Huerta, Mary EstherHodge-Ratliff, Alexandrea2015-08-112015-08-112015-05Hodge-Ratliff, A. (2015). Emergent learning in an emerging world (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.https://hdl.handle.net/10877/5601The purpose of this paper is to present research-based information about bilingual education. This topic is relevant because of the growing need for effective and efficient education for emergent bilingual learners. This paper examines and defines bilingual education program models currently used in the United States. In order to assess the instructional effectiveness of two bilingual program models used in the research sites included in this thesis, data was collected and analyzed. The data collected from the two elementary schools included a description of the bilingual program model implemented, the school enrollment as well as the enrollment of English Language Learners, student diversity information, economic disadvantage information, the socio-economic status of each school community, and the state standardized testing results for each school. To analyze these data findings each factor was compared across each school then compared to research-based characterizations of an effective bilingual education program model for English Language Learners—defined by the emergent bilingual learner acquiring high levels of proficiency in both languages. The findings indicated that based on the results of the state mandated STAAR test, the emergent bilingual learners enrolled in a maintenance late exit bilingual program scored higher; thus, suggesting that this bilingual program model is more effective according to state standards.Text44 pages1 file (.pdf)enbilingual educationEnglish language learnersESLprogram modelsHonors College