To study the effectiveness of multilingual education programs in the Houston Independent School District (Texas), four groups of students were identified for the analysis of their Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) results. These groups were: (1) students enrolled in bilingual education classes; (2) students in English as a Second Language…

This study reports data collected from a survey of 140 Texas bilingual program directors to explore the use of accountability data for program decision making. Examined are findings related to the availability, kinds of decisions made, and evaluation activities conducted using 11 sources of data (i.e., the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills,…

This report summarizes evaluation results of AISD's Bilingual Education/ESL programs for 2002-2003.

This report summarizes evaluation results from AISD's Bilingual Education/ESL programs for school year 2000-2001.

This report summarizes evaluation results for the Austin Independent School District (AISD) bilingual education and English as a second language programs for the 2001-2002 school year.

The evaluation conduct factor involves matters such as whether correct methodology is being used, whether the measurements used are philosophically consistent with the goals of the program, timeliness, and format of the evaluation report, and whether recommendations provided in the report are usable. This study analyzed the conduct factor in the…

As the idea of including limited English proficient (LEP) students in large-scale assessments is becoming popular among researchers, the practical question of how to do so meaningfully so that the needs and performances of LEP students are recognized while their scores are interpreted and used correctly becomes more important. This paper presents…

In compliance with Texas state law, the Austin Independent School District (AISD) provides two programs to serve students identified as limited English proficient (LEP): Bilingual Education (BE) with dual language instruction and English as Second Language (ESL) intensive English instruction. ESL is both a component of BE and a stand-alone…

To examine how neighborhood characteristics influence academic achievement, data were drawn from a community survey of low-income neighborhoods and linked with data on performance on standardized testing for third-grade students attending elementary schools in those communities. Results of multilevel logistic regressions indicated that probability…

Data from the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) were used to explore how learning environments within bilingual classes where students perform very well on the Spanish version of the TAAS are shaped by forces surrounding the TAAS and how this shaping process affects teachers. Four elementary schools were selected based on the high…

A study of four high-performing third-grade Spanish reading programs in Texas found six common features: explicit support for Spanish literacy and biliteracy; high expectations; skills-driven reading instruction beginning in kindergarten; shared understanding of program practices; alignment between Spanish and English programs; and explicit…

This chapter is part of a book that recounts the year's work at the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) at Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi. Rather than an "elitist" laboratory school for the children of university faculty, the ECDC is a collaboration between the Corpus Christi Independent School District and the…

This report presents findings about the academic performance of elementary students with limited English proficiency (LEP) who entered first grade in Texas public schools in 1992-93. In general, performance gaps existed between elementary LEP students and non-LEP students, in terms of Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) results and…

This report summarizes evaluation results for AISD's federally-funded Title I program activities during school year 1998-1999.