In order to explore how early childhood Ojibwe language and culture programs could be scaled up with financial and governance support from state government agencies, Wilder Research explored the process of reclaiming Indigenous culture and language, how it is embedded into early childhood programs in Minnesota, how the state can deepen their…

The project described in this paper adopts a decolonization-oriented, reclamation-based approach to language maintenance and revitalization. Designed and implemented collaboratively with members of the local university and tribal communities, the project involves a series of five two-hour professional development workshops for teachers of Great…

The sharing of American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) cultures and lifeways provides opportunities for helping young children form deep connections to their community, which, in turn, aids in the development of their early language and literacy skills. This issue brief--based on interviews with eight Tribal Maternal, Infant, Early Childhood Home…

This paper presents a collaborative effort between a Head Start lead teacher and an educational scholar, focusing on a Head Start classroom in a non-traditional migration area in Pennsylvania. The joint initiative, called "Juntos," was undertaken to support children's bilingualism in a context where English is the dominant language. The…

Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) is a Head Start program which serves exclusively young children from the migrant farmworker community, the majority of whom are Mexican nationals and second-generation immigrants. From this early childhood context, little is known about parents' perspectives on education and the roles they take to engage in…

In this testimony, Patricia Whitefoot talks on behalf of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) with regard to President Obama's Fiscal Year 2011 budget request. She describes how Native education still faces enormous challenges, including severe underfunding. Far too many students and schools continue to experience abject failure. NIEA…

This paper examines the relevant literature on American Indian dialectal variations of English and efforts to maintain American Indian languages through bilingual education programs. The preservation of the ancestral Lakota dialect of the Siouan language is discussed in terms of the implications for educational program planning. It is concluded…

Preparing Refugees for Elementary Programs (PREP) is a federal program to prepare young refugee children for further learning in the United States. Findings from current research on how children learn to speak, read, and write were used to design the curriculum. All children receive 18 weeks of full-time instruction, during which their parents…

A Senate committee received testimony supporting reauthorization of the Native Hawaiian Education Act as part of reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). In the previous week, the House of Representatives had narrowly defeated an effort to delete the Native Hawaiian Education Act from ESEA reauthorization. The Native…

This report notes that with a Republican majority in the 106th Congress and a Democratic administration, little new legislation was passed, but funding for Indian education programs did better than at any time in the recent past. Funding highlights include: no funding for school renovation grants to public schools with high concentrations of…

This paper presents an overview of the impact of the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title VII Spanish/English bilingual program. Student, teacher, and project data were collected in 38 projects in their fourth or fifth year of funding, along with data from non-Title VII comparison schools. The research design of this national study is…

Project VIBES at South Shore High School in New York City is described in this report. The project is a transitional bilingual education program that emphasizes acculturation and the acquisition of English language skills while maintaining the native language and appreciation of the students' cultural heritage. As implemented in 1980-81, the…

A comparison of the salient characteristics of Canadian and United States bilingual education programs suggests various settings where it would be desirable to introduce children to schooling in their home language. These settings include: (1) the various ethnic communities in the United States, (2) multilingual developing countries, (3) parts of…

This bibliography of 62 citations provides information on the latest research and resources on Indochinese students' cultural adjustment, language needs, and educational needs in the United States. Included are teachers' guides, research reports, and other materials on understanding and teaching Indochinese students, Indochinese culture,…

The report of the Stanford Working Group on Federal Education Programs for Limited-English-Proficient (LEP) Students focuses primarily on federal legislation such as the Elementary and secondary Education Act, and secondarily on broader reform legislation concerning this population. It gives an overview of current legislation and reform ideas, and…