Contextual Challenges to Dual‐Language Education: A Case Study of a Developing Middle School Program

This article describes how a team of urban middle school educators in Philadelphia were developing a dual‐language program to address the needs of their low‐income, predominantly Puerto Rican population. It demonstrates how the structural, sociolinguistic, and ideological context influenced the way that this bilingual program functioned on the local level, and it challenges the dichotomous thinking that characterizes most discussions of bilingual education.