Richard Rothstein

About the author: Richard Rothstein is a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute at Washington, D.C. This viewpoint is adapted from his book The Way We Were": The Myths and Realities of America's Student Achievement.

Through the years, research findings on the effectiveness or noneffectiveness of bilingual education and English-only approaches have not been definitive. This has allowed the intense debate between proponents and opponents of bilingual education to continue. Both sides cite case studies to support their claims, but they may never achieve satisfaction as studies cannot really control the complex factors that affect student achievement. Some students have clearly benefited from English-only programs, while others have benefited from bilingual education. The one conclusion that can be drawn from the available data is that there is no obvious crisis...