This study investigated the Spanish language proficiency of Hispanic students in bilingual education programs in north central New Mexico to determine the relative importance of a bilingual pedagogical approach in the development and retention of the minority language. Students from grades 1-8 (n=105) were subjects. Measures included a Spanish availability test, a sociolinguistic questionnaire, and a standardized language dominance and proficiency test. Results indicate that factors such as rurality, linguistic and geographic isolation, socioeconomic status, and active language use are more important for Spanish language maintenance and proficiency than is bilingual education. (MSE)