Bilingual Ed

So I spent most of today working on a policy analysis project. My partner and I are looking at bilingual and dual language programs, specifically in the district of my school. It's amazing to me how underrepresented languages (and the cultures tied to them) other than Spanish are. Though a huge percentage of ELLs in the district are Spanish speaking, the remaining ELL numbers are quite substantial. It's frustrating to me that this the duality of Spanish/English seems to be what bilingual education has come to mean. Meanwhile French and African Languages are ignored. The ties that these languages have to identity and culture are so strong, I don't understand what makes it ok to ignore this.

Is parent advocacy an issue? I think so. If a parent can't read or write then how can they advocate for a bilingual ed program? Then again how can they get into a charter school? Oh what, it's a different issue...or is it? I think the tie to bilingual education programs and charters could be interesting as charter school presence increases. They certainly do take and look for specific students. As public schools become the excess and hold over, how can we make sure we are advocating for parents when parents aren't aware of how to access this information?