Decades of educational research have documented the best practices and optimal educational experiences for language-minority children. Yet, the current conservative climate in our nation openly threatens bilingual education programs in schools and communities.

Over a nine-year period, the author collected data from bilingual families residing in "Steel Town" Pennsylvania regarding their educational experiences. In January 1993 the local school board and school superintendent decided to eliminate its nationally recognized, twenty-year-old bilingual education program. For the first time in...