Chapter 5: The Racializing Function of Medium-of-Instruction Policies in Indigenous and Minoritized Schooling

We begin with these statements because they foreground interlocking ideologies about race and language in U.S. education policy, historically and today. The statements also suggest the hegemonic character of these policies, which “commonsense” discourses reproduce through appealing to the values of fairness, equality, and opportunity for all. When we scrutinize the policies closely, however, it is clear that their intended targets are not all children, but rather poor children and children of color. The 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is explicit on this, citing as one of its main purposes, “meeting the educational needs of low-achieving children in our Nation’s highest poverty schools, limited English proficient children, migratory children, children with disabilities, Indian children, neglected or delinquent children, and young children in need of reading assistance” (NCLB, 2002, Title I, Sec. 1001[2]).