The focus of this evaluation study was to investigate how and to what extent a transitional bilingual education (TBE) program may have contributed to the students' academic and linguistic development in Spanish and English. Reading and mathematics subtest achievement data were utilized to ascertain educational outcomes for experimental (n = 24) and comparison (n = 118) subjects. Experimental and comparison subjects had participated in a TBE program and a monolingual English program, respectively, between 1980 and 1982, attending first through third grades in four school sites of the Sunnyside Unified School District #12, located in Tucson, Arizona. The data for the study were analyzed using appropriate statistical tests. The following conclusions were based on the findings of this study: (1) Students who participated in TBE projects because they need initial instruction in their native language (Spanish) will perform as well or better, over time, on standardized tests as comparison students matched for socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnicity. (2) Pupils who participate in TBE projects progress, over time, in English reading and mathematics either slightly below, at, or above national norms, suggesting a cumulative effect. The major implications of the study were as follows: (1) Progress in English is not hindered by providing instruction in another language (Spanish). A transfer of skills from L1 (Spanish) to L2 (English) is possible in TBE settings. (2) It cannot be assumed that enrollment in a TBE project precludes maintenance or development of skills in L1 (Spanish). (3) The acquisition of second language (English) skills is associated with the support conditions characteristic of successfully implemented TBE projects.

The major focus of this study was to examine the consistency between the perception of teachers and parents toward the value of bilingual education for facilitating the academic growth of school-age children. Relationships of perceptions to the academic achievement of children was also evaluated. Three specific areas of the bilingual program were investigated: philosophy, functional value, and implementation. In order to obtain measures of perception of teachers and parents toward bilingualism and bilingual education, an instrument was developed. This instrument, named as the Attitudes Toward Bilingualism (ATB), contained 49 Likert-type items. The items of the ATB were divided into three categories: philosophy, functional values, and implementations. Items in each section were rated on a five-point scale ranging from a low to a high agreement scale. Teacher and parent volunteers filled out the ATB. The faculty of five targeted bilingual schools volunteered to participate in this study. Teachers included in the sample were drawn from all first, second, and third grade bilingual classrooms of the target schools. Thirty bilingual teachers and 107 parents participated in the study. The overall directions of the findings clearly suggested a great deal of similarity in the perceptions of parents and teachers toward various issues surrounding bilingual education practices. The specific issues examined in this study can be viewed in a broad sense of parent-school partnership issues, which need to be studied at greater depth. Issue concerning implications of the study and the general utility of obtained results were discussed.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.