and limited-English speakers in their own languages while they learn English.…

Two bilingual education programs serving the Puerto Rican community of East Harlem in New York City were investigated to ascertain the degree and kinds of community participation in planning, implementation, and evaluation of bilingual programs. It was found that while there are formal structures in place for involving the community, such as a…

To increase the possibility for successful programs and to determine the validity of the concept of bilingual education for limited English-speaking children, this discussion centers on issues which militate against full-scale implementation of bilingual education programs in some school districts. The narrative defines innovation as an "entity…

The process of developing and implementing the Graduate Secondary Teacher Education Program (STEP) at Seattle Pacific University (Washington) included five steps: initial conception, establishment of program parameters, development of a working proposal, completion of the review process, and completion of the adoption process. Graduate STEP is a…

Rather than abandon bilingual education programs that have not met expectations, there is a need to assess implementation procedures in bilingual programs to determine whether or not they foster success or failure. Areas to be examined for insights and improvement include: (1) present policies concerning the goal of bilingual education and current…

The history of Texas' implementation of bilingual education is examined through a review of relevant literature and court litigation, and a survey of school district superintendents and administrators on this topic is reported. In interviews with the administrators, it was found that bilingual education and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL)…

Two separate sets of minimum standards designed to guide the evaluation of bilingual projects are proposed. The first set relates to the process in which the evaluation activities are conducted. They include: validity of assessment procedures, validity and reliability of evaluation instruments, representativeness of findings, use of procedures for…

Three large urban school districts located in the Midwest, Southwest, and West Coast regions were involved in a study designed to reveal district personnel's perceptions of change within their school district. After describing the study, this document analyzes perceptions of change related to one district's new bilingual program that was…

This study investigated the relationships between variables affecting the degree to which cooperative learning (CL) was implemented by English as a Second Language (ESL) and bilingual teachers. A total of 227 ESL and bilingual public school teachers (K-12) of Spanish speaking language minority students responded to a mailed survey questionnaire…

Second language research is important for teachers in bilingual programs because it investigates which solutions work best for which problems, in which situations, and with which learners. Research aids practitioners in more effective program planning, implementation, and evaluation. To compensate for the time lag in availability of materials,…

A clear and effective relationship between the State and Federal governments is needed in pursuing school desegregation. The lack of State and Federal government congruence results in a desegregation policy that emanates from judicial decrees on a district by district basis. In Michigan, inconsistencies among districts and between Federal and…

As the idea of including limited English proficient (LEP) students in large-scale assessments is becoming popular among researchers, the practical question of how to do so meaningfully so that the needs and performances of LEP students are recognized while their scores are interpreted and used correctly becomes more important. This paper presents…