Discusses the evaluation of bilingual education programs, surveys the results of seven bilingual education evaluations, and presents their diverse findings. Argues that such research cannot say whether bilingual education is good or works. Describes a "bilingual immersion" program where language minority and majority students learn from…

Examines issues in the assessment of the special educational needs of children for whom English is a second language, and identifies notions that actually prevent good practices. Urges more attainable practices that focus assessment on the learning environment, including the "where,""with whom,""from whom,""when,""what," and "how" of the child's…

The Language Academy initiative enabled the San Francisco Unified School District to transform remedial, compliance-based programs for English language learners into standards-based language-learning programs for all students. Administrators relied on stakeholder involvement, coherent policy, and quality program design to achieve their goal of…

Describes dual language instruction models, and presents a paradigm for examining congruence among theoretical models, teacher beliefs, and actual classroom practices to determine program effectiveness. Examples illustrate implementation pitfalls. Analysis of Proposition 227 finds it to be a decontextualized procedural model; it has an incoherent…

This qualitative study investigated the writing processes of eight emergent bilingual children as they composed stories in two languages in a Writing Workshop (WW) context. The research was situated in two grade 1 classrooms in a Spanish/English Two-Way Bilingual Education program in the north-eastern USA. For six months, researchers observed…

While Government commitments to supporting instruction in languages other than English have largely been honoured, bilingual education as a form of learning has not been widespread. Acknowledging the benefits of learning a language other than English, the most recent Australian national languages policy statement nonetheless makes no mention of…

This article asks whether children enrolled in a bilingual education program learn English in a reasonable amount of time, and whether older children learn English faster than younger children. Children (N = 89) were found to achieve parity with native English speakers in a range of 1 to 6.5 years and in an average of 3.31 years on measures of…

Early federal government policies for American indigenous people alternated between extermination and assimilation. Imposing the colonists' and immigrants' language on indigenous people was important for achieving the latter. In the 1970-90's, federally funded grants for bilingual education for indigenous schools were offered to accommodate Native…

Using various approaches to identify English language learners, several Pacific Region jurisdictions are developing English language proficiency standards and assessments aligned with those standards. Others are working on content standards, including language arts, and have expressed interest in developing English language proficiency standards…

The purpose of this report was to collect a summary of information on instructional programs for bilingual students in Irving Independepent School District (Texas), so the parents of these students as well as staff members could evaluate the existing bilingual programs. The effectiveness of improving English-as-a-Second-Language skills for…

This report summarizes the findings of a California commission on how to best teach English to non English speakers in the State. Three findings of the report are highlighted: (1) schools are not meeting the primary goal of education for immigrant students; (2) emphasis on native language education is inappropriate, unwarranted, not feasible, and…

As part of an effort to assess the City University of New York's English as a Second Language (ESL) program, New York City Technical College conducted a study to determine if the ESL course protocol promoted positive academic outcomes among new immigrant students (NIS's) within the regular curricula. Using scores from standardized assessment…

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)…

The report summarizes information submitted by state education agencies (SEAs) on the survey of states' limited-English-proficient (LEP) persons and available educational services for the 1993-94 school year. Results indicate that enrollment of LEP students in public and private schools continued to increase, comprising 7 percent of public school…

The New England Multifunctional Resource Center (MRC) for Language and Culture in Education is funded by OBEMLA, Brown University School of Education, and the Education Alliance for Equity in the Nation's Schools. The MRC's service area encompasses Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The MRC collects and…