Resistance to Spanish Within a Two-Way Bilingual School

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Dual-Language Programs: Identifying implementation Barriers and Addressing Inequities (Table 9)

Abstract

This study examines a two-way bilingual (Spanish/English) K-5 school in a large city in the Midwest that was, and continues to be, one of the most racially and economically segregated cities in the U.S. The school was founded in the late 1980’s after a prolonged political struggle by teachers, parents, and civil rights activists. We researched the school first during 2008-2009, and again during 2017-2021, documenting its curricula and pedagogy, focusing on its bilingual, anti-racist social justice agenda as it developed and changed over the years, and the challenges involved in reaching this agenda. This paper is devoted to changes in the school’s bilingual model and the resulting consequences.

Authors

• Matthew Knoester, Ripon College

• Assaf Meshulam, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev