ABSTRACT
Much of the debate on bilingual education is politically motivated, more suitable for talk shows than for improving schools. The United States can create quality bilingual education for the increasingly diverse student population, but only if we observe what really happens in our schools. If we continue to deal with bilingual education as a label, the sterile debate on how abruptly language minority students should be Americanized and Anglicized will continue to isolate many of our students. This book explores the abundant, though often inconsistent, research on the education of bilingual students. It also provides a personal testament to what I have observed in classrooms, in consulting with schools, and in training teachers for challenging roles in bilingual education.
