Early diagnosis of selective mutism (SM) is an important concern. SM prevalence is higher than initially thought and at least three times higher in immigrant language minority children. Although the DSM-IV precludes diagnosing SM in immigrant children with limited language proficiency (as children acquiring a second language may normally undergo a…

Despite Sweden's international reputation for human rights and democratic values, racism within Swedish schools is a relatively new issue, emerging only with the increased ethnic diversity of Swedish schools in recent years. This paper is thus one of the first Swedish interview studies on the perceptions of young men and women in Sweden from both…

While decline and/or extinction threaten an ever-increasing number of languages, most of these are minority tongues that struggle for survival against dominant languages. The present paper reports the case of Belarusian, a national and co-official language, which the great majority of the population of Belarus considers as its mother tongue, but…

Ajit Kumar Mohanty is a Professor of Social Psychology of Education at the Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Mohanty received his doctorate from University of Alberta, Canada, in 1978, and was a postdoctoral Fulbright fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, between 1981-1982. He was…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of standardized teacher tests as demonstration of licensure competencies for diverse candidates in Oregon and nationally. The following four areas and their accompanying questions guide the development of this paper: (1) Why would a diverse teacher workforce help close the achievement gap?; (2) What…

This regional dossier aims to provide concise, descriptive information and basic educational statistics about minority language education in a specific region of Europe--the Northern Basque country. Aspects that are addressed include features of the education system, recent educational policies, main actors, legal arrangements, and support…

A professional development experience is described in which teachers from schools with Latino student populations participated in two mathematics lessons taught in Chinese. The goal was to allow the teachers to experience linguistic challenges similar to those that many ELL students face. In addition, the article also discusses teachers'…

This digest discusses the process of referring language minority students to special education, focusing specifically on the problems of overreferral and underreferral. The prereferral process, the assessment and referral process, and the characteristics and behaviors of language minority students in need of special education are described in…

In this essay, the author suggests that recent developments in English studies and popular culture create an opportune moment for writing teachers to welcome such literature in composition curricula. The author describes how studying stories by John Edgar Wideman enabled first-year composition students to engage political and interpersonal issues…

Canada's Community-Based Language Training (CBLT) program was designed as a part-time, flexible language training response for non-confident, isolated immigrant women who required adult English-as-a-Second-Language (A/ESL) training to assist them in their daily lives. It addressed barriers to their participation in classes housed in educational…

This Issue Brief examines growth in the population of English Language Learner (ELL) students in U.S. public schools between the 1994 and 2000 school years. Data are drawn from the Schools and Staffing Surveys (SASS) of 1993-94 and 1999-2000. Nationally, the number of ELL students in public schools increased from approximately two million students…

The composition of the Estonian population has changed considerably since the second World War. The number of immigrants to Estonia has been remarkable in the second half of the century. The population in Estonia is divided into two parts: Estonian (66%) and non-Estonians (34%). The composition of the population and the language situation in…

This report describes the development and approval of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. After discussing the expression of consent to the European Charter, the report focuses on the ratification process of and obligations assumed by Spain. Although Spain was one of the first signatories in 1992, the ratification was not…

This paper describes the impact of the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in the United Kingdom, examining the history and current demographic and social position of the various languages to which the Charter applies. The first section, "Linguistic Minorities in the United Kingdom: Historical Development…

This study addressed the effectiveness of a Spanish-English dual language (DL) test booklet in eighth-grade mathematics. The inclusion criteria of the National Assessment of Educational Progress were used to identify students who would qualify for an accommodation like the DL booklet. Incentives (periodicals, software, and study data) were used to…