Bilingual education is not entirely a new idea. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was practiced in church schools, particularly in German and Spanish. Most communities, however, assumed a strongly assimilationist stance for their public schools, especially after World War I. In recent years, however, this attitude has been partly reversed under the impact of the concept of cultural pluralism and a growing ethnic awareness. The greatest impetus to bilingual education was given by the Bilingual Education Act of 1968. That law defined this area of teaching as the "use of two languages as mediums of instruction." Its design may be transitional, maintenance, restorationist, or culturally pluralistic. The last is exemplified by Miami's Coral Way School in which Spanish-speaking Cuban refugee children effectively learned English and their English-speaking peers learned Spanish. This school's success, the funding provided by the Bilingual Education Act mentioned above, and favorable court decisions help explain the movement's rapid progress in the recent past. Research on the subject has led to several definitive conclusions, but they are relatively few in number. The future of this area of education will be determined by its success in actual practice and in the ebb and flow of social and political influences. (Author)