Sixth International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education: Connecting Research and Practice Across Contexts

Paper/Best Practice Session (1 hour)

Multiple

One-Way Second/Foreign Language Immersion
Co-Official/Regional Language Immersion
Two-Way Bilingual Immersion
One-Way Developmental Bilingual Education
Indigenous Language Immersion

Pre-K
Elementary (K-5)
Middle School/Junior High
High School
Post-Secondary

Although many people believe that there is indeed a labor market advantage to bilingualism, economists have routinely refuted this. Our research at the Civil Rights Project dug deep into the data and found both the same things that earlier economic studies had found, and also quite different findings. I will discuss what makes the difference in the labor market for bilinguals and what implications our findings have for language education policy across the nation. I will also highlight the urgency to change policy course in the U.S. as our linguistic resources are actually shrinking.