The Effectiveness of Bilingual Education: Review of a Report

A recent report by the U.S. Department of Education on the effectiveness of bilingual education programs reflects a number of issues that are at the very core of bilingual education. Clarification of these issues has implications not only for policy and research in bilingual education, but also for the interpretation of the report itself. Two of these issues and their implications are discussed: the purpose of bilingual education and the nature of bilingual education programs. Alternative interpretations of the report that arise from clarification of these issues are presented. Methodological weaknesses in the report are also discussed. These include gross over- simplification in the method of tallying the results of primary studies, and the failure to apply equally rigorous research standards to all studies when interpreting their results. Finally, an alternative review methodology is described that would enable the gleaning of all relevant information from the primary studies included in the report without ignoring the complexities inherent in the evaluation of bilingual education. This methodology is currently being utilized in a secondary review of the studies included in the initial report.