New study finds bilingual ed. and all-English classes have equal results (Third Article)

Betsy Hammond
"New study finds bilingual ed. and all-English classes have equal results"
The Oregonian
April 09, 2010
URL: http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2010/04/new_study_finds_bilingual_ed_a.html

Topic: Bilingual ed. and all-English classes have equal results
Summary: This article is talking about an article posted on Education Week, which is about a study of bilingual education vs. English-only instruction for native-Spanish-speaking students in kindergarten through grade four. The study showed that "Children learn to read English equally well if they are taught only in English or in both English and their native language. " The researchers did an experiment with Spanish-speaking students in six schools in six different states, and they kept tracking those students for five years. Here is the link to the original article from Education Week: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/04/09/29bilingual_ep.h29.html?tkn=YNQFC6HetJi0aTKcdBwhjN79h76YLiVIOEPX&cmp=clp-edweek&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EducationWeekWidgetFeed+%28Education+Week%3A+Free+Widget+Feed%29&utm_content=Twitter
Intended audience: Educators
Key points: 1. Spanish-speaking students in six schools in six different states were randomly assigned in kindergarten to either a bilingual program or an all-English program, then kept in that program and tracked for five years.
2. That allowed researchers to even out all other potential differences in their educational experiences and draw conclusions solely about the Spanish-and-English versus English-only approach to teaching.
Relevance: Most people, including me, think that students learn English best and fastest when they are taught in English. Some might think that students need to learn to read in their native language first if they are to master advanced academic English. The study shows that these two thoughts are actually result the same.