ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the heritage language educational sector, which over the past several decades has replaced both the college/university and K–12 sectors as the majority provider for American Chinese language instruction. It provides an overview of the state of affairs for Chinese heritage language education in the United States, with particular attention paid to the unique demographic and systemic conditions both supporting and hindering development of that sector. The chapter proposes that the Chinese heritage language education sector has not merely quantitatively but also qualitatively taken on a role as a more significant pedagogical trendsetter than either it’s K–12 or collegiate counterparts. Even while arguably embracing the Scholastic Assessment Test II Chinese Test since its introduction, the Chinese heritage sector has begun to move beyond merely reflecting and accepting the status quo of the official United States education system. In other words, it has begun to be less of a mirror and more of a compass.
