As you may know, the focus of my doctoral research is on finding and implementing effective educational practices for the Hispanic student population in order to alleviate the tremendous educational gap that exist in this student population.

I am a strong advocate for Bilingual education. I currently hold a Master’s Degree and a National Board Certification in Early Childhood and Bilingual education. Enormous amount of research attest for the benefits of Bilingual education, Bilingualism and Multilingualism in cognitive development for all the students. There are plenty of Meta studies and literature reviews that point to the effectiveness of this approach in educating these students. For further research, please refer to the References section at the end of this post.

Nevertheless, regardless of the massive research many districts are dismantling their Bilingual education programs to implement immersion programs. I taught Bilingual Education for 15 years and I can corroborate the benefits of this approach in educating my students. Unfortunately, last year the administration decided to close the Bilingual classrooms and implement English Immersion programs for all students. It has been a difficult year for a large number of students. The detrimental effects of using this approach can be measured using standard forms of assessment for bilingual students. It is sad that the most affected children were those children in most need.

I just had a conversation about the subject and the differences on both approaches with the Principal of one of the schools that changed their approach. She understands the benefits of bilingualism, she is bilingual herself and was hired to the position because she was bilingual, but she sustains that this is a trend implemented by the administration and there is not much she can do. She sustains that this is a national trend and will be difficult to change.

 I understand that my approach can be bias due to my cultural background, and for the purpose of bringing some objectivity to my research I have decided to explore websites and/or blogs that advocate for English Immersion programs. I spent a couple of hours trying to find scholarly sites that can through some light about the subject. I couldn’t find much but I found a website named ProEnglish.org which is upheld by an organization that defends the English Immersion Approach. Here is their own definition and agenda:

“ ProEnglish is the nation's leading advocate of official English. We work through the courts and in the court of public opinion to defend English's historic role as America's common, unifying language, and to persuade lawmakers to adopt English as the official language at all levels of government.”

AGENDA FOR ACTION

Adopting laws or constitutional amendments declaring English the official language of the United States, and of individual states.

Defending the right of individual states to make English the official language of government operations.

Ending bilingual education, in favor of English language immersion programs in public
schools.

Repealing federal mandates for the translation of government documents and voting ballots into languages other than English.

Opposing the admission of territories as states unless they have adopted English as their official language.

In my opinion, it seems to be a politically oriented website and Blog. The resources provided by their website on the subject are very limited in number and scope. I am planning to continue with this literature research but:

 I was wondering if you have any suggestions about scholar research-based resources that can help me to understand the academic benefits of using the English Immersion educational Approach with the Hispanic student population?

Your input will be greatly appreciate it!  Thanks!

PS. If you are interested in exploring their website and/or Blog you can find them in the links below.

http://www.proenglish.org

http://www.proenglish.org/blog.html

Resources

Ball, J. (2010). Enhancing learning of children from diverse language backgrounds: Mother 

            tongue-based bilingual or multilingual education in early childhood and early primary  
            school years. Early Childhood Development Intercultural Partnerships, University of Victoria.

On behave of the UNESCO’s department of education Jessica Ball conducted this literature review on international research papers that discuss effective practices on bilingual or multilingual education for children starting in early childhood. The purpose of this Meta study was to develop clear guidelines and principles for language policy in early education.   

Chambers, B., Cheung, A., Slavin, R. E., Smith, D., & Laurenzano, M. (2010).Effective early

 childhood education programs: A systematic review. Best Evidence Encyclopedia.

The present report reviews the evidence for the effectiveness of various preschool/nursery programs for young children who are at risk of school failure due to poverty.  It reviews the research on the outcomes of early childhood programs provided in a group setting for all children, applying consistent methodological standards to the research. 

Garcia, E., & Jensen, B. (2007). Language development and early education of young Hispanic 

children in the United States. Tempe, AZ: National Task Force on Early Childhood 

Education for Hispanics

This paper provides a synthesis of empirical work that spans several decades and conceptual frameworks associated with the linguistic development and the early education of young Hispanic children in the United States. Emphasis is placed on theoretical and empirical work associated with educational concerns—including teacher competencies, instructional strategies, curricular content, programs, and related policy. 

Kagan, S. L. (2009). American early childhood education: Preventing or perpetuating inequity?   Retrieved from http://www.equitycampaign.org/i/a/document/983.Kagan_Final.pdf

This paper is an examination of multiple inequities and their effects on American early childhood education. It suggests that inequity permeates early childhood education, seriously restricting who has access to services, the quality and competency of those who teach young children, and to the quality of the services themselves.

Matthews, Hannah, & Ewen, D. (2010).Early Education Programs and Children of Immigrants: 

Learning Each Other’s Language. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.

This paper discusses state and local solutions to improving access for immigrant families. It also includes specific strategies for collaborations among providers, policymakers, and immigrant-serving organizations. It explains that many immigrant families face numerous barriers to accessing high-quality and early education opportunities which will be critical to these children's success in school and in life. The authors sustain that these barriers are not insurmountable and that it is possible to obtain successful results.

 Tabors, P. O. (1997). What Early Childhood Educators Need to Know: Developing Effective 

            Programs for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Children and Families. Copyright © 

1998 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Young Children 

November 199,. pages 20–26. Can be viewed at NAEYC’s Website: http://www.naeyc.org

 The material in this article was originally presented in the symposium “Voices of Change: Issues of Race, Language, and Culture in Higher Education: Preparing Teachers for a Diverse Society” at NAEYC’s sixth annual National Institute for Professional Development Conference in Seattle, Washington, June 27, 199. It is a compilation and proposal of the basic tenants presented by the author in his seminal work and book.  Among these tenants we can found essential findings about the challenges and best practices in educating linguistically and culturally diverse children and families.

 Thomas, W. P., & Collier, V. P. (1997).School effectiveness for language minority students. 

Washington, DC: Disseminated by National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, the 

George Washington University, Center for the Study of Language and Education.

This is a seminal macroscopic research that investigated the effects of school district instructional strategies on the long-term achievement of language-minority students in five large school districts in geographically dispersed areas of the U.S. Only instructional programs that were well-implemented were examined for their long-term success on instructional effectiveness. It collected and analyzed individual student-level data on student characteristics, the instructional interventions they received, and the test results that they achieved years after participating in programs for language-minority students. The researchers collected and analyzed more than 700,000 student records from a variety of offices and sources within each school district and linked these records together at specified points in time (cross-sectional studies) and have followed large groups of students across time (longitudinal studies).