Bilingual Education Policy in the United States

Bilingual education policy consists of federal and/or state initiatives, laws, court cases, and legislation related to the education of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Past and recent developments in bilingual education policy demonstrate the contradictory position of the United States toward linguistic diversity. While the United States frequently celebrates its status as a nation of immigrants or as a land of equality, bilingual education policy has often attempted to suppress and minimize linguistic diversity.

This entry examines important legal and political milestones in the evolution of bilingual education policy, the ambivalent stance that the United States has historically had toward bilingual education policy, and how bilingual education policy shapes the nature of schooling for linguistically diverse students.