Four decades after Castañeda: a critical analysis of Bilingual/Dual Language Education in Colorado

The Castañeda Standard was handed down in 1981. We use this Standard along with Latino Critical Race Theory (Solorzano & Yosso, 2001) and Ruiz’s Language Orientations (1984) to conduct a historical analysis of bilingual education in Colorado from 1976 to 2019 to examine the availability of bilingual/dual language education for Latinx students over four decades. Our historical analysis resulted in dividing Colorado’s bilingual history into four time periods (1976–1981; 1981–2000, 2000–2018 and 2019-present). Findings indicated that other than a brief period (1976–1981) the history of bilingual education and all other program types in Colorado has been oriented toward language as a problem and toward systemic racism with regard to language policies and practices. However, the community also developed resistant capital to maintain bilingual education despite formidable odds. This is particularly true for Spanish speaking Mexican origin children and families. Moreover, we demonstrate that while Castañeda had some influence on bilingual education over the past 40 years, it could have had much more if the Standard had been updated over time especially regarding Prongs 1 and 3. We conclude that Castañeda needs to be updated and strengthened especially in states such as Colorado with weak oversight and monitoring of programs for EB students.