The Problems and Possibilities of Interest Convergence in a Dual Language School

Dual Language as White Property: Examining a Secondary Bilingual-Education Program and Latinx Equity

“…To the debate about whether DL can serve as an equity strategy (Morales & Maravilla, 2019), my study adds secondary-DL evidence that when Latinx/ White interests converge there are drawbacks to Latinxs' long-term justice goals (Alema ´n & Alema ´n, 2010;Burns, 2017;Palmer, 2010). The study substantiates research exposing how public resources and financial incentives allocated for improving the secondary education of ELs and students of color end up profiting middle-class White students (Avni & Menken, 2019;Vaught, 2011).…”

“…In another study of an elementary DL program, Burns (2017) found that when White parents lobbied for their children's needs, administrators had to act as safeguards for Latinx interests, even while having to make compromises with Whites. While these studies suggest that the convergence of White and Latinx interests can be detrimental to the latter, Morales and Maravilla (2019) argue that it nevertheless provides DL to more students, a better outcome considering that deficitoriented English as a second language (ESL) is the common alternative.…”

“Research shows”: Authoritative discourse in dual language bilingual education across two school districts

“…While aware of these negative tendencies, we recognize that linking DLBE to test score growth opens possibilities for bilingual education in contexts ruled by high‐stakes accountability regimes. At the time of research, California's “English‐Only” policies still specified two‐way DLBE as one of the few loopholes under which schools could provide bilingual education at all (Morales and Maravilla, 2019). In Texas, the Gómez‐Gómez team had carefully leveraged accountability discourses to facilitate broader DLBE implementation statewide.…”

Biliteracy as Property: Promises and Perils of the Seal of Biliteracy

“…Such dynamics reflect a trend presently researched in the broader field of bilingual and dual-language education, which Valdez et al (2016) have articulated as “gentrification,” wherein access to multilingual education programming is disproportionately afforded to more privileged groups of students (e.g., through dual-language or International Baccalaureate programming) than to the minoritized student populations for whom such programming was originally envisioned (also see Cervantes-Soon et al, 2017). Kelly (2018) and Morales and Maravilla (2019) have applied the concept of interest convergence, drawn from the field of critical race theory, to describe the growing popularity of dual-language and other forms of bilingual education. These scholars posit that the interests of bilingual immigrant communities advocating for heritage language education have intersected with those of a privileged, largely white, English-monolingual population seeking the increasingly documented benefits of bilingualism.…”