For many English language learners, the endgame isn't passing state exams--it's attending and graduating from college. Yet schools often focus on a lower target: proficiency. To support the transition of English language learners to postsecondary success, schools should create formal transition plans, provide differentiated guidance, focus on…

Like many relatively affluent suburban schools, James E. Daly Elementary in Montgomery County, Maryland, has seen a rapid increase in its Hispanic and bilingual student populations. Many of the school's English language learners come from low-income, immigrant families. Zimmerman-Orozco, the school's assistant principal, describes the strategies…

In 1998, California voters approved Initiative 227, requiring that all limited-English children be provided an English-immersion program for 1 year or longer as needed. Hispanic parents are leaders in the movement. Dire predictions that bilingual children in English-language classrooms would fall behind have not materialized. (Contains 18…

As the ranks of English language learners swell in the United States, the number of students with interrupted formal education (SIFE) is on the rise. In 2004-05, New York City schools estimated that 10 percent of their English language learners were students with interrupted schooling. According to the New York State Department of Education,…

A key to closing the achievement gap between students who come to school speaking a language other than English and native English speakers is adoption of two-way bilingual immersion (TWBI) programs. The bilingual immersion approach fosters excellent academic achievement and positive school attitudes in students of any ethnicity who participate.…

Authors Gersten and Woodward respond to the criticism by Santiago of their article on structured immersion. (MD)

A promising, increasingly popular model for English learners is one-way developmental bilingual education (DBE). DBE is appropriate in districts with large numbers of students of one primary language heritage. A well-implemented DBE program accelerates all students' growth through a meaningful, relevant, bicultural grade-level curriculum. (11…

The research on beginning reading instruction for English language learners that provides several useful guidelines for policy and practice is presented. Research suggests that bilingual programs usually improve the English reading performances of English language learners.

A veteran English-as-a-Second-Language teacher recently discovered the effectiveness of using videos and TV together with a diverse student population that speaks 22 languages. Video segments linked to tasks, close-captioned instructional TV programs, and interactive TV and video helped students with language acquisition skills. The idea was to…

A new urban legend claims, "As a result of the state dropping bilingual education, test scores in California skyrocketed." Krashen disputes this theory, pointing out that other factors offer more logical explanations of California's recent improvements in SAT-9 scores. He discusses research on the effects of California's Proposition 227,…

Criticizes the concept of structured immersion presented by Gersten and Woodward in the previous article. Points out questionable areas in the methodology and in interpretation of results in the research relating to implementation of structured immersion in Canada. (MD)

In 1978 a controversial evaluation found no difference in achievement between Hispanic students in transitional bilingual programs and those in regular classroom programs. The authors present an argument favoring the use of stuctured immersion programs instead of bilingual programs. (MD)

Liberty High School is a one-year transitional school in New York City dedicated to helping immigrant students feel welcome, adjust to their new environment, learn to read and write in English, and become self-assured. Led by a "hands-on" principal, the school specializes in life skills and free clinic referrals. (MLH)

The ongoing debate between advocates of bilingual education and advocates of English-only instruction often fails to acknowledge classroom realities. The author, who has taught native Spanish speaking students in a variety of settings, draws on her experience to explain that not all bilingual programs are the same and that no program will…

To make sense of the complex information taught in the upper elementary grades -- and to understand the language that increasingly appears in high-stakes tests--students must be proficient in academic English. English language learners are at a serious disadvantage. Two word problems in mathematics illustrate the difficulties that these students…