A Critical View of the Three-Year Implementation Challenges at a 50-50 Dual-Language School

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

Abstract

This three-year qualitative study utilized critical pedagogy and a sociocultural perspective on bilingualism to analyze the language and literacy challenges that staff at a 50-50 dual-language (DL) Spanish-English school encountered and how they addressed them. The challenges included the district’s insistence that the DL school use the same CCSS standards, English report cards, and basal reading series (with translated passages in Spanish) employed with all the district students. Although the school staff tried to resolve the challenges, the district policies undermined the DL program’s bilingual and biliteracy goals. The English performance of the DL students was privileged compared to their Spanish performance. The importance of working with district staff to develop political and ideological clarity about DL programs is highlighted.

Author

• Georgia E. Garcia, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign