AERA 2018: Revisiting the Bilingual Education Act of 1968

The year 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the Bilingual Education Act (BEA). Passed in 1968, the BEA was initiated in response to the high dropout rate of low-income Spanish speaking students learning English as a second language. A half century later, language minority students still suffer under pervasive inequities in public education that warrant immediate redress. While the number of language minority students has dramatically increased across the United States, the bilingual/multicultural programs needed to build upon their linguistic and cultural repertoires remain absent in most school communities. Drawing upon empirical research and historical, political, theoretical, and practice perspectives, this session provides a comprehensive analysis of the BEA and forwards possibilities for re(imagining) the promise of the Act.