Untapped Potential: The Current State of Dual-Language Education in Chicago Public Schools

• In Event: Intersectionality of Language, Race, and Class Within Urban Classrooms: Resisting Hegemonic Whiteness in Language Education

Abstract

A vast number of studies have demonstrated the benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism (Barac & Bialystok, 2012; Barac, Moreno, & Bialystok, 2016; Kharkhurin, 2015). However, few U.S. emergent bilinguals receive significant instruction in their home language, and when they do, it is typically through transitional bilingual education (TBE) programs (Zehler, Fleischmann, Hopstock, Stephenson, Pendizick, & Sapru, 2003). Like English-only programs, TBE programs represent forms of subtractive schooling (Valenzuela, 1999) with the explicit goal of the eventual elimination of the home language in school, often resulting in some language loss (Crawford, 2004) and negatively impacting the formation of cultural and linguistic identities (Potowski & Cameron, 2007).

Illinois is no exception to this phenomenon. Despite its large population of Spanish-speaking emergent bilinguals (Ruiz Soto, Hooker, & Batalova, 2015; U.S. Department of Education, 2018), more than 90% of Illinois’ emergent bilinguals are enrolled in English-only or TBE programs (Illinois State Board of Education, 2016). The urban concentration of Latina/o/x students (De Cohen, Deterding & Chu Clewell, 2005) indicates that in Chicago, Illinois’s largest urban area, Latina/o/x neighborhood schools have the Spanish-speaking populations to support Spanish Dual Language (DL) programs. This additive model of language education is more conducive to the development of emergent bilinguals’ academic progress, cultural identities, and cross-cultural awareness. However, in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), emergent bilinguals have limited access to such beneficial programs.

In this paper, we draw on Critical Race Theory (CRT) to investigate the current situation of DL programs in CPS out of concern that CPS DL programs are not serving the full breadth of Chicago’s Latina/o/x population. We analyze and critique the geospatial relationships between DL schools and Latina/o/x neighborhoods in Chicago and the opportunities that Chicago has left untapped for program placement. Finally, we reflect upon our responsibilities, as researchers, to reach out to Latina/o/x families in our communities to develop their critical literacies and empower them to make informed choices, along with the potential pitfalls of such action.

Using demographic census data of Latina/o/x populations in Chicago neighborhoods, we plotted the locations of CPS DL schools in relation to these populations. Findings demonstrate that, based on the current requirements to begin a DL program, CPS has the potential to implement far more programs than those currently available and planned for in the next two years, particularly considering the number of TBE programs already in place, which currently staff many of the necessary bilingual-licensed educators needed for a DL program. Additionally, a micro-level analysis of the mostly Latina/o/x Little Village neighborhood allows us to ruminate on the concrete potential for additional DL programs in a very specific and relevant context.

With the current nationwide popularity of DL programs, this analysis reflects a microcosm of DL education and interrogates who it ought to serve. Based on these findings, we urge researchers, educators and advocates to be vigilant about their Latina/o/x communities’ access to DL education, not as a “service” but as a social justice act.

Authors

• Nancy Dominguez-Fret, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Ellen Evans Oberto, University of Illinois at Chicago