Research


Scope and Content Note

This series consists of correspondence, conference materials, printouts of presentation slides, speech materials, meeting agendas and minutes, clippings, and other materials collected by Carmen A. Perez-Hogan during her time as director of the Office of Bilingual Education of the New York State Education Department. These materials reveal the role of the Office of Bilingual Education in influencing and shaping New York State and federal policy and opinion on the education of English-language learners. In addition, they document the office's everyday role in implementing various grant programs for funding bilingual education in New York State.

Some of the materials relate to "Memoranda of Understanding" between the New York State Education Department and the governments of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. These memoranda served to define cooperative efforts by these parties to ensure the education of Dominican and Puerto Rican immigrants to the United States. These involved greater information sharing, exchanging of curricula and instructional materials, and teacher and principal exchange programs. The materials include the final texts and drafts of the memoranda, correspondence documenting the signing of the memoranda, printouts of slides from a presentation that Perez-Hogan made for a 2002 education summit between New York State and the Dominican Republic, and agenda of meetings taken during trips to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Also included in the series are various grant-related materials. These include requests for proposals for the Bilingual/ESL Technical Assistance Center program, which funds programs providing resources and training to bilingual/ESL teachers; as well as materials documenting Two-Way Bilingual Education Programs, which integrate non-English speaking students with English-speakers in a dual-language instruction environment. Also included are applications submitted by the New York State Education Department to the United States Department of Education for funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Within the series are documents that show the interaction between the Office of Bilingual Education and the Board of Regents, state and national legislators, and the federal government. Many of these documents relate to controversial issues at the state and national level regarding bilingual education, including efforts to make English the official language of the United States, as well as plans by the Office of Bilingual Education to revise their guidelines for the education of Creole-speaking immigrants from countries where English was the official language, which were derided by some outside observers as unnecessary. Also included among these documents are talking points written by Perez-Hogan and other Office of Bilingual Education staff members for the benefit of members of the Board of Regents and the Commissioner of Education. In addition, the collection contains programs, slides, clippings, and other materials related to presentations made by Carmen Perez-Hogan at various conferences, including the New York State Summit on Bilingualism in the 21st Century and the Office of English Language Acquisition summit hosted by the United States Department of Education.