Bilingual Education: A New Look at the Research Evidence

摘要

The report assesses the validity of certain statements by officials of the Department of Education concerning how to teach children who come to school knowing little English. To support their policy position that a requirement of native-language teaching be dropped from the current Bilingual Education Act (20 U.S.C. 3223), department officials have cited research and evaluations on particular points and have claimed that, overall, the research in the area is inconclusive. At issue are these department interpretations of the large body of research findings pertinent to the native-language requirement. The report presents the results of inquiries into the validity of the specific statements department officials made during the period reviewed. The information in the report is based on judgements provided by a panel of 10 experts.