Volume 26, Number 1 Spring 2002 ABSTRACTS |
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Successful Bilingual Education Programs: Development and the Dissemination of Criteria to Identify Promising and Exemplary Practices in Bilingual Education at the National Level In 1999, the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) was funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs (OBEMLA) to identify 10 promising and/or exemplary bilingual education programs in schools across the nation as determined by participating limited English proficient (LEP) students’ academic achievement. Using these programs, IDRA identified 25 common characteristics and criteria that are contributing to the high academic performance of students served by bilingual education programs, thus helping others identify successful programs or raise the bar with their own bilingual education programs. Full Text in PDF | Full Text in HTML Defining and Documenting Success for Bilingual Learners: A Collective Case Study This article examines the difficulties inherent to measuring bilingual program success and the need for broader and fairer assessment strategies for bilingual students. Drawing from our collective case study, we confirm that there are significant data sources available and accessible to the schools/programs but that their formats are not easily comprehensible for schools attempting to showcase their programs. We also report how the collection and compilation of assessment is primarily in the hands of the school administrators and, thus, may not be efficiently used for the improvement of teaching and learning. Despite the difficulties of data gathering and the shortcomings on the use of information, we suggest that in the schools studied, the evidence we gathered supported their perspectives on success. Full Text in PDF | Full Text in HTML Processes and Outcomes in the European Schools Model of Multilingual Education This article discusses aspects of the European Schools model of multilingual and multicultural education, with a particular emphasis on its language component. European Schools (ES) cater to a linguistically and culturally diverse population and operate in up to nine languages at the same site. Pupils receive most of their education in their respective first languages but are required to learn at least two other languages in the course of their schooling. The complex structure of the ES program, with its teaching of languages and other subjects in the target languages and its regular mixing of different language groups, has been designed to promote multilingual proficiency and cultural pluralism at no cost to academic development. Key features of the ES model are outlined, and its outcomes are critically evaluated. Full Text in PDF | Full Text in HTML Effective Bilingual Education: From Theory to Academic Achievement in a Two-Way Bilingual Program Program evaluation can be used to shift the debate on effective schools for bilingual students from an ideological impasse to a data-driven and research-based discussion. Using the example of the Barbieri Two-Way Bilingual Education Program in Framingham, Massachusetts, this article links theoretical understandings about bilingualism and second language acquisition to program design and implementation, and subsequently to academic outcomes. Disaggregated academic achievement data in English and Spanish show that the Barbieri program meets its academic and linguistic goals for both target groups by fifth grade. Reflections on these academic achievement patterns, in turn, have prompted changes in the program to further increase its effectiveness. Full Text in PDF | Full Text in HTML Two-Way Bilingual Immersion: A Portrait of Quality Schooling An increasing number of schools are offering two-way bilingual immersion programs as educational options to meet the needs of both language minority and language majority students. Given the variability in program design and delivery of such programs, it is useful to examine individual programs to identify factors that may contribute to the effectiveness of this model. This article provides a description of the Inter-American Magnet School in Chicago, the oldest two-way bilingual immersion school in the Midwest. Student achievement scores, particularly those of a cohort of low-income limited English proficient (LEP) students, provide evidence that students consistently attain high levels of achievement in English reading and writing, math, science, and social studies despite receiving instruction in English for no more than 50% of the time. Full Text in PDF | Full Text in HTML Raise a Child, Not a Test Score: Perspectives on Bilingual Education at Davis Bilingual Magnet School1 This article describes a highly successful bilingual education program at Davis Bilingual Magnet School in Tucson, Arizona. After two decades of bilingual schooling in which children of all language backgrounds study content via both Spanish and English, Davis has developed strong community support through special attention to additive bilingualism/biliteracy and by creating a challenging and nurturing learning environment. By examining the school’s long-term success from the perspectives of teachers, families, and dual language immersion students themselves, the study highlights successful bilingual schooling in a manner that acknowledges but goes beyond performance on standardized tests. Full Text in PDF | Full Text in HTML You Can’t Have a Rainbow Without a Tormenta: A Description of an IHE’s Response to a Community Need for a Dual-Language School1 Schools, with an ever-increasing presence of language minority students, are now compelled to critically analyze the programs and the practices in which they engage their students for academic achievement. This manuscript presents a case study2 in which a school and a university worked together in a restructuring process to create a community of learners. The implementation of a two-way bilingual model at Tormenta Elementary School was the main mechanism that drove the restructuring process in both settings. The findings may assist universities in realizing their crucial roles as catalysts for change and as learners in and with the community. Full Text in PDF | Full Text in HTML ASL-English Bilingual Classroom: The Families’ Perspectives Traditionally, professionals have provided information about deafness and its implications to families from a “hearing perspective,” but not from a “deaf perspective.” With diagnosis, the family is faced with raising a child that does not match its expectations of a “normal” child. Families may experience grieving, non-acceptance of deafness, and confusion created by an abundance of detailed and contradictory information. The purpose of this paper is to examine families’ perspectives about their children’s deafness, language, and education when the children’s educational setting is bilingual. Qualitative methods, specifically interviews and focus group meetings, were used. The findings suggest when information with a “deaf perspective” is provided and certain classroom conditions are present, families are empowered with new attitudes about deafness. Full Text in PDF | Full Text in HTML Research in Practice An Administrative Perspective of a Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Program This article is an interview of a female Hispanic administrator who has successfully lead the implementation of both a 50/50 and a 90/10 two-way bilingual immersion model in a predominantly Hispanic community in an urban setting. The interview was conducted at the beginning of the fifth and last year of the State Department of Education pilot. Through the interview, the administrator candidly shares her perspective on crucial questions about the implementation of the program. Included in the discussion is information on how the program came about and challenges encountered, as well as the resources and support available for such an endeavor. The administrator’s leadership style is then analyzed and described utilizing Blackmore’s (1989) leadership model of leadership from a feminist perspective. Full Text in PDF | Full Text in HTML Professional Development in a Bilingual Adult Learning Community: The Case of P.S. 24 Public School 24 in Brooklyn, New York, represents a bilingual “adult learning community” model espoused by leading experts in the field of professional development. Its eight dual language teachers, a coordinator, and the principal are participants in the New York City Board of Education’s multi-year Development and Dissemination (D&D) Schools Initiative, a systemic improvement process that is documenting exemplary instructional practices in schools serving English language learners. This case study illustrates how P.S. 24’s D&D team developed a set of “best practices” in a bilingual setting. The hallmark of this model is that the professional development of the teaching staff is a job-embedded process requiring collaborations with external partners and a redefinition of roles for all adult partners. Full Text in PDF | Full Text in HTML Book Reviews Lessons from High-Performing Hispanic Schools: Creating Learning Communities Full Text in PDF | Full Text in HTML Effective Programs for Latino Students Full Text in PDF | Full Text in HTML |