hool year. Spanish-speaking students constituted 64 percent of the students during the 2000-2001 school year (Rappaport 2). The high nulber of ELLs in New York City, their lack of English language skills and their poor performance in academic tests (Rivera-Batiz 2) suggest that bilingual programs may be exceedingly helpful in facilitating the adjustment of immigrant children to their new school settings and learning requirements.
Transitional bilingual education programs - the most commonly implemented version in New York - are considered by researchers to be particularly effective in helping ELLs to acquire language. According to Jim Cummins' Developmental Interdependence Hypothesis, children's ability to acquire the second language is depe
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