“ <i>We teach to standards</i> ”: Double inequity through assessments and accountability in dual language bilingual education in a Midwestern state

This study explores how high-stakes standardized assessments and accountability measures, driven by standards-based reforms, shape language policy and reinforce inequalities in a dual language bilingual education (DLBE) program in a Midwestern state. Grounded in critical language policy, it examines how federal education policy’s emphasis on standards and high-stakes testing is interpreted locally to (re)produce unequal language status. Findings reveal that monoglossic ideologies embedded in neoliberal reforms marginalize Spanish and its speakers, creating a double inequity for emergent bilinguals and educators. The study calls for critical consciousness and the development of bilingual assessments and heteroglossic approaches to advance DLBE program goals.