Compares academic outcomes for 24 Spanish-dominant and 118 English-dominant Mexican American children in primary grades. Assesses impact of the experimental group's exposure to the transitional bilingual education program by examining their Spanish and English academic performance. Discusses implications for the education of bilingual learners.…

Studied the longitudinal impact of a maintenance bilingual education program on the development of English in Spanish-speaking Mexican-American children in grades K-2. Subjects who were limited in both Spanish and English proficiency gained more in English achievement than those who were fluent in Spanish but not in English. (KS)

Among 187 Arizona Mexican-American children with limited proficiency in both Spanish and English, participation in a maintenance bilingual education program during grades K-2 produced significant gains in oral language acquisition for both languages. Students with the lowest proficiency scores in kindergarten showed the greatest gains. (SV)

The acquisition of English and Spanish was examined among 298 Mexican-American students who were limited-English-proficient at the start of kindergarten and who participated in maintenance bilingual programs in grades K-3. Oral proficiency in both languages increased for both boys and girls and across groups that had differed in early Spanish…