Providing foundational academic support to Indiana's culturally and linguistically diverse students is a cornerstone of the state's educational goals. Over 140,000 Indiana students speak a language other than English at home, and there are over 295 different languages represented in Indiana schools. Of these, over 93,000 students have been…

Recent studies have documented differences in academic achievement between current and former English learner students. These differences validate calls for more focused analyses of achievement across English learner student subgroups. Specifically, there is interest in examining variation in academic success based on the amount of time a student…

The "2021-2022 Louisiana High School Planning Guidebook" consolidates the policies and programs that are most relevant to high school educators as they plan for the upcoming academic year and prepare every student for college and career success. Ensuring every high school student is on track for success is but one of the educational…

This research project addresses the validity of assessments used to measure the performance of English language learners (ELLs), such as those mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB, 2002). The goals of the research are to help educators understand and improve ELL performance by investigating the validity of their current…

Within the last several years, researchers working with linguistic minority children have focused increasingly on the development of the types of language proficiencies that are required to perform successfully in academic contexts. Most practitioners and researchers agree that, in order to succeed in schools, such learners must be given the…

Discusses the national trend toward full-day kindergarten scheduling and a 2-year experiment involving alternate-day and half-day programs in Pasco, Washington. Early findings show no significant differences in children's achievement, classroom study habits, or social skills. Poor and minority children benefit from increased conversational…

The paper, originally given at a 1986 Ethnic and Multicultural Symposium, reviews the language demands of schools and difficulties with conventional language proficiency measures in predicting the academic achievement of language minority children. It is suggested that language assessment include the assessment of syntactic competencies as well as…

This set of 82 summaries is based on papers written between 1963 and 1982 concerning the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). TOEFL is currently required by more than 2,500 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada to determine the English proficiency of applicants whose native language is not English. It is also required…

The purpose of this document is to spell out clear objectives in reading, writing, listening, and speaking for all students in Boston, Massachusetts, elementary and middle schools. The objectives include all of the Massachusetts Basic Skills; these are directly linked to competency tests and teacher observation at each level to measure students'…

A study comparing the educational performance of limited-English-proficient (LEP) and fluent-English-proficient (FEP) Southeast Asian students as a whole with that of other LEP and FEP ethnic groups finds that the five main Indochinese ethnic groups exhibit significant socioeconomic and ethnocultural diversity, impacting on their academic…

Two questions are examined: the relationship between prior to formal experience (high school instruction) and success on university foreign language proficiency tests, and the similarity of prior experience to pass rates for students of varying languages. (LB)

The paper, originally given at a 1986 Ethnic and Multicultural Symposium, examines implications of research on assessment procedures for limited-English-proficient (LEP) handicapped students. The discussion includes a report on a longitudinal study to identify techniques that effectively distinguish between LEP students who are handicapped and…

A discussion of three years of French experimentation with foreign languages in the elementary schools looks at successes, lessons learned, and issues yet to be resolved, including expansion of languages taught, linguistic objectives of instruction, articulation with secondary education, program administration questions, and design of teacher…

The paper, originally given at a 1986 Ethnic and Multicultural Symposium, reports on the development and use of a screening instrument for use with language minority students. The literature on disproportionate representation of racial and language minorities in special education and the assessment of limited English proficient students is…

This is the first book to present a practical, problem-solving approach and hands-on tools and techniques for assessing English-language learners and culturally diverse students in K-12 settings. It meets a crucial need among practitioners and special educators working in today's schools. Provided are research-based, step-by-step procedures for…