Improving schooling for language-minority children: A research agenda

Bilingual Research Journal, Spring 1997 by Julie Maxwell-Jolly, Patricia Gandara

Finally, the authors note that the standards-based reform movement is a major force in current U.S. education policy as is the notion that assessment should be tied to these standards. This trend has major implications for English language learners. However, we would add that little research has been conducted to date on how to assess English language learners within the context ofthese emerging standards (Gandara, 1994) and this remains a crucial area for future research.

SUMMARY OF PROGRAM, SCHOOL, AND CLASSROOM STUDIES (SECTIONS 6-7)

The section of the NRC Report on program evaluation includes an overview of the three large studies of programs for English language learners: the American Institutes for Research Study, 1978, the National Longitudinal Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Services for Language Minority Children, 1984 (Longitudinal study), and the Longitudinal Study of Immersion and Dual language Instructional Programs for Language Minority Children, 1991 (Immersion study). Included in the overview is a brief discussion of a National Research Council Report which reviewed both the Longitudinal and Immersion studies. The current NRC Report concludes that the greatest utility of these program evaluation studies is in providing some insights into potential problems with similar large-scale research efforts.

One major criticism of such studies raised by the authors of the NRC Report is that they are designed to identify a single "best" program when, according to the authors, the more useful goal for improving schooling is to find "a set of program components that works for the children in the community of interest, given the goals, demographics, and resources of that community. The focus needs to be on the proper contexts in which a program component is most effective and conversely, the contexts in which it may even be harmful" (p. 149). We agree that in certain respects instruction of language minority pupils is no different than that for other students - no one approach has ever been found to best meet the needs of all children. The most effective teachers are equipped to use a combination of approaches, depending on the special needs of individual students. Hence, no single program is likely to provide the "magic bullet" for all language minority students.

An additional problem noted in the Report is that when large-scale studies include many programs, inevitably there will be differences among the sites in the degree of implementation and in the interpretation of appropriate practice, so that it is difficult to know exactly what is being evaluated across sites. The Report reiterates that programs are not monolithic, rather, they are complex constructions of a series of components and it is far more useful and meaningful to focus on these components than on the program as a single entity.

Although the limitations of program evaluation research are of principal concern, the Report addresses other methodologies in the discussion of shortcomings in the research as well. Whereas program evaluation research focuses on the overall program at a number of sites, studies of school and classroom effectiveness attempt to identify particular practices that lead to success for English language learners. Research reviewed in this section of the Report includes four methodologies: effective schools research, nominated schools research, prospective case studies, and quasi-experiments. The authors offer observations on the strengths and limitations of each of these methodologies.