Maceri Recent newspaper headlines suggest that California's elimination of bilingual education is working. Reports of students learning English quickly are commonplace. Other states, notably Arizona, are working on propositions similar to the Golden State's 227, doing away with bilingual education. Unfortunately, the early reports of kids learning English are superficial and tell you very little about kids' educational achievements.
Education is a long term process and involves much more than just the English language.
As vital as this tool is, just knowing English will not do much for you unless it coupled with knowledge of other subjects. There are lot of Americans who possess English conversational skills and unfortunately cannot get decent jobs. The role of schools, whether we are talking about US-born or immigrant students, is to teach skills that will prepare people for life. A wide variety of subjects need to be learned. Bilingual education tries to accomplish this task.