This chapter addresses the theoretical and empirical knowledge bases related to bilingualism and second language acquisition in Chicano children. Research concerning bilingual acquisition has found that the linguistic, cognitive, and social characters of the bilingual child develop simultaneously. Furthermore, all three areas of development are interrelated and directly influence the acquisition of linguistic and cognitive repertoires. Research indicates that second language acquisition is influenced by native language linguistic structures and rules of discourse, may be influenced by the motivation to learn a second language, and is related to various social factors. Educational programs serving language minority students can be differentiated by the way they utilize the native language and English during instruction. For example, a survey of 333 school districts serving over 80 percent of language minority students revealed that the use of English predominated in 93 percent of programs, both the native language and English were utilized during instruction in 60 percent, and 30 percent reported minimal or no use of the native language during instruction. The remainder of this chapter overviews federal and state legislative initiatives related to the education of language minority students, and policy and practice implications for education. Contains 98 references. (LP)