Marcello Medina’s research while affiliated with University of Arizona and other places

The purpose of this study was to compare reading achievement outcomes for two groups of Mexican American students (Spanish- dominant N = 25; English-dominant N = 118). The Spanish- dominant, limited English proficient subjects participated in a transitional bilingual education (TBE) program and the English- dominant subjects in a traditional English program for grades one through three. The study’s second objective was to determine the impact of the experimentals’ exposure to the TBE program by examining their Spanish and English reading achievement. The experimental subjects outperformed the comparison group on second grade vocabulary while no differences emerged for reading comprehension. It was noted that experimental subjects developed English proficiency in reading at an earlier grade than expected and maintained Spanish reading achievement above national norms. The theoretical and empirical implications of these findings are also discussed.

The stability and predictive validities of the Teacher Rating Scale were examined by computing correlations between ratings by two groups of teachers of the same students and by computing the correlations between teachers' ratings and the California Achievement Test, Reading scores. A total of 257 public school students participated in the study. The results indicated the Teacher Rating Scale was moderately stable across one year and that it had adequate predictive validity. One implication of these findings is that simple rating scales which are carefully developed may be useful in the identification of students for educational programs—especially when utilized in conjunction with achievement test scores.

The primary purpose of this study was to compare academic outcomes for two groups of Mexican American children (Spanish-dominant N = 24; English-dominant N = 118) equated for ethnicity, SES, grade level and duration of program participation. These Spanish-dominant subjects were exposed to a transitional bilingual education program and the English-dominant subjects to a traditional English-only curriculum for grades one through three. The study's secondary objective was to assess the impact of the experimental group's exposure to the transitional bilingual education program by examining their Spanish and English academic performance. Obtained data indicate that experimental group subjects outperformed the comparison group on second-grade vocabulary achievement while there were no other differences for reading comprehension, mathematics computation and concepts. It was also noted that experimental subjects developed English proficiency in reading and mathematics at an earlier grade than previously reported in the literature while maintaining Spanish proficiency in reading and mathematics above national norms. Implications of such findings for the education of bilingual learners are discussed.

The internal consistency reliability, concurrent validity, and stability of the Cooperative Preschool Inventory in English and Spanish editions were examined for monolingual-English and monolingual-Spanish Hispanic preschool pupils. The findings supported the reliability, validity, and stability of both editions as well as the comparability of both editions.