Can Bilingual Education Generate Meaningful School Integration? A Case Study of Los Angeles
CRIS & LIEPP Seminar with Lucrecia Santibañez (UCLA),
Jointly organized with LIEPP - Educational Policies Research Group
Seventy years after Brown v. Board of Education, urban schools in the United States remain highly segregated by race, income, and language. Low-income students are often concentrated in under-resourced schools. Recent expansions of vouchers, charter schools, and homeschooling pose new challenges to longstanding integration efforts.
Bilingual Education, also known as dual-language immersion (DLI) programs in the U.S., offers a promising approach. These programs deliver instruction in both English and a target language while fostering academic rigor, bilingualism, biculturalism, and cross-cultural competence.
DLI is the fastest-growing educational method in several states. Because language, race, and economic status are closely intertwined, DLI schools unite students from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds by targeting families with different home languages.
Research Focus
This seminar will present findings from a recent research project on DLI programs in Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest public school district. Topics include:
- How and where DLI programs develop
- Their impact on school segregation
- Effects on students’ academic and linguistic outcomes
- Approaches to recruiting diverse families
"This lecture will discuss a recently completed research program studying DLI in the city of Los Angeles—the nation's second-largest public school district."
Author's summary: Dual-language immersion programs in Los Angeles show promise for fostering integration by bringing together diverse students and improving academic and linguistic outcomes.