The Bilingual Education Act: Language Minority Students and Equal Educational Opportunity
Ann-Marie Wiese and Eugene E. García
Graduate School of Education
University of California, Berkeley
This paper traces the Bilingual Education Act (BEA) from its inception in 1968 through its most recent reauthorization in 1994 as the primary federal legislative effort to provide equal educational opportunity to language minority students. Federal legislative initiatives which provide the foundation for the BEA are discussed. The polemic between two philosophical positions, assimilation and multiculturalism, is introduced along with the need for further colloquy. The evolution of the BEA from its inception in 1968 through its reauthorization in 1994 is analyzed. Finally, the authors comment on the current proposed reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the future of Title VII.
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A Longitudinal Model for Interpreting Thirty Years of Bilingual Education Research
Jesús José Salazar
University of Southern California Title VII Fellow
This article summarizes the results from the re-analysis of two recent bilingual education studies: Greene's (1998) meta-analysis and Thomas and Collier's (1997) longitudinal study. First , the article presents the ten main criteria identified over the past three decades by the research community for conducting a methodologically adequate bilingual education study. Second, based on a power analysis of Greene's data, it is argued that a major reason why many bilingual education studies over the past thirty years remain uninterpretable is because of the high occurrence of Type II errors. Third, based on an effect size analysis of Thomas and Collier's data, it is maintained that their longitudinal model best explains thirty years of bilingual education research. When Thomas and Collier's data are converted into effect sizes, their model becomes a longitudinal meta-analysis, and their findings support the results from Greene's and Willig's (1985) meta-analyses. This article concludes by making recommendations for enhancing the evaluation of Title VII programs.
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Moral Dimensions of Bilingual Education
Ramona Maile Cutri and Scott Ferrin
Brigham Young University
The complexities involved in equitably educating language minority students raise ethical issues and involve the moral dimensions of teaching in a diverse democracy. Acknowledging the moral dimensions of bilingual education may encourage policy makers and practitioners to consider their ethical motivation and commitment to equitably educating all public education students. We use sociopolitical and legal perspectives to analyze the historical development of bilingual education policy in the United States and explore two arguments supporting the moral dimensions of bilingual education: (1) a morality based on economic and social interdependency and (2) a spiritual morality. We examine the potential and limitations of an economic and social morality and develop the construct of a spiritual morality as a means of harnessing the combined powers of intellect, emotions, politics, and spirituality in the fight to provide equitable education for language minority students.
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A 1999 Neuyorquina Horacio Alger Non-Story
Irma Almirall-Padamsee
Syracuse University
This autobiographical narrative in code-switching format reflects the social and educational impact of bilingualism and bilingual education on the author. It also aims to redefine the American dream to more adequetly reflect teh contemporary multicultural character of a bilingual American.
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From LEP to Academic: Reflections on My Twenty Years in Title VII
Eva Midobuche
Arizona State University West
The genesis of Title VII brought about significant changes in how children from diverse language backgrounds were perceived and acknowledged by the American educational system. Prior to Title VII, linguistically diverse children were basically neglected by a system narrowly focused on a monocultural and monolingual method of schooling which allowed for no linguistic or cultural differences among its students. This article is a reflective endeavor aimed at highlighting how Title VII affected one individual who has been in the field of bilingual education for over twenty years. Beginning from the perspective of a LEP child and continuing through her professional life, the author traces the impact of Title VII on language minority education. This perspective is tempered by the experiences and reflections encountered along the way.
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Over Thirty Years of Language-in-Education Policy and Planning: Potter Thomas Bilingual School in Philadelphia
Melisa Cahnmann
University of Pennsylvania
Changes in politics, the economy, demographics,
and local leadership all led to the establishment of the Potter Thomas
Bilingual School in Philadelphia in 1969. This paper examines the school's
history and how it has created, implemented, and sustained various language
policies that have constituted its bilingual program over the last 30
years. Using Kaplan and Baldauf's (1997) model, I will identify how Potter
Thomas reconfigured its language-in-education policies to challenge "deficit"
discourse and promote "resource" discourse (Ruiz, 1984) toward
language diversity and speakers of languages other than English. I conclude
with present and future challenges to Potter Thomas' bilingual education
program, including a critique of the role Title VII funding has played
in the program's development.
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