International Journal of Bilingual
Education and Bilingualism
Editor: Colin Baker, University of Wales, Bangor
Review Editor: Aneta Pavlenko, Temple University, Philadelpia
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Volume: 4 Number: 4 Page: 229–248
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The Bilingual Education Act: Language Minority Students and US Federal Educational Policy
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Ann-Marie Wiese and Eugene E. Garcia
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This paper traces the United States Bilingual Education Act (BEA) from its inception in 1968 through its most recent reauthorisation in 1994 as the primary federal legislative effort to provide equal educational
opportunity to language minority students in the United States. The first section introduces the polemic between two ideological positions, assimilation and multiculturalism, which have had a determinant
effect on reauthorisations of the BEA. The second section introduces federal legislation and litigation which introduced the framework of equal educational opportunity during the 1960s and 1970s. The third
section follows the evolution of the BEA from its inception in 1968 through its reauthorisation in 1994 and includes a description of key litigation that has served to articulate the specific rights of
language minority students. The fourth section presents the current scene, both the reauthorisation of the BEA and significant state initiatives. In the conclusion the authors acknowledge that federal educational
policy related to language minority students should be viewed within the broader international context.
© Multilingual Matters 2001
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