The academic preparedness of Latino students in dual language and transitional bilingual education programs

ABSTRACT

This causal-comparative study analyzed the college readiness of Latino ELLs educated in two different bilingual education programs, Transitional Bilingual (TB) and Dual Language (DL), by examining science and mathematics scores on the nationally recognized college entrance exam, the ACT. A statistically significant difference was found in the performance of the participants in the areas of mathematics and science via a series of t-tests. The descriptive statistics report that DL participants had a 29.6% higher probability in science and a 15.2% higher probability in mathematics of being college ready, per the Texas Uniform Admission Policy. Over all, DL participants outperformed TB participants.

KEYWORDS:

• dual language education
• transitional bilingual education
• English language learners (ELLs)
• college readiness
• bilingual education programs
• native language instruction