Multilingual Education Programs: 1996-97. Research Report on an Educational Program.

Overview & Synopsis

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 (ESL) classes; (3) former bilingual education students who had exited the program; and (4) former ESL students who had exited the program. Of the current 12,017 students in grades 3 through 8, 70% participated in the TAAS state testing program, and 51% of the 9,032 current ESL students in grades 3 through 8 participated in the TAAS. Current bilingual education students passed the TAAS at rates between 66% and 74% for the three tests, and former bilingual education students performed well on the TAAS, with passing rates of 86% for each of the three tests. Current ESL students passed the TAAS at much lower rates, with 41% passing English, 35% passing writing, and 44% passing mathematics. Former ESL students performed above the district as a whole, with 81% passing reading, 71% passing writing, and 74% passing mathematics. Recommendations include securing increased participation of both bilingual education and ESL students in the TAAS. Three appendixes contain student results for the English TAAS for bilingual education and ESL students and bilingual education results for the Spanish TAAS for bilingual education students. (SLD)