Test the way we teach: the need for bilingual approaches to data-driven practices

This qualitative study explores how three bilingual teachers in a transitional bilingual education program navigate monolingual assessment policies and practices in a high-stakes accountability context. Using a vertical case study design and a figured worlds theoretical framework, the research explores how educators reconcile district-mandated, English-centric data-driven instruction (DDI) practices with the linguistic realities of their bilingual students. Findings reveal that DDI structures and monolingual assessments perpetuate English hegemony and marginalize bilingual students and teachers, though teachers can play an agentive role in strategically navigating and resisting those structures. The study underscores the urgent need for systemic shifts in assessment and accountability policies to support authentic bilingual education – calling for context-specific policy design that centers bilingualism and aligns instructional and assessment resources with the lived experiences of bilingual learners and educators.