This anthology of articles is intended to encourage broad study in the field of bilingual education as a basis for the acquisition of knowledge which will enable practitioners to make intelligent decisions about the programs in which they participate. An overview is provided of the policy and legal factors which had an impact on the efforts to establish bilingual education as an integral component of American education. The importance of recognizing students' cultural backgrounds is highlighted as essential to the successful development of any educational program. In addition, pragmatic concerns related to language, program design, and curriculum considerations are detailed and issues in staff development for bilingual programs are examined. The process of evaluating bilingual programs is discussed, especially in terms of assessing students' language performance. (Author/MC)