The Politics of Language

By Continued

The Center for Research in Education on Diversity and Excellence, a federally funded consortium of more than a dozen colleges and universities based at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is tackling many of the questions educators have and the questions researchers think ought to be pursued:

What program components are most effective with LEP students? Under what local circumstances? What practices are most helpful for different kinds of LEP students? What research is needed to develop accurate assessments for these students?

Given the methodological and design problems of past studies, the NRC panel and other researchers are calling for research to find better ways to evaluate programs. They also urge investigation of new program models such as two-way bilingual education, where speakers of two languages are taught in the same classroom, learn each other's language, and work...