Recent crede items

Activity Setting Observation System Rule Book

Tue, 15 Feb 2005 00:00:00 +0000

The full-length rule-book for the Activity Setting Observation System (ASOS), a quantitative observational system developed for classrooms, but suitable for any activity setting.

Talking Leaves, Vol. 1, No. 2

Mon, 3 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Talking Leaves, Summer 1997

Articles:

Educational Research and Practice

Partnerships that Work

Estimating the Population of At-Risk Students

Teaching Science to At-Risk Students

Talking Leaves, Volume 3, No. 2

Mon, 3 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Talking Leaves, Spring 1999

Articles:

Significance of Everyday Language

Sociocultural Perspectives on Professional Development

Parents as Experts

Sheltered Instruction

Evaluation that Informs School Reform

On the Threshhold of Language Revitalization

Rural Children of Appalaichian Descent

Leading for Diversity

New Directions in American Indian and Alaskan Native Reseacrh

Talking Leaves, Vol 2. No. 2

Mon, 3 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Talking Leaves, Winter 1998

Articles:

Language Learning and Academic Achievement

Making the Transition from Spanish to English Instruction

The Role of Language in the Classroom

Newcomers

Sociocultural Context of Hawaiian Language Revival and Learning

Two-Way Immersion

Effects of Sheltered Instruction on the Achievement of ELLs

Talking Leaves, Vol. 2, No. 3

Mon, 3 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Talking Leaves, Summer 1998 Articles: Findings on the Effectiveness of Bilingual Education Linking Home and School Teaching and Learning in the Context of African American English Culture and Community At-Risk Preschoolers.... Science in Action at Home and In the Classroom Expanding the Dimensions of Funds of Knowledge Developing a Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Science Curriculum

Talking Leaves, Vol. 2, No. 1

Mon, 3 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Talking Leaves, Fall 1997

Articles:

Professional Development

Rising from Risk

Leading for Diversity: Professional Development for School Leaders

Talking Leaves, Vol. 1, No. 1

Mon, 3 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Talking Leaves, Winter 1997

Articles:

About the Center

National Study of Effective Education for Diverse Student Populations

National Study for School Effectiveness for Language Minority Students' Long-Term Academic Achievement

Talking Leaves, Volume 3, No. 1

Mon, 3 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Talking Leaves, Fall 1998

Articles:

Rising from Risk

Integrated Reform and System Studies

Scaling up School Restructuring in Multicultural Multilingual Contexts

Reform for Kewntucky's Primary Grade Children

Improving Instruction for Resilient and Non-Resilient ELLs

School Reform in a Native American Community

Schools Serving Native America: A Series of Case Studies

Patterns of Instructional Activity in Diverse Classrooms

Talking Leaves, Vol. 3, No. 3

Wed, 1 Dec 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Talking Leaves, Summer 2000

Articles:

Teaching Transformed, Book Review

National Directory of Teacher Preparation Programs for teachers of Linguistically and Culturally Diverse students

Dual Language Instruction: A Handbook for Enriched Education

Making Content Comprehensible for English Language Learners: The SIOP Model

Talking Leaves, Vol. 4 No. 1

Tue, 23 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Talking Leaves, Fall 1999, Articles:

Program Showcase: Family, Peers, School and Community

A National Survey of School/Community-Based Organization

Peer group Influence and Academic Aspirations Across Cultural/Ethnic Groups of High School Students

Developing Immigrant Parents' Computer Literacy in Partnership with Students' Learning

Community Based Organization/School Relationships in Urban Southeast Asian Communities

Different Cultures, Different Strokes, Similar Reasons

Navigating and Negotiating Home, School, and Peer Linkages in Adolescence

Talking Leaves, Vol. 6, No. 2

Tue, 23 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Talking Leaves, Summer 2002, Articles:

The Future of Diversity Education Research

A Practical Guide to Understanding and Implementing Two-Way Immersion Programs

Educator Spotlight: Maria Sudduth, Working magic with CREDE's Five Standards and Harry Potter

Opportunities Through Language Arts: Promoting Literacy in Middle Elementary School

Talking Leaves, Volume 4, No. 4

Tue, 23 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Talking Leaves, Spring 2000, Articles:

Classroom and Schoolwide Observation

Under the Microscope

Observing School Restructuring in Multicultural, Multilingual Contexts

From the Other Side of the Classroom

Looking for Findings in all the Right Places

The Classroom Observation Schedule and the Teacher Roles Observation Schedule

The Standards Performance Continuum: Measuring CREDE's Standards for Effective Pedagogy

The Kentucky Primary Program Component Configuration Map

Talking Leaves, Vol. 5, No. 2

Wed, 10 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Talking Leaves, Fall 2001, Articles:

Report on Synthesis Team Activity

CREDE Enters New Phase with Formation of Synthesis Teams

Program Showcase: Recent Findings from Two-Way Immersion

Talking Leaves, Vol. 6, No.1

Wed, 10 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Talking Leaves, Spring 2002, Articles

Bringing Teaching Alive: Professional Development and Multimedia Technology

Mara Mills: Nonstandard Science through CREDE's Five Standards

Sheri Galarza: Using the Standards to Meet the Needs of Preschoolers

Marta Civil: Linking Community Knowledge and School and School Mathematics

LessonLab: Learning and Collaborating Online

The CREDE/BYU Partnership

Using Video to Improve Education for Native American Students

Talking Leaves, Vol. 7, No. 1

Wed, 10 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Talking Leaves, Spring 2003, articles:

Leaving No Child Behind Begins with Leaving No Teacher Behind

Standards of Professional Development: Measuring Delivery

When Real Life Takes the Place of Simulation: Transforming Teaching and Learning through Sheltered Instruction

Talking Leaves, Vol. 4, No. 3

Wed, 10 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Teaching Alive, Summer 2000, Articles:

Teaching Transformed

National Directory of Teacher Preparation Programs for Teachers of Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students

Dual Language Instruction: A Handbook for Enriched Education

Making Content Comprehensible for English Language Learners: The SIOP Model

Talking Leaves, Vol. 8, No. 1

Tue, 9 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Articles in this issue:

Only Teachers Using Diversity Pedagogy Can Be "Highly Qualified"

Sharon Brockman: Using CD-ROMs in Student Teacher Programs

Greenlanders Visit CREDE as Part of National Education Reform Effort

Leading for Diversity: How School Leaders Promote Positive Interethnic Relations

Wed, 8 Sep 2004 00:00:00 +0000

This book provides models of leadership that are effective in developing schools where positive interethnic relations can flourish. Vignettes and case studies allow readers to assess and develop their leadership skills in interethnic relations by recognizing and developing their strengths, assessing how organizational structures support or constrain positive relations, understanding the nature of ethnic tension in the school, identifying the school's priority needs, developing a core vision of interethnic relations, creating and implementing a plan for promoting positive relations, and documenting the effectiveness of the plan. Part 1, "A Framework for Developing Positive Interethnic Communities," includes; (1) "Leading from Within"; (2) "Assessing the School Context"; (3) "Understanding Racial and Ethnic Conflict"; (4) "Identifying Priority Needs--Individual and School-Wide"; (5) "Envisioning Positive Interethnic Relations"; (6) "Selecting Approaches"; (7) "Implementing and...

Sociocultural Factors in Social Relationships: Examining Latino Teachers' and Paraeducators' Interactions with Latino Students

Wed, 8 Sep 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Sociocultural theory emphasizes the social nature of learning and the cultural-historical contexts in which interactions take place. Thus, teacher-student interactions and the relations that are fostered through these contexts play an especially vital role in student achievement. It has been argued that culturally responsive instruction can have a positive impact on interactions between teachers and students. This paper explores the effect of sociocultural factors on the relationships and interactions between Latino students and 32 Latino teachers and paraeducators. Findings suggest that knowledge of students' culture and communities, their primary language, and the interactional styles with which they are familiar facilitates meeting their academic and social needs. Findings also suggest that school roles shape interactions, and that teachers and paraeducators focus on different aspects of children's development. The term paraeducator is used to describe school personnel hired...

Review of Research on Educational Resilience

Wed, 8 Sep 2004 00:00:00 +0000

One area of research that has important implications for improving the education of students at risk of academic failure is concerned with “resilient” students, or those students who succeed in school despite the presence of adverse conditions. In education, conceptual and empirical work on resilience has gained recognition as a framework for examining why some students are successful in school, while others from the same socially- and economically-disadvantaged backgrounds and communities are not. Such a framework could be useful in helping educators design more effective educational interventions that take into account “alterable” factors that distinguish resilient students from nonresilient students. The purpose of this report is to explain how a focus on educational resiliency might lead to improvements in the education of students at risk of academic failure. Issues related to the definition of resiliency are discussed, and several resilience studies that have helped to...

Two-Way Immersion 101: Designing and Implementing a Two-Way Immersion Education Program at the Elementary Level

Wed, 8 Sep 2004 00:00:00 +0000

In the United States, two-way immersion (TWI) is an educational approach that integrates native English speakers and native speakers of another language (usually Spanish) for content and literacy instruction in both languages. In recent years, the number of TWI programs has grown rapidly. This report examines key issues to consider when planning elementary level TWI programs, noting the fundamental characteristics that must be in place for the development of successful programs. Suggestions are based on over 15 years of research on TWI education conducted by the Center for Applied Linguistics. Much of the research involves visiting and working with new and experienced programs and learning first-hand about features necessary for a strong program. TWI education is a dynamic form of education that holds promise for developing high levels of academic achievement, bilingualism and biliteracy, and cross-cultural awareness among participating students. Because it requires instruction...

Impact of Two-way Bilingual Elementary Programs on Students’ Attitudes Toward School and College

Wed, 8 Sep 2004 00:00:00 +0000

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence that participation in a two-way bilingual elementary program has had on former program participants’ language and achievement outcomes; current schooling path and college plans; and attitudes toward school, self, and others. Study participants were current high school students who were enrolled in a two-way program throughout elementary school. Participants (n=142) were categorized into three ethnic/language groups: Hispanic previous English Language Learning (ELL) students (66%), Hispanic native English speakers (20%), and Euro American students (13%). Results suggest that most students valued their bilingualism and were still using Spanish, had very positive attitudes toward school and attending college, believed they would not drop out of school, and gave very high marks to the two-way program. Few ethnic/language group differences were found, with the exception that the program was evaluated much more favorably in some...

Educating Hispanic Students: Obstacles and Avenues to Improved Academic Achievement

Wed, 8 Sep 2004 00:00:00 +0000

This report synthesizes the research on the education of Hispanic students, summarizing these problems and suggesting possible solutions for approaching them.

Instructional Conversations and their Classroom Applications

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Generations of educators have advocated a type of teaching that does more than impart knowledge and teach skills. Knowledge and skills are undoubtedly important, but true education requires far more. It requires helping students use their knowledge and skills to understand, appreciate, and grapple with important ideas as they develop a depth of understanding for a wide range of issues and questions. Yet teaching aimed at these important goals is largely absent from U.S. classrooms.

"Instructional conversations" (ICs) might be one way to achieve the ambitious but elusive goals long held by many thoughtful educators. ICs are discussion-based lessons geared toward creating opportunities for students' conceptual and linguistic development. They focus on an idea or a students. The teacher encourages expression of students' own ideas, builds upon information students provide and experiences they have had, and guides students to increasingly sophisticated levels of understanding....

Language Mindority Education in the United States: Implications of the Ramirez Report

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Controversy continues over the most reasonable conclusions to draw from the accumulated research evidence on the effectiveness of various program models for students who are not proficient in English. This paper examines a report prepared for the U.S. Department of Education on three program models for language minority children: structured English immersion strategy and early-exit and late-exit bilingual education.

The most conservative, uncontroversial conclusion drawn from the report is that there are no differences in results among the programs studied (Ramirez, Yuen, & Ramey, 1991). The author of this paper draws additional conclusions. An obvious implication is that the amount of time spent using a second language can no longer be considered the most important influence on learning it. A number of other factors can be critically important in minority language children's second language learning and school success. Teacher qualifications and parent involvement...

Teacher Research on Funds of Knowledge: Learning from Households

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

The conceptualization of working-class Latino students' households as being rich in funds of knowledge has engendered transformative consequences for teachers, parents, students, and researchers. The qualitative study of their own students' households by teachers has unfolded as a viable method for bridging the gap between school and community. Teachers enter the households of two to three of their students as ethnographers, that is, as learners of the everyday lived contexts of their students' lives. These are not home visits in the usual sense, as teachers do not attempt to teach the family or to visit for disciplinary reasons. The focus of the home visit is to gather details about the accumulated knowledge base that each household assembles in order to ensure its own subsistence. Teachers also participate in study groups that offer a forum for the collective analysis of the household findings. Based on their experiences in the households and the study groups, teachers form...

Two-Way Bilingual Education: Students Learning Through Two Languages

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

In a growing number of schools in the United States, students are learning through two languages in programs that aim to develop dual language proficiency along with academic achievement. These two-way bilingual programs integrate language minority and language majority students and provide content area instruction and language development in two languages.

A study of over 160 schools between 1991 and 1994 provides a picture of the current state of two-way bilingual education in the United States. Two-way programs typically share the goals of bilingual proficiency, academic achievement, and positive cross-cultural attitudes and behaviors, but they vary a good deal in the approaches and strategies they use to work toward those goals. A host of local factors affect such issues as student enrollment, program features and design, and instructional features.

Emerging results of studies of two-way bilingual programs point to their effectiveness in educating nonnative-English-speaking...

Learning Science and English: How School Reform Advances Scientific Learning for Limited English Proficient Middle School Students

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

This article presents findings from the School Reform and Student Diversity Study, a 4-year project to locate and analyze schools offering exemplary science and mathematics programs to middle school students with limited proficiency in English. In contrast to the vast majority of schools, the four schools described in this article give these students access to stimulating science and mathematics curricula by instructing them either in the students' primary language or in English using sheltered techniques. These schools have overcome the usual barriers to including students with limited English proficiency (LEP) in grade level science and mathematics courses, particularly the belief of many teachers and administrators that fluency in English is a prerequisite to learning other academic subjects.

How have these schools been able to offer innovative science and mathematics programs to students who are not yet proficient in English? First, these programs were manifestations...

Rating Instructional Conversations: A Guide

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

The current focus on more effective ways to foster literacy in school-age children, especially language minority students, has led to the development of alternative instructional approaches. One such approach is the instructional conversation (IC), based on early work in the Hawaiian Kamehameha Elementary Education Project (KEEP), on neo-Vygotskian theory, and on recent classroom-based research on reading comprehension.

The present report outlines preliminary efforts to operationalize more fully the concept of the IC and describes an observational tool, the IC Rating Scale, to examine classroom-based reading comprehension lessons. Preliminary data on the reliability and validity of the IC scale are presented, followed by sample transcripts of instructional conversations from actual reading comprehension lessons. Cautions and unresolved questions to be considered in using the scale are discussed, and suggestions are mace for further investigation.

Readers who are...

Myths and Misconceptions About Second Language Learning: What Every Teacher Needs to Ulearn

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

By discussing commonly held myths and misconceptions, this paper attempts to clarify a number of important issues in the area of second language learning. These include the ease and rapidity with which children learn a second language, the optimal age at which to begin second language instruction, the importance of the extent of exposure to the second language, the relationship between oral communication skills and academic language skills, and cultural and individual differences in language learning styles.

Each myth presented in this paper is followed by a discussion of related research on second language learning and its implications for classroom teachers. It is important for the teachers of language minority students to understand that second language learning by school-aged children is a longer, harder, more complex process than most of them have been led to believe.

Links Between Home and School Among Low-Income Mexican-American and European-American Families

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

The goal of this report is to show how low-income Mexican-American and European-American children's and adolescents' everyday learning activities in the home and parents' aspirations for their children's future are key elements in home-school linkages. After reviewing two models of home-school linkages, we apply the ecocultural approach to analyzing third-,fifth-, and seventh-grade students' participation in chore and homework activities and their parents' aspirations for their personal/moral, educational, and vocational future. Drawing on interviews with these students' parents, we illustrate personnel (parents, siblings, relatives, friends) available to guide children's and adolescents' mastery of homework and chores, parents' direct and indirect instructional scripts, and how parents' future goals and aspirations might shape their present goals and guidance. In reporting our findings, we pay special attention to 1) similarities and differences between the ecology of learning,...

Integrating Language and Culture in Middle School American History Classes

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

This report describes preliminary findings from a study examining school American history classes with English language learners. The study has investigated the construction of social studies knowledge in these and the development and implementation of lessons that address the and educational backgrounds of the learners while integrating language content, and culture objectives. After briefly describing some features studies language, revealed through analyses of classroom discourse books, this report focuses on the implementation of several lessons project-developed unit, "Protest and the American Revolution." Attention is paid to teacher accommodations, student oral and written participation, infusion of multicultural issue and perspectives.

Instructional Conversations in Special Education Settings: Issues and Accommodations

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Traditional approaches to special education instruction tend to be individualized and focus on skill building. In contrast, an interactive instructional approach, instructional conversations (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988), seems to capitalize on what the child brings to the learning situation rather than focusing solely on remediation of deficit areas. While an instructional conversational approach does not replace teaching that emphasizes the acquisition of skills and knowledge, it does appear to provide additional learning opportunities within a meaningful context. However, accommodations particular to students with learning disabilities may be necessary when implementing such an approach in a special education setting.

Creating a Community of Scholarship with Instructional Conversations in a Transitional Bilingual Classroom

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

This report explores the ways in which instructional conversations between a teacher and her students contributed to building an academic community in a transitional bilingual fourth-grade classroom. Through an analysis of reading lesson transcripts, classroom events, and student essays and journal assignments, this report shows how classroom experiences fostered the development of students' understanding of the concepts of sacrifice and responsibility. This report describes how, at both the individual and classroom community level, instructional conversations deepened student understandings of the texts they read in class by encouraging students to make connections between particular textual concepts and their own experiences. In addition to tracking student gains in understanding, this report shows how the conversations helped build a classroom community that incorporated the cultural beliefs and concerns of the students.

Conceptualizaing Academic Language

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

In much of the research literature, academic language is described in discrete linguistic terms, focusing in particular on lexis and syntax. The purpose of this report is to explore academic language on a broader discourse-level of analysis. Examining three linguistic exchanges from a bilingual elementary school, the authors show how academic tasks influence academic language discourse styles (registers) in fifth grade class lessons. The authors also compare the research literature and their own classroom research with the results of a survey on academic language that they distributed to ESL educators.

Integrating Language and Content: Lessons from Immersion

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Among the most interesting and effective innovations in second language education during the last three decades have been the immersion programs developed in Canada. The first immersion programs were developed to provide Canada's majority-group English-speaking students with opportunities to learn Canada's other official language. Since that time, immersion programs have been adopted in many different areas of North America, and alternative forms of immersion have been devised.

This report presents a selective review of research findings from the extensive evaluations that have been undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of immersion programs in Canada and the United States. It focuses on selected aspects of second language learning and discusses implications of immersion research findings for the design and development of second language programs in other school settings for other kinds of learners: for example, for students learning through other forms of content-based...

Syncretic Literacy: Multiculturalism in Samoan American Families

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

On the basis of research on the Samoan American community of urban Los Angeles, the authors argue against two common misconceptions of multiculturalism:

(1) that language is a precise indicator of cultural orientation; and (2) that members of multicultural communities are in one culture at a time.

The notion of syncretic literacy is introduced to account for the ways in which the same language (in this case, Samoan or English) can be used for distinct cultural practices and the ways in which different cultural practices can be merged within the same literacy activity.

This report examines an exchange in which a six-year-old Samoan American boy involves members of his extended family in completing his homework. We see that English is sometimes used in ways that are consistent with the socialization practices typical of traditional learning environments in the home country and that different family members adopt distinct cultural strategies in their interaction...

Making Change Happen in a Language Minority School: A Search for Coherence

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

This paper reports on a project aimed at improving academic achievement at a predominantly Latino elementary school in the metropolitan Los Angeles area. Project activities were guided by a school change model that helped provide a coherent, sustained focus over a period of several years. The model suggests four elements that can be used to produce changes in teaching and learning: goals that are set and shared; indicators that measure success; assistance by capable others; and leadership that supports and pressures. Administration and faculty at the school, aided by UCLA researchers, made substantial improvements in teacher expectations, teaching, school climate, and student achievement.

The Education of Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students: Effective Instructional Practices

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Linguistically and culturally diverse students find themselves in a vulnerable situation on entering U.S. schools. They can achieve academic success, however, when provided with appropriate instruction tailored to meet their specific needs. Recent research has documented effective instructional practices used with students from homes and communities where English is not the primary language of communication. These descriptive studies identified specific schools and classrooms whose language minority students were particularly successful academically. Studies included examination of preschool, elementary, and high school classrooms, and concentrated largely on Latino students. A number of common attributes were identified in the instructional organization of the classrooms studied:

- functional communication between teacher and students and among fellow students was emphasized; - the instruction of basic skills and academic content was consistently organized around thematic...

Fostering Second Language Development in Young Children: Principles and Practices

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

More than one fifth of American school-age children come from families in which languages other than English are spoken (McDonnell & Hill, 1993). Many children from such families are limited in their English proficiency. During the last decade, the number of school children with limited proficiency in English grew two and a half times faster than regular school enrollment (August & Hakuta, 1993). Given these changes in classroom demographics, it is imperative that all teachers have knowledge about second language development and instructional strategies for developing language proficiency.

This report sets down some guidelines for teaching these children. It summarizes principles and practices that can be derived from current thinking and research in the field of second language acquisition and culturally sensitive instruction.

Learning English: How School Reform Fosters Language Acquisition and Development for Limited English Proficient Elementary School Students

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Many schools across the nation are facing the challenge of educating students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds who have limited English proficiency. This paper examines four exemplary elementary schools that have successfully implemented language development programs for limited English proficient (LEP) students as part of a schoolwide restructuring effort. These exemplary schools--in California, Texas, and Illinois-- were selected on the basis of a national nomination process. All have nontraditional school organizations, a well-developed language acquisition program for LEP students, and high-quality language arts curricula. The analysis presented here synthesizes data about the four schools gathered from telephone interviews and on-site interviews with teachers, principals, and district staff. Research staff also conducted focus groups with students and parents and observed instruction in selected classrooms.

Although each school takes an individual...

Effective Instructional Conversation in Native American Classrooms

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Instructional conversation (IC) is a dialog between teacher and learner in which prior knowledge and experiences are woven together with new material to build higher understanding. IC contrasts with the "recitation script" of traditional western schooling, which is highly routinized and dominated by the teacher. IC varies in form in different cultures, as do other discourse forms. Analysis of the research on the formal and informal learning of American Indians lends insight into possible ways in which instructional conversations in classrooms with these children can be modified to promote learning. Effective instructional conversations for Native Americans are influenced by four basic psychocultural factors identified by Tharp (1989): a) sociolinguistics; b) motivation; c) cognition; and d) social organization. These factors are implicated in activity settings that are more likely to produce effective ICs in Native American classrooms. "Ideal" activity settings--those most...

Tracking Untracking: The Consequences of Placing Low Track Students in High Track Classes

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Recognizing the inequities caused by compensatory education, tracking, and ability grouping, educators are exploring alternative practices. In San Diego, one effort to break down the barriers erected by school sorting practices is to "untrack" students.

Untracking places previously low-achieving students (who are primarily from low-income and ethnic or language minority backgrounds) in the same college-preparatory academic program as high- achieving students (who are primarily from middle- or upper-middle-income and "Anglo" backgrounds). The "Achievement Via Individual Determination" (AVID) untracking program shifts education policy for underachieving students away from a simplified or reduced curriculum toward a rigorous curriculum with increased support for low-achieving students.

The San Diego untracking program has been successful in preparing its students for college: 48% of the 248 students who completed three years of AVID enrolled in four-year colleges,...

Moving In and Out of Bilingualism: Investigating Native Language Maintenance and Shift in Mexican-Descent Children

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Recent research has emphasized the economic, social, and cognitive advantages available to bilinguals. Yet for many immigrant groups, bilingualism is a temporary phenomenon. Most immigrant children arrive in the United States as monolingual speakers of their native language, develop bilingualism as they acquire English, establish English-speaking households, and raise their children as English-speaking monolinguals. According to survey data, even Spanish, a language thought to be particularly enduring in the United States, seldom lasts beyond the second or third generation. Despite evidence that shift toward English is occurring for many immigrant groups, most researchers have neglected to focus on the different levels at which shift occurs, the factors that influence its development, and the course it takes during individuals' lifetimes. In an effort to address these concerns, this paper reports on research that investigates native language maintenance and shift to English...

Two-Way Bilingual Education: A Progress Report on the Amigos Program

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

The Amigos two-way bilingual education program began as a collaborative effort between the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Public Schools' departments of desegregation and transitional bilingual education. Parents, teachers, administrators, and members of the community formed a committee to explore the possibility of developing a program that would combine the best features of transitional bilingual education (for limited-English-proficient students) and language immersion education (for native English speakers). The committee sought a way to end the isolation of language minority students from the rest of the school and to provide language majority students with the opportunity to acquire proficiency in a second language.

The Amigos program commenced in September 1986 and currently serves close to 250 public school students, half of whom are from Spanish speaking homes, the other half of whom are from English-speaking homes. Half of their instruction is provided in Spanish,...

Enacting Instructional Conversation with Spanish Speaking Students in Middle School Mathematics

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

The plight of students learning language simultaneously with content material, particularly math, spurred this study of the power of socioculturally based pedagogy, such as Instructional Conversation (IC), to increase Spanish-speaking minority students 'acquisition of English math lexicon and concepts. This article describes a series of four ICs taught by a novice teacher. The ICs were designed to promote interaction about math concepts in small groups of seventh-grade students who were ordinarily excluded from classroom participation by their regular teacher. In keeping with sociocultural theory, the IC teacher assisted students' conversation on math topics using visual stimuli, joint productive activity, and teaching that regularly urged students toward language expression on math topics. After describing the features of IC pedagogy, this paper analyzes the transcripts of the ICs using quantitative and discourse analysis. Measures of teacher and student percentages of talk,...

Verbal Comprehension and Reasoning Skills of Latino High School Students

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

This report examines the readiness of Latino high school students for college-level academic work based on their reading comprehension and verbal reasoning skills. We first review pertinent college admissions test data and educational survey data. Next, we go on to discuss findings from a variety of research fields that sharpen our understanding of factors that can promote or inhibit the development of verbal comprehension and reasoning skills among Latino students. Our analysis of research covers contextual factors, discourse processing, and word recognition factors related to reading comprehension and verbal reasoning performance. We conclude with a discussion of some important questions that need to be pursued in devising effective instruction and interventions based on what research has revealed.

Mathematics and Middle School Students of Mexican Descent: The Effects of Thematically Intergrated Instruction

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

This paper reports the effects of thematically integrated mathematics instruction on achievement, attitudes, and motivation in mathematics among middle school students of Mexican descent. A school-university collaborative effort led to the development and testing of a thematic approach undertaken as a means of contextualizing instruction for students considered to be at risk for school failure. Instruction relied heavily on small collaborative learning groups and on hands-on activities designed to help students make real-world sense of mathematical concepts. As hypothesized, experimental and control students made equivalent gains in computational skills, but experimental students (who received thematic instruction) surpassed controls in achievement on mathematical concepts and applications. The two programs did not have a differential effect on students' attitudes toward mathematics or self-perceptions of motivation in mathematics, but motivational variables did predict achievement...

Teachers' Beliefs About Reading Assessment with Latino Language Minority Students

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Because of the psychometric bias in much of the work on assessment, much attention has been focused on the technical aspects of assessment to the exclusion of other aspects of the overall literacy context. In particular, little attention has been paid to test users, especially in classroom settings. To date, little is known about teachers' beliefs and everyday practices regarding assessment. There is even less known about how various factors such as professional background might influence these beliefs and practices. This information is important, especially in light of the changing paradigms impacting educational practice and the increasing linguistic and cultural diversity in many classrooms.

Given this knowledge gap, the present study investigated teachers' belief systems or mental models and everyday practices regarding the nature, function, and uses of assessment with a special focus on reading with Latino language minority students. These mental models can be seen...

Appropriating Scienticfic Discourse: Findings from Language Minority Classrooms

Fri, 18 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

This paper reports a study of the effects of a collaborative inquiry approach to science on language minority students' (middle and high school) learning. This approach emphasizes involiving the students, most of whom have never studied science before and some of whom have had very little schooling of any kind, in "doing science" in ways that practicing scientist do. This study addresses the question: To what extent do students appropriate scientific ways of knowing and reasoning as a result of their participation in collaborative scientific inquiry? We focus our analysis on changes in students, conceptual knowledge and use of hypotheses, experiments, and explanations to organize their reasoning in the context of two think-aloud problems. The findings indicate that at the beginning of the school year the students' reasoning was non-analytic and bound to personal experience. By contrast, at the end of the school year they reasoned in terms of larger explanatory system, used...

Untracking and College Enrollment

Fri, 18 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

The number of students from linguistic and ethnic minority backgrounds in the United States is expected to increase just as the number of jobs that require higher education is expected to increase. However, students from these minority backgrounds are neither performing in high school well enough nor enrolling in college in sufficient numbers to qualify for the increasing number of jobs that will require baccalaureate degrees.

"Compensatory education" has been the prevailing strategy used in U.S. public schools to deal with the problem of low-achieving students. San Diego’s Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) "untracking" program was developed as an alternative to compensatory education and remedial/racking for underachieving high school students, especially/hose from ethnic and linguistic minority backgrounds. Untracking is the practice of placing low- and high-achieving students together in a rigorous academic program. AVID places low-achieving students...

The Instructional Conversation: Teaching and Learning in Social Activity

Fri, 18 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

For more than a centruy, American schooling has ben conducted in much the same way: The teacher assigns a text for the students to master and then assesses their learning. Known as the "recitation script," this repeated cycle of assign-assess is far from the natural kind of teaching by which societies have been instructing their young since the dawn of time. Contemporary eductional reform is now emphasizing the fundamental, natural method of teaching, which is the assisting of learners through the instructional conversation.

Newly understood through the principles of socio-higorical theory, real teaching is understood as assisting the learner to perform just beyond his or her current capacity. This assistance in the "zone of proximal development" awakens and rouses into life the mental capacities of learners of all ages. This assistance is best provided through the instructional conversastion, a dialogue between teacher and learners in which the teacher listens carefully...

Literacy Practices in Two Korean-American Communities

Fri, 18 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

In this report, we explore the practices of one of the fastest growing ethnic minority groups in the United States: Korean Americans. We report on a two-part study of the Korean and English literacy patterns found in two different communities: an ethnic enclave called Midbrae and an etthnically integrated area called Hill Heights. The first part was a year long ethnographic study of the two cities; the second was a telephone interview study involving a sample of Korean-American adults from each community. We conclude that literacy practices vary in the two cities. In Hill Heights, adult Korean Americans use English in order to participate in the society around them. In contrast, in Midbrae, adult Korean Americans have fewer opportunities to use English outside of their homes and many opportunities to use Korean. When they do use English, they often use it with non-native speakers. These Korean Americans may maintain their Korean literacy practices, buty they are at risk of...

Sociological Foundations Supporting the Study of Cultural diversity

Fri, 18 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

In order to understand thee barriers to educational equality faced by lw-income cultural and linguistic minority youth, we need to undertand the ways in which social class an dethnicity interact with language and culture. This paper examines various aspects of te relationship between students' cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgound and thier unequal access to educational opportunities.

Cultural capitial. Familiets that occupy differen places in society deploy different resources in school. The school rewards the language and socialization practices of upper- and middle-income families while systematically devaluing those of low-income families.

Classroom discourse. Students who enter school from linguistic and ethnic minority families often have had no experience at home with the special features of classroom discourse. This presents them with a special challenge; thier academic success depends on thier acquiring this special code.

School sorting...

The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol: A Tool for Teacher-Researcher Collaboration and Professional Development

Fri, 28 Feb 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Professional development for teachers is a complex and multifaceted endeavor and is becoming more so as popularity grows for standards-based education. Teachers generally report feeling pressure to cover the curriculum at nearly any cost. For English language learners, the cost is greater than usual as teachers often inadvertently ignore the language needs of these students in content courses. The project described in this digest was designed with the belief that teacher professional growth can best be fostered through sustained collaborative inquiry between teachers and researchers. It has set out to incorporate what is known about quality professional development with the special features necessary for meeting the needs of English language learners. The project has defined a model of sheltered instruction based on the research of best practices, as well as on the experiences of the participating teachers and researchers. They collaborated in developing the observation tool...

Nongraded Primary Programs: Possibilities for Improving Practice for Teachers

Tue, 25 Feb 2003 00:00:00 +0000

"During writing workshop one morning in Sara and Patty's team-taught, nongraded, multi-age, primary classroom, Shawna (age 8) and Jackie (age 6), sit together at a table. Jackie keeps a constant eye on Shawna as she writes. Looking at Shawna's long story, Jackie says, "I can't write good." Shawna looks up and says, "It takes time. I used to be able to write just a little, but now I am older and can write real good. Just keep trying and you will be a good writer, too." Jackie scrunches her face and begins writing again."

In nongraded, multi-age classrooms, children have the opportunity to learn a great deal from their more proficient classmates. In the instance above, Jackie not only witnessed what better writers do but she also learned that she, too, may write that way one day. Children in multi-age, nongraded programs often learn that children differ, and they learn to assist each other in productive ways. The organizational scheme has the potential to remove much of...

Educating Hispanic Students: Effective Instructional Practices

Tue, 25 Feb 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Effective instructional practices are crucial to addressing the educational crisis facing many Hispanic students in the United States. The number of Hispanic students attending public schools has increased dramatically in recent decades, yet Hispanic students as a group have the lowest levels of education and the highest dropout rate of any student group. Conditions of poverty and health, as well as other social problems have made it difficult for some Hispanics living in the U.S. to improve their educational status. Cultural and historical practices have also placed numbers of Hispanic children at risk for educational failure. Research-based instructional practices are thus vital to improving the academic success of Hispanic students. CREDE researchers have synthesized the research on strategies that have been significant in advancing the achievement of these students. This brief presents these identified teaching practices, which can be applied in any classroom and are beneficial...

In Their Own Words: Two-Way Immersion Teachers Talk About Their Professional Experiences