Seven cohorts of students (N = 258) who completed a K-5 Spanish Immersion (SI) program in a suburban California school district were followed longitudinally through middle and high school to understand their academic, language, and social emotional outcomes. Academic and language outcomes included Spanish classes and grades, standardized Math and…

The rising demand for dual-language immersion (DLI) programs, which offer core instruction in two languages from early grades onward, has raised questions about program design and access. We leverage the rapid expansion of DLI schools across the U.S. state of Utah to estimate effects of DLI program availability on the academic achievement of…

This dissertation focused on comparing the academic achievement and language proficiency in both English and Spanish of students at risk for language and learning difficulties, with bilingual typically developing students in two bilingual educational contexts: English as a Second Language program and Spanish two-way immersion program. Data was…

Language immersion education uses a non-English language for a significant portion of instruction. One goal is to develop bilingual students, which many argue provides cognitive benefits. Using data from school choice lotteries, I estimate the effect of random assignment to a language immersion school on achievement in math and reading. Winning…

This study assesses the long-term linguistic and academic outcomes associated with different bilingual language education models for low-income dual language learners (DLLs) residing in a bilingual, bicultural context. As part of the Miami School Readiness Project (MSRP), we analyzed the impact of program model on gains in English language…

This ex-post-facto quasi-experimental research design was conducted by selecting a convenient sample of approximately 2,000 3rd grade ELLs who took the regular reading and math English STAAR test during the 2014-15 school year in an urban southern Texas school district. This study was conducted using a quantitative research method of data…

Language immersion programs are becoming more available as a form of school choice in both private and public education in the United States and beyond. While there is research on the benefits of immersion education regarding overall intelligence, there is still much skepticism as to why parents would place their child in an immersion program vs.…

In this investigation, the relationship between bilingual education program type (i.e., dual language programs or exit programs) and English Language Learner reading and mathematics test scores was examined. Data were obtained on English Language Learners who were enrolled in Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6 in Texas public schools for the 2008-2009,…