The evolution and evaluation of an elementary level structured immersion program in English as a second language are described. The program provides all academic instruction in English, but at a level that students can understand. It is ungraded, uses bilingual teachers who speak the students' native language, and has both developmental and direct…

A study assessed and compared the effectiveness of two distinct approaches of bilingual education used within a single school district in El Paso (Texas). The program designs, one a traditional transitional bilingual and the other a bilingual immersion, were implemented under similar conditions of resources, school year length, class size, and…

Despite claims that structured immersion programs for language minority students cannot work for low-income students, two immersion projects with low-income Hispanic and Asian children worked; their effects appeared to endure even after students entered the mainstream. (BJV)