The False Dichotomy Between ESL and Transitional Bilingual Education Programs: Issues That Challenge All of Us

Over the past three decades, the number of culturally and linguistically diverse students in U.S. schools has grown at a rapid rate

The Unintended Consequences of Colorado's Anti-Bilingual Initiative

This occasional paper of CU's Education in the Public Interest Center (EPIC) describes Colorado's present distribution of programs for educating students who natively speak languages other than English and whose abilities in English are limited. The paper documents that the overwhelming majority of Colorado schools presently do not use bilingual education. The new anti-bilingual education initiative is therefore targeting an exaggerated opponent, but the collateral damage to other programs will be substantial

Kathy Escamilla and Sue Hopewell interview

Webcast file name: escamilla&hopewell_june30_2014Date: June 30, 2014Voice of Literacy host, Dr. Candace Kuby, interviews Drs. Kathy Escamilla and Sue Hopewell, from the School of Education at the University of Colorado-Boulder

What Gets Lost When English-Only Writing Assessment Is Used to Assess Writing Proficiency in Spanish-English Emerging Bilingual Learners?

Recent analyses of wide-scale writing assessment outcomes indicate that English writing achievement for fourth- and fifth-grade emerging bilingual learners continues to be an area of great concern. Utilizing the theory of holistic bilingualism and a mixed methods design, this study examines the writing skills of 44 emerging bilingual fourth and fifth graders. The purpose of this study was to compare and correlate various writing outcomes as measured by the state’s high-stakes writing assessment, English language proficiency writing assessment, and an informal biliterate writing rubric. Results indicate that the majority of students are not acquiring proficiency in English writing as measured by English-only assessments. When students’ Spanish and English outcomes are considered holistically, students’ outcomes in Spanish surpassed English for the majority. Findings indicate the potential for a writing assessment protocol that is intentionally biliterate and that displays Spanish and English together as a part of the assessment process