The effectiveness of bilingual school programs for immigrant children

"Bilingual education programs are a much debated way of integrating immigrant children into the host country's school system. One of the main arguments in favor of bilingual education is its assumed positive effect on the acquisition of the second language and on academic achievement in general. However, the actual scientific evidence on this question is not quite as clear. Evaluation studies in Europe - especially in Germany - are still rare, although some European countries have a long tradition in mother tongue teaching. In contrast, there are numerous studies on North American experiences.... Mehr ...