Understanding and undermining the racio‐economic agenda of No Child Left Behind: using critical race methodology to investigate the labor of bilingual teachers

Abstract

Language education for students of color is a neutral process. The education of linguistically diverse students is situated in larger issues concerning white supremacy and the distribution of wealth and power. In this article, I argue that the English‐only language policy contained within No Child Left Behind (NCLB) justifies a hierarchical racial order in which subordinate language status is still represented in racial and economic terms. As such, there is a pressing need to understand how language policy (specifically, NCLB) affects teachers and how teachers respond to and influence the enactment of such policies. The research suggests that Latina/o teachers understand NCLB’s language policy to be a convergence of race and class interests and, in view of that, mediate and undermine English‐only policy in the classroom. Through the work of bilingual educators, I hope to expand the discussion about preparing teachers for educating linguistic minorities to go beyond the methods fetish and to reconsider the professional identities of teachers as extending beyond the classroom role, to include that of political agent.

Notes

1. In 1998, California voters approved (61%) Proposition 227, the so called ‘English for the Children Initiative’ also known as the Unz initiative named after its author and chief financial backer. This initiative placed restrictions on bilingual educations programs, and mandated that LEP students ‘be taught English by being taught in English,’ be placed in ‘English language classrooms’ and ‘be educated through sheltered English immersion.’

2. See www.kornferry.com/Library/Process.asp?P=PR_Detail&CID=879&LID=1 (accessed 14 February 2007).

3. Open Court is a scripted language arts reading program adopted in Los Angeles Unified School District.