This volume proposes solutions to the gentrification of dual language, bilingual and immersion education by examining how it operates across diverse school and community contexts. It brings together studies in a number of areas including instruction, curriculum development, classroom interaction, school leadership, parent and community engagement,…

The need for language programs in schools is strong among gifted students, who need the depth and complexity provided by a world language program. Gifted students can benefit from exposure to global cultures, a deepened emphasis on conceptual learning, and an appreciation of issues that shape today's world. Second language learning carries high…

ACTA's What Will They Learn?® (WWTL) project is designed to help students choose the best college or university for them. The printed report and its online companion WhatWillTheyLearn.com represent the only assessment of U.S. colleges and universities that focuses on what schools are actually teaching. This report assigns grades to over 1,130…

Although literacy plays a large role in elementary science classrooms, one thing that offers a challenge for educators is meeting the linguistic needs of English language learners (ELLs) while also meeting their content needs. An additional challenge is ensuring that academic literacy extends beyond the classroom. This article presents ways of…

Despite the Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) government's determination to implement the "mother tongue education" policy amid strong social resistance one year after the handover, English remains a prestigious language in society. The need for Putonghua (Mandarin/Standard Chinese) is also increasing following ever-expanding…

Reading achievement and academic challenges of Sudanese children were investigated. Sudanese parents, and their children, and English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers were interviewed. Parents' and children's interviews were transcribed and four themes were generated from the data: Cultural Differences/Practices; Parent roles and expectations;…

This booklet presents a clear and succinct description of the educational needs of francophone students, families, and communities, and how this all fits into the constitutional requirements of Canada as directed by the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and all subsequent amendments and Canadian Supreme Court rulings. It identifies the…

Globalization is on everyone's tongue, and the discussion is not only limited to economic exchange, but expands to the intermingling of cultural values. To be truly successful in the international arena, whether as an immigrant, student, businessperson, or tourist, openness toward other cultures is vital and the most obvious door to those cultures…

This publication is a legal document that specifies the minimum performance outcomes for student learning within a three-course sequence. These outcomes are defined in terms of the contexts for language learning, the communicative acts that students will engage in and the repertoire needed to carry out these acts. The overarching goal of this…

Modeled after the pioneering French immersion programs developed in Canada in the 1960s, foreign language immersion programs in the United States are designed to enrich the education of native-English-speaking students by teaching them all of their academic subjects in a second language. The goal is for students to become proficient in the second…

This guide is designed for Alberta (Canada) parents of French immersion students beginning formal English language instruction for the first time. In question-and-answer format, it discusses issues commonly of concern to these parents. Issues addressed include the following: why English instruction is introduced in the second or third year of…

Help young students master concepts of print, phonemic awareness, and alphabet knowledge--the key predictors of early literacy success and school readiness. This resource will show what children need to know about print in order to become successful readers, how to connect children's development with learning about print, and how to provide a…

This book describes 7 successful foreign language programs that start in preschool or the elementary grades and continue through high school, including both foreign language in the elementary school (FLES) and immersion programs. Written in clear and nontechnical language, this book is designed to be of use to anyone developing an early foreign…

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…

This booklet is designed to introduce aspects of effective reading instruction that should be considered when teaching reading to students with disabilities. An introduction discusses general principles for teaching reading to students with disabilities and emphasizes the importance of individually designing a program based on a student's…