At J. Sterling Morton High School District 201 in Cicero, Illinois, nearly 65 percent of the students are English learners. In 2014, the school started looking into how to create a culture where multilingual students were considered an asset. They created a dual-language program with an emphasis on pride and changing the status of bilingualism in…

Dual language and bilingual education programs are increasing in number and popularity across the country. However, little information is available on how to teach children to read and write in Spanish. This article explores some of the similarities and differences in vocabulary and sentence structure in Spanish and English and considers the…

Lina, a Mexican American second grader, bilingual in Spanish and English, used a strategy for adding two two-digit numbers that the authors share as an example of the importance of listening to the mathematical ideas of children, especially when these ideas do not align with how mathematics is traditionally represented in the classroom. The…

Access to early learning before kindergarten has wide-ranging positive effects for children--effects that are evident from a child's early years into adulthood. Despite these facts being well-known within many education spaces, children from low-income families and children of color lack consistent access to public early learning programs. This…

With biliteracy as the goal, dual-language immersion programs offer the potential to increase literacy skills across multiple learner demographic characteristics.

Recent action from the White House canceling the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Act has increased the fear felt by undocumented families about their security to continue living in the USA. This fear especially affects children, whether they are undocumented or have parents that are undocumented. Beyond the legal ramifications, this…

As the U.S. teacher shortage continues to worsen, large, urban districts have turned to hiring teachers from abroad, including countries like Spain, Mexico, and the incorporated U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. However, several researchers in the field of have pointed out to the unexamined complexities of hiring Latin American and Spanish teachers…

The Bilingual Co-teaching program at the Blanton Museum of Art offers bilingual gallery experiences for K-12 students and supports the efforts of Austin Independent School District (AISD) to promote dual language learning in the classroom and beyond. Tours in both Spanish and English are co-facilitated with undergraduate Bilingual Bicultural…

This report provides eighth-grade students' survey feedback on their experiences in the 2017-2018 middle school dual language program in the Austin Independent School District.

In "Brooklyn Dreams," Sonia Nieto--one of the leading authors and teachers in the field of multicultural education--looks back on her formative experiences as a student, activist, and educator, and shows how they reflect and illuminate the themes of her life's work. Nieto offers a poignant account of her childhood and the complexities of…

On the margins of El Paso, Texas, a teacher-librarian communicates daily to her students the following bilingual mantra: "'Esta biblioteca les pertenece a ustedes.' This is your very own library." Lisa M. López-Williamson is the teacher-librarian and literacy activist and advocate at William "Guillermo" C. Herrera Elementary…

Policy initiatives that seek to account for ethno-cultural differences in education and schooling have become increasingly popular over the past few decades. These include affirmative action measures and bilingual education models. The rationale for the implementation of these policies focuses on their potential to rectify historical…

Researchers agree that attention to bilingualism and biliteracy can and should be a goal in all educational settings where young dual language learners are present. The challenge, however, is how to promote biliteracy development while remaining congruent with principles of developmental direction, specifically the idea that children's…

According to the Commitment to Action on Foundational Learning, a global initiative launched at the 2022 Transforming Education Summit, foundational learning refers to "basic literacy, numeracy, and transferable skills such as socio-emotional skills" (World Bank 2023). This holistic vision of learning outcomes aligns with the Global…

Bilingual education has steadily risen in the United States since the Supreme Court case of "Lau vs. Nichols in 1974." Despite this proliferation of bilingual programs, notable challenges and discrepancies exist for bilingual programs devoted to Asian languages and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. The rising…