When Inclusive Education Becomes Exclusive Access

How Afluent White Families Are Pricing Out Native Speakers From Bilingual Programs

I was talking with my neighbor, who works for a dual-language preschool, and she mentioned how difficult it's been to get her daughters into one because the programs have become so expensive, and such a trend among parents right now.

I had never thought about dual-language programs this way. As a white woman, I always saw them as inclusive, enriching opportunities: a way to give kids access to diverse cultures and languages early on. But as my friend talked, I began to realize what started as an effort to preserve culture and empower linguistic minorities has, in many places, been transformed by white affluence into a symbol of status and exclusivity.

A Brief History of Dual-Language Programs in the United States

Dual-language education (sometimes called two-way immersion) was originally established in the 1960s as part of the bilingual education movement. Programs like the Coral Way Elementary School in Miami, launched in 1963, were among the first public dual-language models, created to support Cuban immigrant children while helping English-speaking peers learn Spanish (1). The idea was simple but revolutionary: integrate both groups equally, with instruction in both languages, to promote academic achievement, cross-cultural understanding, and linguistic preservation.

By the 1990s, research confirmed what many families already knew. Students in dual-language programs performed better academically and developed stronger cognitive flexibility than their monolingual peers (2). These programs were meant to level the playing field for immigrant and minority-language students, offering them an equitable education that valued their heritage.

But over the last two decades, that mission has quietly shifted.

The Gentrification of Language Learning: Understanding the Shift

The number of dual-language schools in the country has nearly quadrupled since 2010, growing to more than 3,600 programs nationwide (11, 13). Yet despite this explosive growth, English learner enrollment shares are shrinking in most dual-language schools in large cities including New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco (11). What that means is that the majority of seats are increasingly being filled by native English speakers, often white, affluent families who can afford the rising tuition.

The very spaces meant to protect and celebrate linguistic diversity are being overtaken by those with social and financial capital. It's what researchers call the gentrification of bilingual education (3). Like gentrification in housing, it begins with good intentions, wanting the best environment for your child, but ends with displacement, as rising costs and shifting demographics push out the very communities these programs were designed to serve.

Recent data shows that EL enrollment shares are shrinking in a majority of dual-language immersion schools in major cities including New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, and San José, while white enrollment shares are up in a majority of DLI schools in New York City, Dallas, Los Angeles, Albuquerque, Portland, and Washington, D.C. (11).

According to a 2022 study by the Migration Policy Institute, demand for dual-language programs has surged in urban districts like Los Angeles, New York, and Dallas, but native Spanish-speaking enrollment has declined in those same areas (4). Tuition rates in private dual-language preschools have climbed significantly, with some programs charging $1,400 per month or annual tuition averaging $19,066 in California, pricing out working-class and immigrant families (5, 13).

It's a story that echoes across many well-meaning spaces in white culture, where access becomes advantage, and inclusion becomes exclusivity.

How Privilege Shows Up: Intent vs. Impact

Here's the hard part for many of us: most white parents enrolling their kids in dual-language programs aren't trying to exclude anyone. They want to give their children a global perspective, linguistic fluency, or simply a creative challenge. But privilege often hides in good intentions.

When we enroll our kids in programs originally designed for linguistic minorities without examining the larger system, we can unintentionally reinforce inequities rather than dismantle them. It's the same pattern we see in other spaces: from charter schools to yoga studios, from farmers markets to neighborhoods. White participation isn't inherently bad, but unexamined privilege tends to reshape culture around itself.

As my mom Karen reflected in our podcast episode:

"This shouldn't be an either-or issue. Your neighbor should be able to send her kids, and so should a white family who values language learning. The question is: what systems are making it impossible for both to access it equally?"

That's the question we all need to be asking, not just what feels right for my child, but what impact does my choice have on others?

Systemic Causes: From Policy to Prestige

To understand how this shift happened, we have to look at the systems beneath it and how white culture often transforms shared resources into elite commodities.

Funding Models Favor the Affluent

Public bilingual programs are underfunded, while private and charter dual-language schools flourish with higher tuition and donations. This mirrors how public schools in gentrified areas receive more funding through property taxes, furthering inequities (6).

Cultural Capital as Currency

When white families enter bilingual programs, they bring social capital: PTA involvement, political influence, fundraising networks, which can reshape school priorities. This often shifts focus from preserving minority cultures to marketing global competence (7).

White Desire for Novelty

As with yoga or holistic wellness trends, white participation often rebrands cultural practices as status symbols. In education, that can mean valuing Spanish for its marketability, not its cultural roots, what linguist Nelson Flores calls the "white listening subject" phenomenon (8).

Neighborhood Gentrification

Dual-language schools are frequently located in historically Latinx or immigrant neighborhoods that have since gentrified. Districts use these programs to attract middle and upper-class white families, rather than expanding them equitably across communities (9).

All of this results in what one 2021 UCLA report calls a paradox of inclusion: as bilingual education gains prestige, the people it was meant to serve are being pushed out (10).

Why This Matters: Language, Power, and Belonging

Language is identity. It carries memory, history, and belonging. When native speakers are excluded from bilingual spaces, it doesn't just block access to education; it signals whose culture is valued and whose is commodified.

As I said in our podcast episode:

"It's not that white families shouldn't participate. It's about longevity and intentionality. If you're not maintaining the language at home, reading books in Spanish, celebrating culture, supporting equity, then you might be taking a space meant for someone else who would."

The issue isn't simply about who gets in. It's about who gets to belong.

For immigrant families, bilingual education isn't a lifestyle choice; it's a form of preservation and empowerment. For many white families, it's become an enhancement or resume builder. That imbalance reflects a deeper truth about privilege: it turns survival mechanisms into status markers.

The Research on Effective Programs

Recent research shows that students in dual-language immersion programs demonstrate significant academic gains, with native English-speaking students scoring higher in reading and math by 0.12 and 0.14 standard deviations, respectively, with achievement gains realized as early as first grade (12).

But here's the critical finding: programs that are 50-50, with 50% non-native English speakers and 50% English speakers, do the best for both parties (13). Having the immersive experience on both ends, being equal and equitable from both sides of the language spectrum, creates the most progressive outcomes.

What White Parents Can Do Differently

This is where our learning meets our responsibility. If you're a white parent considering or already enrolled in a dual-language program, here are a few ways to approach it with awareness and equity in mind:

1. Ask Who the Program Was Built For and Who It Serves Now

Advocate for transparency about enrollment demographics. If native speakers are underrepresented, raise it in PTA or board meetings. Push for that 50-50 balance that research shows benefits everyone.

2. Support Scholarships or Community Seats

If you can afford tuition, push your school to offer subsidized spots for lower-income or native-speaking families. Better yet, help fundraise for them. Some districts are exploring innovative models where tuition is calculated based on actual costs per child, with subsidies built in for families who need them.

3. Stay Engaged Beyond Your Own Child

Representation matters. Make sure leadership committees and parent groups include voices from the communities whose language is being taught. As one listener pointed out in our conversation, if you're on the PTA, make sure the PTA itself is divided 50-50.

4. Honor the Culture, Not Just the Curriculum

Buy books by Latinx authors, celebrate cultural holidays, and include Spanish (or another target language) in your home intentionally, not just as an extracurricular. Think about the longevity of your commitment. Are you going to do the homework at home to keep Spanish up in your home? Do you have Spanish books at home that you are continuing to educate your child with?

If you're not, you're then actually taking a place where someone else could truly benefit for their livelihood and cultural preservation.

5. Advocate Systemically

Push your district or city to expand dual-language programs equitably, not just where white enrollment justifies it. California, despite having the largest population of English learners, invests far less in bilingual education expansion than smaller states like Utah, which committed over $5 million to dual-language immersion in 2023, and Delaware, which spends $1.6-$1.9 million annually (11).

Fight for programs to be brought to local schools in underserved communities rather than relying on busing models that have historically been challenging. The goal should be making these programs accessible where families already live.

These steps don't erase privilege, but they redirect it toward justice.

From Awareness to Action

This topic sits at the intersection of so many things we explore on White Women Wake Up: good intentions, inherited privilege, and the subtle ways white culture reshapes equity into exclusivity. The goal isn't shame. It's awareness.

As Karen said in our podcast:

"It's not about condemning people for wanting the best for their kids. It's about questioning the systems that make our access come at someone else's expense."

We can hold both truths at once: that it's okay to want enriching opportunities for our children and that we have a responsibility to protect access for others. That's what real inclusion looks like, not just participation, but preservation.

Often we go straight to the individual rather than the system or the policy. But we need to think bigger. What in our systems are making the obstacles? Is it that there's not enough subsidies or scholarships? Is it the requirement of how many students have to be to a teacher? There are so many regulations that are put on these spaces that do make them very, very expensive.

Dual Language Learners, those under age 8 with at least one parent who speaks a language other than English at home, make up 32 percent of the U.S. young child population and a growing share of children in most states (11). Yet these young learners, who stand to benefit disproportionately from high-quality early childhood education, are increasingly being pushed out of the very programs designed to serve them.

If we, as white women, can start seeing our choices through that lens, we can begin to transform privilege from a silent advantage into an active force for equity.

Because true bilingualism isn't just about speaking two languages; it's about learning how to listen differently.

Stay curious, be open and keep waking up!

-Jonelle

This article draws from conversations featured in the White Women Wake Up podcast, Episode 48: "From Equity to Exclusivity: The Quiet Shift in Dual-Language Schools.

References

1. Coral Way Bilingual Program, Miami-Dade County Public Schools (1963).

2. Thomas, W. & Collier, V. (1997). School Effectiveness for Language Minority Students. National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.

3. Cervantes-Soon, C. (2017). Gentrification of Dual-Language Education in the United States. Harvard Educational Review.

4. Migration Policy Institute (2022). The State of Dual-Language Education in the U.S.

5. National Association for Bilingual Education (2021). Access and Equity in Dual-Language Programs.

6. Reardon, S. (2019). The Widening Income Gap and School Funding Inequality. Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis.

7. Palmer, D. (2018). White Parents, Bilingual Programs, and the Commodification of Diversity. Linguistics & Education Journal.

8. Flores, N. (2016). The White Listening Subject: Raciolinguistic Ideologies in Education. Journal of Language, Identity & Education.

9. UCLA Civil Rights Project (2021). Bilingual Education and Urban Gentrification.

10. García, O. & Kleifgen, J. (2020). Translanguaging and the Paradox of Inclusion. Teachers College Press.

11. The Century Foundation (2023). Ensuring Equitable Access to Dual-Language Immersion Programs.

12. Morales, C. (2025). Dual Language Immersion Programs and Student Achievement in Early Elementary Grades. AERA Open.

13. Roberts, G. (2021). American Councils Research Center National Canvass of Dual Language Immersion Programs.