Determining the Effectiveness of Bilingual Programs on Third Grade State Exam Scores

This ex-post-facto quasi-experimental research design was conducted by selecting a convenient sample of approximately 2,000 3rd grade ELLs who took the regular reading and math English STAAR test during the 2014-15 school year in an urban southern Texas school district. This study was conducted using a quantitative research method of data collected from the school district. The data collected consisted of 3rd grade ELL students' reading and math English STAAR scores. The researcher analyzed and compared the reading and math STAAR scores of 3rd grade ELL students enrolled in a transitional bilingual program, in a dual language two-way bilingual program and a regular program with immersion into all English instruction, utilizing two one way analysis of variance (ANOVAs). Approximately 2,000 3rd grade ELL students enrolled in this urban southern Texas school district. The researcher examined for differences among the scores of ELLs enrolled in the bilingual programs. Conclusions to the findings determined that there were significant differences among the three educational programs for ELL students in third grade on the STAAR test results in the regular English math STAAR test for ELL students in third grade, but did not find significant differences in the test scores in the regular English reading STAAR test results.