Differences in achievement between students enrolled in a transitional, early exit bilingual program and in a dual language: two-way immersion bilingual program: A pilot study

The current pilot study compares the overall academic achievement in the area of language arts literacy among elementary bilingual students enrolled in either a Dual Language: Two-Way Immersion program or in an Early Exit, Transitional Bilingual program in a large urban public school district. By analyzing the results of curriculum based measures in the areas of word decoding and overall reading comprehension, this study shows that students who have been continuously enrolled in a Dual Language: Two-Way Immersion Bilingual Program reveal higher academic achievement than students enrolled in an Early Exit, Transitional Bilingual program, from kindergarten to third grade. The results of the present study appear to support previous research and previous similar studies on this topic.