Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Enlightened Public Policy and includes: (1) Texas Education Policy: Prospects for 2009 (Albert Cortez); (2) Bilingual Education in…

Bilingual education is meant to build a bridge that helps students become proficient in their native language and English. Many children do not make it over that bridge. Often, it is not discovered until they are in the second or third grade that the student does not have a proficiency in either language. When a third grade teacher finds students…

Mounting accountability pressures from state and federal legislation are prompting schools to closely examine the performance of English language learners both in language acquisition and in core content areas. State education agencies closely monitor yearly student progress to ensure that English language learners are progressing and that there…

This article describes a research project carried out by the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA). IDRA's primary research question for this study was, "What contributed to the success of a bilingual education classroom as evidenced by LEP student academic achievement?" In addition to the student data, qualitative and contextual…

Through the Innovative Approaches Research Project (IARP), four research and demonstration projects are being implemented as part of a single research effort in the following topic areas: (1) dropout prevention, (2) literacy instruction, (3) math and science instruction, and (4) education of exceptional limited-English-proficient (LEP) students.…

In the context of increasing criticism of bilingual education and the use of native language instruction, it must be remembered that they are based on a sound rationale. First, they address the need for continued learning as the child moves from one language to the other. Second, they address the need to diminish the alienation which children feel…

Substantial evidence suggests that students working together in small cooperative groups can master material better than students working on their own, and that cooperative learning structures higher self-esteem and learning motivation. Cooperative learning (CL) has been proposed for use with language minority children, as well as with other…