Authors Gersten and Woodward respond to the criticism by Santiago of their article on structured immersion. (MD)

In 1978 a controversial evaluation found no difference in achievement between Hispanic students in transitional bilingual programs and those in regular classroom programs. The authors present an argument favoring the use of stuctured immersion programs instead of bilingual programs. (MD)

The evolution and evaluation of an elementary level structured immersion program in English as a second language are described. The program provides all academic instruction in English, but at a level that students can understand. It is ungraded, uses bilingual teachers who speak the students' native language, and has both developmental and direct…

Describes a longitudinal evaluation of two approaches to educating language-minority students--transitional bilingual education and a new approach, bilingual immersion. Students achievement on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills was traced from grades four through seven, and results indicated significant effects favoring bilingual immersion in language…

A study assessed and compared the effectiveness of two distinct approaches of bilingual education used within a single school district in El Paso (Texas). The program designs, one a traditional transitional bilingual and the other a bilingual immersion, were implemented under similar conditions of resources, school year length, class size, and…

A structured immersion program, coupled with an effective curriculum and empirically validated teaching procedure, was offered to elementary Asian students entering a California school. This approach appeared to have significantly better results, and its effects were maintained for up to two years after completion. (LMO)

Despite claims that structured immersion programs for language minority students cannot work for low-income students, two immersion projects with low-income Hispanic and Asian children worked; their effects appeared to endure even after students entered the mainstream. (BJV)

This guide, provided by a partisan education policy public interest group, seeks to answer the most frequently asked questions about teaching, designing, and evaluating an English immersion classroom and the research underpinnings in favor of English immersion. This guide aims to help teachers and policymakers better understand what English…