This article discusses two investigations which explored the bilingual language development outcomes of comparable groups of low-income, Spanish-speaking, Mexican American children who either did or did not attended a bilingual (Spanish/English) preschool. Study 1 is a replication of a study by Rodríguez, Díaz, Duran, and Espinosa, involving a new sample of 26 children who attended bilingual preschool for one year and 20 control children who remained at home. Study 2 represents a 1-year, longitudinal follow-up of Rodríguez et al.'s, sample of children during and after the children spent another year at home or in the preschool. In both investigations, standardized, objective measures of three components of children's language proficiency (productive language, receptive language, and language complexity) in English and Spanish were obtained at the beginning and end of the academic year. Contrary to fears that have been expressed by some that early exposure to English would lead to children's native language loss, the results of both studies offered no evidence of Spanish proficiency loss for children attending bilingual preschool. Children who attended bilingual preschool, compared to those who remained at home, showed significant and parallel gains in Spanish language development as well as significant and greater increases in English language proficiency over time. Results are discussed in terms of the need for more systematic research to be conducted in this area to inform policy and practice in the early education and development of language-minority children.

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Early childhood educators and school personnel increasingly will be working with children and families from diverse economic, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. While the student population is rapidly becoming diverse, the teaching force remains predominantly White and from middle‐class backgrounds (Whitebook, 2003). This growing cultural and linguistic discrepancy between the children enrolled and the teachers who teach them underscores the need for all educators to develop the skills, knowledge, and, most importantly, the attitudes to effectively teach in multicultural and multilingual settings. Children from different cultures and low‐income households who enter school programs speaking little or no English are highly vulnerable to chronic academic underachievement and eventual school failure. Recent research has revealed dramatic differences in young children's achievement in mathematics and literacy by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES) at school entry (V. Lee & D. Burkam, 2002). This article reviews the relevant research on effective teaching and assessment practices for young children from diverse backgrounds and offers recommendations for school personnel. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 837–853, 2005.

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