What the Rising Popularity in Dual Language Programs Could Mean for Dual Language
Recently, Stanford University researchers Rachel Valentino and Sean Reardon examined the academic achievement of dual language learners enrolled in four types of instructional programs: English Immersion (EI), Transitional Bilingual (TB), Developmental Bilingual (DB), and Dual Immersion (DI). Their study provided a unique picture of how instructional program type influences DLLs’ ELA and Math achievement trajectory from kindergarten entry through middle school. Importantly, it also captures variations between students of different ethnicities (Latino and Chinese) and initial English proficiency levels.
CEPA faculty score high marks on The 2015 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Presence Rankings
The 2015 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Presence Rankings were released this week and record number of CEPA faculty scores high marks on the list. Of the 200 education scholars ranked, 11 CEPA affiliate faculty and faculty made the list: Eric Hanushek (15), Martin Carnoy (24), Michael W. Kirst (31), Caroline Hoxby (33), Susanna Loeb (51), Sean Reardon (62), Rob Reich (94), Thomas Dee (119), Mitchell Stevens (127), Edward H. Haertel (154), Eric Bettinger (161)
Stanford receives two new endowed chairs in education
The newly created positions are intended to improve educational technology and provide greater equity in educational opportunities.
The Stanford Graduate School of Education has established two new endowed faculty chairs — one for the study of educational technology, the other for the study of poverty and inequality in education — and appointed, respectively, professors Dan Schwartz and Sean Reardon, as the inaugural recipients of these chairs.
Bilingual education could make a comeback
A Stanford University study of a 60,000-student district in California, which is unnamed as part of an agreement between researchers and the district, looked at 12 years of English learner data. Researchers found that many students enrolled in English immersion classes, which focus on teaching English and offer no instruction in students’ primary language, were reclassified as fluent in English before finishing elementary school, said Ilana Umansky, now an education professor at the University of Oregon and co-author of the study. That jump start didn’t help them in middle school, though, when their peers who had been enrolled in bilingual or dual immersion classes began getting reclassified and performed better on tests that measure academic proficiency.
Federal grant to boost high-impact graduate research in education at Stanford center
The Center for Education Policy Analysis at Stanford Graduate School of Education has won a $4 million grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education. The funding will support about 30 doctoral students and promote the latest skills in education policy research with two- and four-year fellowships in a variety of disciplines.
Students learning English benefit more in two-language instructional programs than English immersion, Stanford research finds
San Francisco's Bilingual Programs as Effective as English Only, Study Finds
The study—commissioned by the San Francisco district and conducted by Sean Reardon at Stanford—compared the progress of English-learners as they moved from kindergarten through elementary grades and into middle school by looking at their scores on California's annual English-language proficiency tests, the rates at which they were reclassified as English-fluent, and their scores on state exams. The study also looked at the differences in effectiveness between the district's two largest groups of ELLs: Chinese speakers and Spanish speakers.