Pre-Aspira Educational Equity for Spanish Speakers: The Bilngual/Multicultural Model at P.S. 25

• In Event: A New York State of Mind: Local Struggles for Equitable Education

Abstract

Although Aspira and other supporters of bilingual education hailed the Consent Decree of 1974 as a victory which established transitional bilingual education (TBE) as a legal entitlement for Spanish-speaking ELLs of New York City, in reality it represented a compromise (Reyes, 2006a). An examination of the developmental bilingual education program in place at P.S. 25, the first Spanish-English bilingual school in NYC, shows us what bilingual education might have looked like in NYC if the plaintiffs in the Aspira case had prevailed. It also points to a model of developmental bilingual education that we can aspire to today. This paper attempts to explore the unique pedagogy, curriculum and philosophy P.S. 25 pioneered in 1968.

Author

• Laura Janet Kaplan, The Graduate Center, City University of New York