The federal government has maintained a prominent place in the formation of policy for bilingual education. Iris Rotberg traces the historical development of this involvement and its impact upon legislation, court decisions, regulations, and guidelines for meeting the language needs of over 3.5 million children of school age. The author reviews various instructional models and such research-assessed outcomes as students' achievement, self-image, and integration. She also discusses the implications for federal policy of these legal and research issues and the problem of fiscal support for bilingual programs. Rotberg concludes by proposing areas of research to be explored in future studies of bilingual education in the United States.

Click here to access this article.