In this study, we used a quasi-experimental, longitudinal design to examine the English language arts (ELA) and mathematics test scores of emergent bilinguals (EBs) in DLBE 50:50 models versus English as a second language (ESL) models in Indiana over four academic school years. With a focus on the midwestern U.S., we bring attention to a less-studied area where the EB population is more recent, but quickly growing. Results show that students who attended a DLBE program rather than an ESL program, scored significantly higher on ELA tests, but the association between program type and mathematics outcomes was more complex. The discussion and implications caution the English as a second language, bilingual, and dual language bilingual education fields to conduct a comprehensive analysis of content allocation and content complexity in relationship to language designation, instead of solely focusing on the overall language allocation of the DLBE program model.