This study examines the background, rationale, procedures, and results of a study by the National Institute of Education (NIE) and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to determine the number of limited English proficient children living in the United States and the types of services these children receive in school. The procedure used by the study for defining limited English proficiency is examined in terms of conceptual framework, field test procedures and results, and selection of the criterion score. A critique is offered of the conceptual framework and survey procedures that includes alternative sample plans, the role of the advisory group and contractor, sample selection, questionnaire design, data collection, response rates and weight adjustments, and sources of and interpretation of errors. The results of the survey are summarized. Comments from the advisory group for the study are set forth. In general, it is concluded that various flaws in the design of the study give cause for calling the results into question. Instruments used in the study are appended. (JB)

Educating dual language learners (DLLs) and English learners (ELs) effectively is a national challenge with consequences both for individuals and for American society. Despite their linguistic, cognitive, and social potential, many ELsâ€"who account for more than 9 percent of enrollment in grades K-12 in U.S. schoolsâ€"are struggling to meet the requirements for academic success, and their prospects for success in postsecondary education and in the workforce are jeopardized as a result. Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures examines how evidence based on research relevant to the development of DLLs/ELs from birth to age 21 can inform education and health policies and related practices that can result in better educational outcomes. This report makes recommendations for policy, practice, and research and data collection focused on addressing the challenges in caring for and educating DLLs/ELs from birth to grade 12.

In the hands of informed teachers, running records reveal the meaning-making, problem-solving strategies children are using as they process text. Richardson, Bates, and McBride provide expert analysis of sample running records and offer how-to videos that take teachers beyond calculating a simple accuracy rate to observing their students' reading behaviors--and then taking next steps to plan targeted lessons.

Service learning can help students develop a sense of civic responsibility and commitment, often while addressing pressing community needs. One goal of literary studies is to understand the ethical dimensions of the world, and thus service learning, by broadening the environments students consider, is well suited to the literature classroom. Whether through a public literacy project that demonstrates the relevance of literary study or community-based research that brings literary theory to life, student collaboration with community partners brings social awareness to the study of literary texts and helps students and teachers engage literature in new ways. In their introduction, the volume editors trace the history of service learning in the United States, including the debate about literature's role, and outline the best practices of the pedagogy. The essays that follow cover American, English, and world literature; creative nonfiction and memoir; literature-based writing; and cross-disciplinary studies. Contributors describe a wide variety of service-learning projects, including a course on the Harlem Renaissance in which students lead a community writing workshop, an English capstone seminar in which seniors design programs for public libraries, and a creative nonfiction course in which first-year students work with elderly community members to craft life narratives. The volume closes with a list of resources for practitioners and researchers in the field.

Two methodological reviews of the Children's English and Services Study (CESS), a congressionally mandated estimate of the number and needs of limited English proficient children, are presented. Such reviews are needed because the CESS is the only national study of its kind which administered a language proficiency test to determine the language proficiency of language minority groups. The reviews were conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics and the National Institute of Education. They include discussions of design and methodological issues and statistical tables. The major methodological issues reviewed include selection of items for the Language Measurement and Assessment Inventory, establishment of test cut-off scores for classifying children as limited English proficient, and the effects of non-response bias on estimates of the number of limited English proficient children. (RW)