tical determinant of immigrant success. Many adult Spanish speaking immigrants from Central and South America arrive in Miami-Dade County. A substantial number are poorly prepared to move into the economic mainstream, largely as a consequence of limited mastery of English, educational and training deficits, and other potentially or actual disadvantaging variables.
The problem therefore addressed at MDC is the design, delivery, and evaluation of programs that seek to assist adult learners in mastering English oral and written skills. One such program, described by Lozada (1998), is the Guantanamo Refugee Education and Training Program (GREAT), which offers participants, consisting of males and females over the age of 18, with or without a secondary school degree or diploma, an opportunity to participate in an intensified multi-week language skill enhancement program.
Not all adult students classified upon admission to MDC as LEP participate in the GREAT program as described by Lozada (1998). MDC also provides programs to adult students with English language deficits in other areas. However, it is the goal of MDC to continually improve its capacity to serve all of its stakeholders. Consequently, determining which strategies for enhancing English language skills among LEP students are most likely to result in positive outcomes is an important consideration.
The purpose of the present study was to compare the ESL scores of students who participate in the MDC GREAT Program with the scores of a comparable sample of MDC students who do not participate in the Great Program.
The GREAT Program, as offered by MDC and as described by Lozada (1998), serves a significant number of Spanish speaking and other bilingual adult learners. It can be conceptualized as a gateway or point of entry to both employment for many such students as well as a gateway to ongoing educational programming. It also fulfills an important edu...