Cavanagh, Sean (2004). Greene Machine, Education Week. The author of this article profiles the 37-year-old researcher Jay P. Greene and his controversial research studies on education. Most people learn early to trust the things they see first, but Greene adheres to a different creed. People are deceived by their own eyes. He believed that visual betrayal is as evident as it is in how people think about education. In recent years, few researchers have consistently produced as much influential, and some would say heretical, research on topics roiling education as Greene did even as critics questioned his objectivity. His work has scrutinized subjects from dropout rates and bilingual education to charter schools and vouchers.   [More]  Descriptors: Profiles, Educational Research, Educational Researchers, Research Methodology

Rossell, Christine H. (2000). The Federal Bilingual Education Program, Brookings Papers on Education Policy. Since the 1960s, the U.S. Department of Education has enthusiastically embraced bilingual education. In this paper, the author evaluates the federal bilingual education program. Based on her studies of the implementation of bilingual education in California, Massachusetts, and New York City, she concludes that the program is of dubious value. She finds that the means by which children are assigned to it are arbitrary and can be easily manipulated by states and districts to raise or lower the eligible population and that the definition of "bilingual education" varies widely from place to place. She concludes with specific ideas to make the program more valuable for the language minority children who are its intended beneficiaries by fundamentally transforming the program. Comments by Catherine E. Snow and Charles Glenn are included.   [More]  Descriptors: Language Minorities, Bilingual Education, Minority Group Children, Bilingualism

Dixon, L. Quentin (2005). Bilingual Education Policy in Singapore: An Analysis of Its Sociohistorical Roots and Current Academic Outcomes, International Journal of Bilingual Education & Bilingualism. Using available data from Singapore's national census and economic reports, national exams, international comparison studies and small-scale studies, this paper examines the sociohistorical circumstances that led to the creation of Singapore's bilingual education policy, the results of this policy on recent academic achievement and implications for second language acquisition theory. National exam data reveal increasing levels of achievement for students in most academic areas; however, an achievement gap persists among ethnic groups. International comparisons indicate Singapore's superiority in math and science achievement and comparability in reading relative to participating countries. Little data are available on the degree of bilingualism of Singaporean students; however, the few published studies indicate English dominance in literacy but Mandarin dominance in oral communication for most Singaporean students. Singapore's success in educating students through a second language challenges the assumption of the supremacy of instruction through the home language but may lend support to the interdependence hypothesis.   [More]  Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Speech Communication, Ethnic Groups, Comparative Analysis

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (2009). Empty Promises: A Case Study of Restructuring and the Exclusion of English Language Learners in Two Brooklyn High Schools. Since 2002, the New York City Department of Education (DOE) has attempted to reverse the city's severe drop-out crisis through a large scale restructuring of high schools, focused mainly on closing large, comprehensive high schools and replacing them with small high schools that offer a more personalized learning environment. Unfortunately, this reform effort initially included a policy that allowed new small schools to exclude English Language Learners (ELLs), and many small schools still do not provide the programs that ELLs need. Lack of access to new and promising programs is reflected in ELL performance data. While the City's overall graduation rate climbed to 52.2% in 2007 from 46.5% in 2005, the rate for ELLs dropped from 28.5% to 23.5% over the same period. To understand how the small schools movement has affected ELL students in New York City, the researchers studied the restructuring of two large Brooklyn high schools–Lafayette High School in Bensonhurst and Tilden High School in East Flatbush. Through their investigation, they found that: (1) In the years leading up to the DOE's decisions to close these schools, Tilden and Lafayette had a substantial number of ELL students, students with special needs and overaged and under-credited students; (2) ELLs who remained in the schools that were phasing-out began to receive less support and fewer services and in some cases, were pushed into GED classes; (3) Most of the small schools that replaced Tilden and Lafayette took very few, if any, ELL students or failed to provide them with legally mandated ELL programming; (4) The closing of Tilden and Lafayette resulted in the loss of two large and diverse bilingual education programs, as no bilingual programs were created in the new small schools placed on those campuses; and (5) As Tilden and Lafayette began to phase-out, ELL enrollment in surrounding large high schools rose, which may put those schools at greater risk of being closed in the future. The experiences of ELL students in Tilden and Lafayette and the new schools placed on their campuses show what happens when schools are closed without considering and planning for the needs of this population. As the DOE continues to close large schools to make way for an array of small high schools, ELL students–who experience some of the lowest graduation rates in the city–are left with fewer and fewer options or are simply left behind. As it restructures high schools, the DOE must plan ahead to ensure that ELL students have a range of choices and opportunities comparable to other students and do not have to sacrifice the basic support that they need. The DOE is urged to take a comprehensive look at how ELLs are affected by the closure of large high schools and the corresponding elimination of bilingual education programs. (Contains 160 endnotes.) [Additional funding for this paper was provided by the Donors' Education Collaborative and the Durst Family Foundation.]   [More]  Descriptors: Bilingual Education, English (Second Language), Special Needs Students, Second Language Learning

Alvarado, Nora V. (2013). Staying in the Middle: Latinos/as as Negotiators of Their Social, Cultural, and Linguistic Capital, ProQuest LLC. This study examines the educational and societal experiences that lead students to maintain or lose their heritage language to see how these experiences affect the language choices that young Latino/a adults are making after high school. Examining the experiences that lead language learners to lose or maintain their native language is important because as time passes, language learners may find themselves facing divisions and lack of communication with family members, a lack of positive ethnic identity through language, and they will further discriminatory attitudes towards their own language and culture. More alarmingly, the numbers of students losing their native language is increasing and it is becoming inevitable for minority groups to use the majority language as a part of their acculturation (Lutz, 2006). Therefore, if students do have a native language loss, it suggests that after high school young adults may be losing their culture by choosing to assimilate to the "dominant" language. Studying these issues is necessary to fashion and maintain a space where language learners can have bilingual, bicultural and bi-literate identities. This study includes four participants who have completed high school to shed light on how Latino/a who were once part of urban bilingual programs can reflect on their experiences from the past. The study addresses how participants felt about their current position in society as they look back on their bilingual schooling experiences. The participants were previous urban high school students who graduated high school and were in my bilingual English Language Arts class for more than one academic calendar year from a large urban public school with a bilingual education program. The Latino/a individuals were composed of young adults struggling to preserve their heritage language and culture while still trying to become proficient in English. The participants selected were individuals who had opportunities to visit their country of origin and return to the United States. As a way to theorize the implications of language oppression that Latino/a students confront, Latino critical theory is the theoretical lens implemented in this research. LatCrit is a tool that educators can embrace to address the hegemonic influences of language oppression, thus aid Latino/a English language learners to maintain their language and identity in this country. LatCrit facilitates a discourse where identities can be explored in relation to language and culture from the unique experiences of Latinos/as who are learning a new language and culture. Additionally, it allows one to address the institutional use of language and its manifestation in Eurocentric curricula to be used as a marker of superiority. Studies suggest that this dominance encourages Latinos/as to view themselves as less than or as wanting to mimic White ideals (Michael-Luna, 2008) to conform to Eurocentric standards, thus creating new identities that will become dangerous to their realities. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: www.proquest.com/en-US/products/disserta…   [More]  Descriptors: Social Capital, Cultural Capital, Hispanic Americans, Native Language

Fowler, R. Clarke (2009). Educators without Borders: Addressing New England's Teacher Shortages, New England Journal of Higher Education. Schools throughout New England face a common problem: a shortage of teachers who are fully qualified to teach science, mathematics, special education, bilingual education, foreign languages and English. Shortages are expected to spread soon to other teaching fields due to a second common problem: New England has the oldest teaching force of any region in the country. To address current and future teacher shortages, many New England states have established alternative, and typically faster, routes into the profession. Maine has developed Regional Teacher Development Centers that provide, among other services, support and guidance to individuals seeking to become licensed via nontraditional means. Massachusetts implemented its "Bonus Teacher" program, which provided $20,000 bonuses to high-achieving individuals who taught after an intensive six-week summer training program. In fall 2009, Rhode Island will launch a similar fast-track initiative, the Rhode Island Teaching Fellows (RITF). Managed by the New Teacher Project, the same organization that managed the Massachusetts Bonus Teacher initiative, the RITF will also put individuals in charge of classrooms following a six-week summer program. There are two problems, however, with relying on fast-track programs to respond to teacher shortages. First, because teachers leave their profession faster than most other professionals, especially early in their careers, teacher shortages are caused more by high rates of attrition than by low rates of supply. The other problem with fast-track teacher preparation programs is that they aggravate the already excessively high rates of teacher attrition. In this article, the author discusses what policymakers should do to address the regional teacher shortage.   [More]   [More]  Descriptors: Summer Programs, Bilingual Education, Teacher Persistence, Teacher Shortage

Calderón Pachón, Jennifer Paola; Jiménez Vargas, Milena Patricia (2009). Building Background: What It Takes to Really Make a Lesson Connect with Students, GIST Education and Learning Research Journal. Seeking the best pedagogical practices for bilingual higher education and guided by the principles of the sheltered instruction observation protocol (SIOP), we describe a sub-study of the Sheltered Instruction Research Project (SIRP) which deals with how professors at ÃöNICA college in Bogotá, Colombia implement one of the components of the model: "building background" (BB). This SIOP element involves the connection of prior learning and experiences with the new content material instructors teach. Such connections allow for students to gain better understandings by recalling facts and concepts from previously studied topics. The sources of data used to fulfill the purposes of this 30-day sub-study included class observations, a workshop and a questionnaire. The research explores the usage of direct experiences and childhood memories as the most effective means for uniting a topic with student feelings, age, needs, preferences and realities.   [More]  Descriptors: Higher Education, Bilingual Education, Teaching Methods, Teaching Models

Johnson, Eric J.; Brandt, Elizabeth A. (2009). Targeting Diversity: A Critical Account of Language Policy and Public Education, Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy. Drawing from the surge of anti-bilingual education sentiments at the turn of the millennium, Ron Unz and the program he initiated, English for the Children, promoted Proposition 203 to dismantle bilingual and English as a second language (ESL) programs in Arizona's public schools. According to Unz's initiative, language-minority students were to be placed in "Sheltered English Immersion" (a term coined by the English for the Children movement) for a period usually not to exceed one year before being mainstreamed into the regular education classroom. In this article, the authors underscore the emphasis placed on Arizona's high stakes accountability assessment–the AIMS. Scores on the AIMS test are the most influential factor in assessing student, school, and district achievement for state and federal designation purposes. Considering the immense pressure on schools to perform, the situation facing schools with a high language-minority student population is exacerbated under the imposed guidelines of Proposition 203 and the ongoing legal battles in the legislature. In order to understand how this context is translated into the everyday experiences of students and educators, the current study focuses on a school district that serves a predominantly language-minority community. While the general educational goals of policies like NCLB, AZ LEARNS, and Proposition 203 are not inherently bad (i.e., that students learn English so that they have access to dominant class social institutions), the harmful effects emerge out of how language use is characterized and treated in general. There are two major features of language policies that deeply affect language-minority students. First, how these policies are understood and implemented by people in positions of power (e.g., educators) determines the way students view the value of languages. Second, the way the students' native-language abilities are treated determines the perception of their own proficiencies.   [More]  Descriptors: Bilingual Education, English (Second Language), Bilingualism, Sociolinguistics

Torres-Guzman, Maria E., Ed.; Gomez, Joel, Ed. (2009). Global Perspectives on Multilingualism: Unity in Diversity, Teachers College Press. In this timely volume, international scholars examine how multilingual schooling is handled in schools across the world with a series of case studies from South Africa, Nigeria, Germany, Colombia, Slovakia, New Zealand, and Taiwan. Presenting new contributions arising from the varied contexts of multilingualism today, this collection urges educators to employ broader definitions of multilingualism; to treat the intricate messiness of language modes and language community goals as factors that mediate instructional and organizational designs, practices and policies; to question the hopes or disappointments of democracy as individuals now know it; and to consider the connections or disconnections of teaching with the cultures represented in the classroom. Demonstrating the commonalities among exemplars of practice, this book will help U.S. educators construct more effective policies and programs for multilingual instruction in K-12 schools. This book begins with "Multilingualism for Understanding," an introduction by Maria E. Torres-Guzman and Joel Gomez. Included in this book are: (1) Enabling Biliteracy Among Young Children in Southern Africa: Realities, Visions, and Strategies (Carole Bloch); (2) Multilingualism in South African Schools: Where to Now? (Rosemary Wildsmith-Cromarty); (3) African Cityscapes and Schools: Imagining Multilingual Education (Tope Omoniyi); (4) Toward Bilingualism in Multiethnic Slovakia: The Formal Education of Ethnic Hungarians (Ildiko Vanco); (5) Multilingual Primary Schools in Germany: Models and Research (Ursula Neumann and Hans-Joachim Roth); (6) Multilingual Education in Germany: Discourses, Practices, and Experiences in Two-Way Immersion (Gabriele Budach); (7) Multilingualism in Action: Language Education Policy in the Rapidly Changing Society of Taiwan (Chen-ching Li); (8) Effective Transformation or Illusion? Teacher Empowerment Through the Construction of Bilingual Education Programs in Colombia (Anne-Marie de Mejia, Harvey Tejada, and Sol Colmenares); and (9) Multiculturalism and Language Education in New Zealand: Past, Present, and Future (Roger Barnard). "iZemia's Unity in Linguistic Diversity," an afterword by Maria E. Torres-Guzman and Joel Gomez, is included.   [More]  Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Multilingualism, Case Studies, Bilingualism

Dongping, Yang, Ed.; Chunqing, Chai, Ed.; Yinnian, Zhu, Ed. (2009). The China Educational Development Yearbook, Volume 1. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Yearbooks: Educational Development, BRILL. China's education system has grown increasingly complex, creating the need for an annual critical review of the education system by China's top scholars. The "Blue Book of Education," as it is known in Chinese, has gained a reputation for offering the most penetrating perspective in China on educational reform and development. In this important English translation combining the Blue Books published in 2007 and 2008, the issues, developments, challenges, and crises in Chinese education are comprehensively discussed and critically analyzed. This volume's incisive contributions address a wide range of pressing issues including: debt caused by the expansion of higher education, quality of education, employment of graduates, corruption of scholarship, education for migrant children, the gap between policy and practice in bilingual education for minority students, the popularization of no-fee compulsory education in rural areas, reform of the national university examination system, and thorny problems faced by private daycares and private schools. The volume is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the perspective of some of China's most critical scholars about the most pressing challenges facing education. This book contains an introduction by Gerard Postiglione and the following articles: (1) Educational Reform in China: An Overview (Yang Dongpin); (2) Funding for Compulsory Education in Rural Areas (Cheng Gang); (3) Early Childhood Education in China: Problems and Solutions (Chu Zhaohui); (4) Issues Involved When Seeking Balanced Development of Urban and Rural Compulsory Education (Fan Weichen); (5) Compulsory Education for Migrant Children: A Case Study (Han Jialing); (6) Educating the Children of Migrant Workers in Rural Areas (Ye Zhong and Tu Xiaoming); (7) Curriculum Reform amid Controversy (Zhai Jinyu); (8) The Current Situation of Rural Substitute Teachers in China (Zhu Yinnian); (9) The Reform of China's University Entrance Examination System (Wang Xiong and Zhu Zhengbiao); (10) Chinese Ethnic Minorities and Bilingual Education (Teng Xing and Hai Lu); (11) Improving the Quality of Higher Education in China (Shen Yushun); (12) Bureaucracy in Chinese Universities (Xiong Bingqi); (13) The Debt Crisis in China's Colleges and Universities: Causes, Resolutions and Contradictions (Lin Li); (14) Employment Issues Facing China's College Graduates (Tian Yongpo); (15) Reform of Financial Aid to University Students: Policy for Enhancing Equity (Shen Hong and Wei Li); (16) The Development of Private Schools in China (Hu Wei, Xie Ximei and Chai Chunqing); (17) Reform of Vocational Education in China (Xing Hui and Li Shiwei); (18) Art Education in China (Li Gongming and Hu Bin); (19) The Societal Push to Develop the Education System in 2007 (Wang Sheng); (20) The Current Status and Future Prospects of Education Legislation (Song Yanhui); (21) The Innovation of Local Educational Systems (Cong Chunxia); (22) Educational Corruption in China (Ren Jianming); (23) The Remedy for Undesirable Academic Practices (Jing Jianbin); (24) Satisfaction with Chinese Education: A 2007 Survey–21st Century Education Development Research Institute-Horizon Research Consultancy Group; (25) Confucius Institutes and International Promotion of the Chinese Language (Wang Yan); (26) Hong Kong and Macao University Recruitment of Mainland Chinese Students (Li Mei and Xue Wenzheng);  (27) A 2007 Summary of the Education System in Hong Kong (Zhao Zhenzhou); (28) A Summary of Education in Taiwan in 2007 (Huang Kunjin); and (29) The 2007 Almanac of Chinese Education: 21st Century Education Development Research Institute. [For Volume 2, see ED512153.]   [More]  Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Educational Development, Yearbooks, Educational Change

Lechuga, Mary Helen (2009). Social Justice and English Language Learners in the Borderland: A Personal Narrative of a Committed Principal Determined to Take the Steps Necessary for English Language Learners to Achieve and Succeed in Academic Content, ProQuest LLC. This study embraces the pedagogy that this school's educators believed in and utilized to enhance and expand the academic knowledge of those students who posses a language different from the English language.   This research study, represented in a personal narrative, attempts to question the widespread thinking that places all validity on using English as the language of instruction. The narrative examines the actions taken in addressing a program brought forth by a Bilingual Education Department in a large district on the west Texas border with Mexico. The pressure to address the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the push for English instruction will be disclosed.   This study collected pertinent data utilized to make informed decisions on the fundamental right of English Language Learners to a well founded academic foundation. It attempts to wake up the lethargic consciousness of those participants involved in shaping the academic future of English Language Learners.   This study hopes to offer (teaching) tools to those leaders of schools who utilize data to inform and justify educating English Language Learners in a rightful manner. The study's main goal is to have a confident and competent participation within the boundaries of the methodology and pedagogy which educators utilize to enhance and expand the academic knowledge of those students who posses a language different from the English language: our English Language Learners.   [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: www.proquest.com/en-US/products/disserta…   [More]  Descriptors: Social Justice, Federal Legislation, Bilingual Education, Language of Instruction

Bernardo, Allan B. I. (2004). McKinley's Questionable Bequest: Over 100 years of English in Philippine Education, World Englishes. The English language has enjoyed a privileged status in Philippine formal education since US President McKinley declared it the medium of instruction of the Philippine public educational system in 1900. But the pre-eminence of English has been vigorously called to question since then. This paper traces the changing status of English in Philippine education from the establishment of the American colonial government to the current implementation of the Bilingual Education Policy. It then discusses five dominant themes in the competing discourses regarding the role of English in Philippine education. Finally, the emerging prospects for English in Philippine education are described.   [More]  Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Language Role, Foreign Countries, Language of Instruction

Au, Wayne, Ed. (2009). Rethinking Multicultural Education: Teaching for Racial and Cultural Justice, Rethinking Schools, Ltd. Since the 1980s, "Rethinking Schools" magazine has been renowned for its commitment to racial equality in education. Now, "Rethinking Multicultural Education: Teaching for Racial and Cultural Justice" has collected the best Rethinking Schools articles that deal with race and culture. "Rethinking Multicultural Education" moves beyond a simplistic focus on heroes and holidays to demonstrate a powerful vision of anti-racist, social justice education. Practical, rich in story, and analytically sharp, "Rethinking Multicultural Education" reclaims multicultural education as part of a larger struggle for justice and against racism, colonization, and cultural oppression–in schools and society. This book contains four sections. Section I, Anti-Racist Orientations, contains the following: (1) Taking Multicultural, Anti-Racist Education Seriously: An interview with Enid Lee; (2) Origins of Multiculturalism (Christine Sleeter and Peter McLaren); (3) What Do We Need to Know Now? (Asa G. Hilliard, III); (4) Diversity vs. White Privilege: An interview with Christine Sleeter; (5) The Forgotten History of Eugenics (Alan Stoskopf); (6) Standards and Tests Attack Multiculturalism (Bill Bigelow); (7) Race and the Achievement Gap (Harold Berlak); and (8) Once Upon a Genocide: Columbus in children's literature (Bill Bigelow). Section II, Language, Culture, and Power, contains the following: (9) Putting Out the Linguistic Welcome Mat (Linda Christensen); (10) My Mother's Spanish (Salvador Gabaldon); (11) Taking a Chance with Words: Why are the Asian American kids silent in class? (Carol A. Tateishi); (12) Black English/Ebonics: What it be like? (Geneva Smitherman); (13) Ebonics and Culturally Responsive Instruction (Lisa Delpit); (14) Defending Bilingual Education (Kelley Dawson Salas); (15) Bilingual Education Works (Stephen Krashen); (16) Raising Children's Cultural Voices (Berta Rosa Berriz); and (17) And Then I Went to School (Joe Suina). Section III, Transnational Identities, Multicultural Classrooms, contains the following: (18) What Happened to the Golden Door?: How my students taught me about immigration (Linda Christensen); (19) Bringing Globalization Home (Jody Sokolower); (20) Arranged Marriages, Rearranged Ideas (Stan Karp); (21) Welcoming Kalenna: An early childhood teacher strives to make all her students feel at home (Laura Linda Negri-Pool); (22) You're Asian. How Could You Fail Math?: Unmasking the myth of the model minority (Benji Chang and Wayne Au); (23) Edwina Left Behind (Soren Wuerth); (24) Language Lessons: Using student assistants to bridge culture and language (Denise Hanson-Rautiainen); (25) Putting a Human Face on the Immigration Debate (Steven Picht-Trujillo and Paola Suchsland); and (26) The Puerto Rican Vejigante: Teaching art in its social and cultural context (Patty Bode). Section IV, Confronting Race in the Classroom, contains the following: (27) Decolonizing the Classroom: Lessons in multicultural education (Wayne Au); (28) Brown Kids Can't Be in Our Club (Rita Tenorio); (29) What Color Is Beautiful? (Alejandro Segura-Mora); (30) Race: Some Teachable-and Uncomfortable-Moments (Heidi Tolentino); (31) Exploring Race Relations (Lisa Espinosa); (32) Reconstructing Race (Nathaniel W. Smith); (33) Presidents and Slaves: Helping students find the truth (Bob Peterson); (34) From Snarling Dogs to Bloody Sunday (Kate Lyman); (35) On the Road to Cultural Bias: A critique of the "Oregon Trail" CD-ROM (Bill Bigelow); (36) For My People: Using Margaret Walker's poem to help students "talk-back" to stereotypes and to affirm their self worth (Linda Christensen); (37) Math, SATs, and Racial Profiling (Eric Gutstein); (38) Bringing the Civil Rights Movement into the Classroom (Larry Miller); (39) "We Need to Know This!": Student power and curriculum (Jody Sokolower); and (40) Bias and CD-ROM Encyclopedias (Bob Peterson). An index is included.   [More]  Descriptors: Achievement Gap, Childrens Literature, Holidays, Race

Littlebear, Richard (2004). One Man, Two Languages: Confessions of a Freedom-Loving Bilingual, Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education. When the movement for "English Only" began some years ago, the author told participants at a bilingual education workshop that he was against it. He was rendered momentarily mute because he had thought that the English Only proponents could not curtail the freedom of expression guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The way he understood them, the framers of the Constitution guaranteed freedom of expression. He has often questioned the direction this country takes in regards to civil rights, human rights, and especially the freedom to express ourselves. The ideals propounded in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are excellent.   [More]  Descriptors: Freedom of Speech, Constitutional Law, Civil Rights, Bilingualism

Condon, Eliane C. (1974). Bilingual Education, Linguistic Reporter. In this excerpt from an article, several common misunderstandings about bilingual education are discussed. Topics in the article concern: "what bilingual education is NOT"; "what unconscious factors undermine bilingual education"; "what negative effects are provided by federal funding"; and "the future of bilingual education". Descriptors: Biculturalism, Bilingual Education, Cultural Pluralism, Elementary Secondary Education