Term of Award

Fall 2014

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Education Administration (Ed.D.)

Document Type and Release Option

Dissertation (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Leadership, Technology, and Human Development

Committee Chair

Yasar Bodur

Committee Member 1

Teri Ann Melton

Committee Member 2

Paul Brinson, Jr.

Abstract

Teaching a second language is not a new idea. Bilingual education has gone through a metamorphosis over the years. The most current bilingual program is the two-way or dual language program. Dual language programs educate students that speak a different language in the same classroom. The idea is that one group is strengthened in its native language; the other group acquires the second language.

Each local school board must implement its own policies to create a dual language program; unfortunately, few, if any, research studies exist that identify how local school boards can implement a dual language program. School districts interested in implementing a dual language program are forced to discover for themselves what types of policies, support, and funding are needed to create and manage a dual language program.

A greater understanding of critical factors involved with creating and sustaining a dual language program is needed to guide educators toward policies and procedures for implementing and maintaining these programs. The purpose of the study was to examine the development of and support for dual language program policies in a school in a southeastern state. The study provided literature and data on bilingual education, specifically, dual language programs. The study investigated an existing dual language program in a public charter school in a southeastern state. Data was taken from state standardized testing and the dual language student’s scores were compared against a comparable school’s scores, the district’s scores, and the state’s scores. The results showed that that with support from both leaders and the community, having qualified teachers, and starting the program early in a student’s educational career, dual language students are able to learn a second language and have comparable test scores with traditional students.

OCLC Number

898100570

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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