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This study determined the degree to which the phonological and executive components of memory reflect language-specific capacities in reading achievement. We tested whether the memory processes in a sample of English-language learners that played a major role in predicting second-language acquisition and risk for reading disability (RD) in Grade 1 (Swanson, Saez, Gerber, & Leafstedt, 2004) also predicted reading performance in Grade 2. The present results showed that Spanish short-term memory (STM) performance in Grade 1 predicted basic Spanish-reading skills and Spanish comprehension in Grade 2, whereas Grade 1 English STM performance predicted English vocabulary and English comprehension in Grade 2. More importantly, children at risk for RD in Grade 1 differed from the counterparts in Grade 2 on both English and Spanish measures of reading, whereas their memory deficits were isolated to Spanish STM and working memory (WM). The relationship between language-specific processes in memory and reading are discussed.

In this article we report small, but statistically significant, effects of brief supplemental instruction on English reading by Spanish-speaking kindergartners (N = 37) who performed poorly on a bilingual battery of phonological-processing tasks. Intervention design was compatible with the Reading First initiative and with research on use of multitiered intervention strategies for preventing reading failure among young monolingual students (e.g., L. S. Fuchs & Vaughn, 2003). We describe a Core Intervention Model (CIM) comprised of specific instructional behaviors that teachers might easily learn and employ regardless of curriculum, and discuss implications of our findings for building multitiered preventative instruction for young English learners.

This article examines the effects of intensive phonological-awareness (PA) instruction for kindergarten English learners. One intact kindergarten class was provided 300 minutes of intensive instruction in PA. Results indicate that students who received intervention made significant growth in word reading when compared to a cohort of kindergarten students who received general kindergarten instruction. The article also discusses ability-group differences in performance among high-, middle-, and low-performing students and the implications of these findings for instructional practice.

Ever since the Diana v. California State Board of Education decision in 1970, American special educators have been wary of misidentifying as disabled students who are learning English as their second language. Nevertheless, according to the 24th Annual Report to Congress on IDEA (Office of Special Education Programs, 2002), although they account for about 12–13 percent of the population, more than 17 percent of students identified as learning disabled are Hispanic. By comparison, white students, who comprise 75 percent of the population, account for only 61 percent of students identified as having a learning disability. The Civil Rights Project at Harvard also has produced data to suggest that ethnic minorities still tend to be both overrepresented in some categories of disability and underrepresented in others (Losen & Orfield, 2002). Unfortunately, ethnic identification doesn’t reveal the degree to which these or other students are proficient in English. Despite the apparent disproportionality in the percentage of Hispanic students identified as learning disabled, for example, it may also be the case that students who are not proficient in English are underidentified if schools incorrectly attribute early learning difficulties to second-language learning or economic status. The truth regarding the incidence of learning disabilities, particularly reading disabilities, among English learners (ELs) remains obscure. In its 2002 report, Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education, the National Research Council noted that what research exists on ELs has been mainly directed toward debate over language of instruction while “rigorous research on instructional interventions for English language learners has