English Learners Left Behind

English Learners Left Behind

Author: Kate Menken

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Published: 2008-02-27

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1847699332

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In the wake of recent federal legislation entitled No Child Left Behind, high-stakes standardized testing for accountability purposes is being emphasized in educational systems across the U.S. for all students – including English Language Learners (ELLs). Yet language proficiency mediates test performance, so ELLs typically receive scores far below those of other students. This book explores how tests have become de facto language policy in schools, shaping what is taught in school, how it is taught, and in what language(s) it is taught. In New York City, while most schools responded to testing by increasing the amount of English instruction offered to ELLs, a few schools have preserved native language instruction instead. Moreover, this research documents how tests are a defining force in the daily lives of ELLs and the educators who serve them.


The Politics of Language : Conflict, Identity, and Cultural Pluralism in Comparative Perspective

The Politics of Language : Conflict, Identity, and Cultural Pluralism in Comparative Perspective

Author: Carol L. Schmid Professor of Sociology Guilford Technical Community College

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2001-04-03

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 0195350219

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Important aspects of the history of language in the United States remain shrouded in myth and legend. The notion of "one nation, one language" is part of the idealized history of the United States, although in its short history it has probably been host to more bilingual people than any other country in the world. Language is more than a means of communication. It brings into play an entire range of experiences and attitudes toward life. Furthermore, language is a potent symbolic issue because it links power and political claims of ownership with psychological demands for group worth. How people belonging to different language and cultural communities live together in the same political community and how political and structural tensions arise to divide them along language lines, are questions addressed in The Politics of Language. This book analyzes the historical background and recent controversy over language in the United States and compares it to two official multilingual societies: Canada and Switzerland. It's accessibility as a survey of this topic makes it ideal for courses in linguistics, political science, and sociology.


Race, Ethnicity, and Language Data

Race, Ethnicity, and Language Data

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2009-11-30

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 0309148669

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The goal of eliminating disparities in health care in the United States remains elusive. Even as quality improves on specific measures, disparities often persist. Addressing these disparities must begin with the fundamental step of bringing the nature of the disparities and the groups at risk for those disparities to light by collecting health care quality information stratified by race, ethnicity and language data. Then attention can be focused on where interventions might be best applied, and on planning and evaluating those efforts to inform the development of policy and the application of resources. A lack of standardization of categories for race, ethnicity, and language data has been suggested as one obstacle to achieving more widespread collection and utilization of these data. Race, Ethnicity, and Language Data identifies current models for collecting and coding race, ethnicity, and language data; reviews challenges involved in obtaining these data, and makes recommendations for a nationally standardized approach for use in health care quality improvement.


State and Metropolitan Area Data Book

State and Metropolitan Area Data Book

Author: United States. Bureau of the Census

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13:

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Official Government Edition. Provides tables and graphs of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States. Charts are arranged by variables such as age, state, and geographic area. Covers population, household, birth rates, death rates, health risks, education, crime, labor, un/employment, family income, housing, farms, energy consumption, trade, communications, business, tourism, state and federal government, health programs, elections, and more.


Census Catalog and Guide

Census Catalog and Guide

Author: United States. Bureau of the Census

Publisher:

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13:

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Includes subject area sections that describe all pertinent census data products available, i.e. "Business--trade and services", "Geography", "Transportation," etc.