The primary focus of this book is the Lao, the principal ethnic group of Laos, who form about one-half of the population of that country. Chapter 1 of the book outlines the recent history of Laos and the Laotians. Chapter 2 describes education in Laos up to 1975, schooling in Thai refugee camps, and problems encountered by Lao refugees in American…

The Major Project for Education for Latin America and the Caribbean has given indigenous populations priority attention and has sponsored workshops and seminars to address the educational needs of these peoples. Traditionally, the language and culture of indigenous peoples have been viewed as obstacles rather than valuable resources for education.…

Two-way language development programs are full-time programs that use two languages, one of which is English, for the purpose of instruction. Ideally, these programs are composed of elementary or secondary students half of whom are native speakers of English and the other half of whom are native speakers of the other language of instruction.…

This handbook is designed to help Vietnamese parents of school age children in California understand the operation of the schools. Printed in Vietnamese and English, it is designed in a question and answer format. Included in the handbook is information on student enrollment from kindergarten through grade twelve, public school programs and…

During the 1982-83 school year the Austin Independent School District implemented a successful bilingual preschool project. However, class A was more successful than class B in terms of results on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised. To understand what factors may have led to greater effectiveness, data were gathered from the two classes…

The Transition Program for Refugee Children (TPRC) is designed to provide target students with the linguistic and cultural skills necessary for a successful transition into the educational and societal mainstream. In 1982-83, the program served 885 students in 18 New York City high schools. TPRC funds--provided under the Refugee Act--supported…

The characteristics of Canadian language immersion, bilingual education, and modified immersion programs are described, and their characteristics are compared with research findings on the characteristics of effective dual language programs. The information provided is intended to assist policymakers, educators, and community leaders in making…

Project BECA, in its first year of funding, provided instruction in English as a second language and native language development, and bilingual instruction in mathematics, science, history, economics, industrial arts, recording keeping, typing, and bookkeeping to approximately 290 Spanish-speaking students in grades 9 through 12 at a high school…

This report evaluates Project HOLA, in its first year of funding, which provides instruction in English as a second language, Spanish language skills, and bilingual instruction in mathematics, science, and social studies to approximately 230 students in a high school in Bronx, New York. The report examines the project's long- and short-range…

Project Bilingual Spanish-to-English Career Training (BISECT), in its second year of funding, offers bilingual instruction, career awareness development, and support services to 283 Hispanic students of limited English proficiency (LEP) in a high school in Bronx, New York. Program objectives were assessed in English language development,…

This paper deals with the history and practices of the language assessment policy being used by the state of Illinois' transitional bilingual education programs serving over 42,000 students. The first section of the paper treats the history of bilingual program evaluation efforts. It divides the discussion into three periods, prior to 1976, from…

Project Cumbre, the bilingual education program at the Ann Street Bilingual School in Hartford, Connecticut, was evaluated for the 1981-82 school year. The school was attended by 279 students in kindergarten through grade 6, of whom the majority were Hispanic. The participants, program, and objectives are described. Results are reported on (1)…

Meta-analysis, meta-evaluation and secondary analysis are methods of summarizing, examining, evaluating or re-analyzing data in research and evaluation efforts. Meta-analysis involves the summarization of research findings to come to some general conclusions regarding effects or outcomes of a given treatment/project/program. Glass's approach…

Individual summaries of each of the 76 Illinois school districts with state-funded transitional bilingual education programs are presented. Each summary provides information on the number of students, language groups served, funding, grades served, staffing, number of school buildings, number of students in each language proficiency category,…

This report describes the impact on the Dade County, Florida, public school system of the 125 Cuban (and some Haitian) refugees arriving in the Mariel exodus. In September 1980 the school system had to absorb 13,000 new refugee students. Preparing for the students included hiring many bilingual teachers, reopening schools that had closed,…