In this article, we synthesize ethnographic data from two studies in US school districts that were implementing dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs in order to remediate the standardized test scores of students from Spanish-speaking families. While educators in both districts commonly cited "the research" to justify DLBE…

The "Lau v. Nichols" ruling shows the importance of tailoring programs for local multilingual learners. We used longitudinal data from one school district in California to assess the relationship between attending a school with a language support program and English language arts (ELA) achievement. We found that students labeled an…

This study explores access to Spanish dual-language education (DLE) programs via the perceptions of various stakeholders, including district personnel, school administrators, and parents at two public DLE elementary schools in a large mid-Atlantic metropolitan district in the United States. Through a lens of equity, this comparative case study…

This qualitative case study examines how one bilingual teacher draws on their critical consciousness to support immigrant students and their families. Drawing on the construct of conscientization, I argue praxis is the embodiment of critical consciousness through acts of responsiveness and actions educators enact to rewrite unjust spaces and…

In 2006-2007, California revised its English language proficiency (ELP) assessment, the California English Language Development Test (CELDT), which resulted in more stringent criteria and higher cut scores for meeting proficiency. Using regression discontinuity designs and a difference-in-differences approach, this study examines the effects of…

One relatively low-cost mechanism to assist teachers serving many English learner (EL) students and struggling readers is to hire, train, and manage paraprofessionals to provide supplementary instruction to such students. This study evaluated a program in which one district provided instructional aides to all first-grade teachers in the…

This study examined the presence of internal linguistic discrimination--i.e., the negative reaction of Spanish speakers towards the varieties of Spanish spoken by heritage speakers--among bilingual teachers in a school district in Texas. To this end, we conducted a study that analyzed the responses of 84 bilingual teachers to audio utterances…

Grade retention, the practice of holding a student back in the same grade, has been a controversial topic in the United States for decades. English learners, a growing population in US schools, are consistently identified for grade retention more often than their English-only counterparts. The purpose of this study is to test the impact of grade…

Dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs are critical sites for exploring language ideologies given the policy goals of student bilingualism, biliteracy, and biculturalism. Drawing on a larger study of language ideological inquiry, this article used predominantly interview data to explore the articulated language ideological stances of…

Teachers in a Nevada district office have been reading and discussing Sandra Cisneros' book, "Hairs/Pelitos," and are collaborating on a poster that uses figurative language to describe 38 a character from the text. The participating teachers are preparing to lead this same activity with their elementary students who are newcomers to the…

In this longitudinal, qualitative case study, critical pedagogical and sociocultural perspectives were employed to analyze the language and literacy strengths, challenges, inequities, and gentrification issues that characterized the first three years of a two-way, 50-50 Spanish-English dual-language (DL) program's implementation, and how the DL…

This article examines the ways in which racist structures negatively affect students' social and emotional development and how social-emotional learning (SEL) may be a useful tool to push against racist structures to develop students socially and emotionally. We propose an ecological framework to examine how micro-, meso-, and macro-level…

Students in the music classroom are more culturally and linguistically diverse than ever before. Latinx students are the fastest growing population. Often, these students are neglected through deficit-based pedagogical practices with regard to their cultural and linguistic practices; however, other research into asset-based pedagogical practices…

This article explores the fundamental role of teachers' lives as they work to create and maintain a small dual-language school. The Appleton Bilingual School (ABS) is chartered by the Appleton Area School District in northeast Wisconsin. ABS was established with the support of city and school district officials and has maintained that support…

In the past 20 years, both school choice policies and dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs have proliferated across the US. This project examines the intersection of the two trends, examining how school choice policies have shaped DLBE at the district, school, and program level, through the eyes of 22 public school administrators in…