Immersion Bilingual Education Programs in One District

This article describes a longitudinal evaluation of 2 approaches to the education of language-mi-nority students-transitional bilingual education and a new approach, bilingual immersion-in El Paso, Texas. Rationales for both programs are provided along with a brief description of the fac-tors that led to the development of the bilingual immersion approach. Students ' (N = 228) achievement on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills was traced from grades 4 through 7. Results indicated significant effects favoring bilingual immersion in language and reading in grades 4-6, but not in the seventh grade. Students taught with bilingual immersion entered the mainstream more rapidly