Language Minority Students

Research related to effective educational policies and practices for language minority students (English language learners).

A Study of Arizona's Teachers of English Language Learners

Part 1 of the Arizona Educational Equity Project. Overall findings show that most of these Arizona teachers have a great deal of faith in their ELL students' ability to achieve at grade level but that the 4 hour ELD block to which they are assigned is not helping them to catch up with their English speaking peers.

Implementing Structured English Immersion (SEI) in Arizona: Benefits, Costs, Challenges, and Opportunities

Part 2 of the Arizona Educational Equity Project. The ELD block has neglected core areas of academic content that are critical for ELL students' academic success and graduation; contributed to ELL students' isolation; limited ELL students opportunities for on-time high school graduation, potentially increasing drop out--and for college readiness; and assumed that English language learning can be accomplished for all ELL students within an unrealistic timeframe and under a set of unrealistic conditions.

A Return to the "Mexican Room": The Segregation of Arizona's English Learners

Part 3 of the Arizona Educational Equity Project. The excessive segregation of Arizona's Latino and EL students is most probably harmful to these students' achievement and social and emotional development and that there are alternative strategies that the state could use to ameliorate these harms and provide a more effective education for these students.

Do the AZELLA Cut Scores Meet the Standards? A Validation Review of the Arizona English Language Learner Assessment

Part 4 of the Arizona Educational Equity Project. This validation study found that cut scores for the AZELLA are of questionable validity.

Policy in Practice: The Implementation of Structured English Immersion in Arizona

Part 5 of the Arizona Educational Equity Project. The implementation of the SEI 4- hour block raises concerns with regard to equal educational opportunity and access to English.

Is Arizona's Approach to Educating its ELs Superior to Other Forms of Instruction?

Part 6 of the Arizona Educational Equity Project. There is no research basis for the court's decision in Horne v. Flores. At best SEI is no better or no worse than other instructional strategies when they are both well implemented and the goal is English acquisition.

The Education of English Language Learners in Arizona: A Legacy of Persisting Achievement Gaps in a Restrictive Language Policy Climate

Part 8 of the Arizona Educational Equity Project. Arizona is on the wrong path for closing achievement gaps for its ELL students and that this is due, at least in part, to its highly restrictive language instruction policies.