NCLB Seen a Damper on Bilingual Programs

Some states and districts say testing requirements may discourage efforts.

This school year, Roundy Elementary School in Columbus Junction, Iowa, stopped providing a 90- to 120-minute literacy block in Spanish each day for Latino students in the early grades who are new to English.

“We switched this year and went to full English immersion,” said Dan L. Vogeler, the principal of the 460-student school. “The number-one reason we changed was because of No Child Left Behind.”

While the federal No Child Left Behind Act does not specify what kind of instruction schools should use for English-language learners, it’s not hard to find examples of schools across the country where educators say they’ve discontinued bilingual education—or feel they might be forced to do so—because of accountability...