Crisis in the southwest: bilingual education program inconsistencies.(Report)

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Staff development is too often inadequate or overlooked in bilingual education. Rather, bilingual educators are forced to seek outside resources and strategies because of inconsistencies in school district bilingual programs. In this article we, four bilingual teachers, will offer a "crash" course for other teachers who may be looking for solid information about bilingual education.

We will first define and discuss bilingual education and its history. We will report on our analysis of the current bilingual programs in a Southwestern United States border city, and explain why we find them lacking. Based upon this information, we present then a research-based ideal bilingual program that focuses on student success.

Bilingual Education Defined

In order for us to develop our plan of action, we first agreed on a definition for bilingual education. From our perspective, bilingual education is a compilation of multicultural views through which diversity is enriched and bilingualism becomes the ability to communicate effectively in two or more languages with a similar degree of proficiency. Hence, bilingual education is a process, one which educates students to be effective in a second language while maintaining and nurturing their first language.

As Necochea and Cline (2000) state:

 
   Primary language support is a validation 
   of the child's language and culture which 
   facilitates self esteem to be maintained, 
   stress to be reduced and education to be 
   a positive experience as access to the core 
   curriculum is provided. (p. 323)