Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

“We teach to standards”: Double inequity through assessments and accountability in dual language bilingual education in a Midwestern state

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-14-2025

Abstract

This study explores how high-stakes standardized assessments and accountability measures, driven by standards-based reforms, shape language policy and reinforce inequalities in a dual language bilingual education (DLBE) program in a Midwestern state. Grounded in critical language policy, it examines how federal education policy’s emphasis on standards and high-stakes testing is interpreted locally to (re)produce unequal language status. Findings reveal that monoglossic ideologies embedded in neoliberal reforms marginalize Spanish and its speakers, creating a double inequity for emergent bilinguals and educators. The study calls for critical consciousness and the development of bilingual assessments and heteroglossic approaches to advance DLBE program goals.

Comments

© 2025 NABE

https://www.tandfonline.com/share/WCVDC75DSZSFARJW65PZ?target=10.1080/15235882.2025.2562983

Publication Title

Bilingual Research Journal

DOI

10.1080/15235882.2025.2562983

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