Building Local Capacity for Bilingual Education through ESEA Title VII: Introducing the Issues.

This paper describes some major issues facing federal and local administrators in their efforts to build local capacity in bilingual education through the Title VII grants program. The discussion is developed in three parts: (1) the legislative history of the capacity building mandate in Title VII and the federal statutory provisions shaping this mandate's implementation; (2) findings of earlier studies by the Rand Corporation and the NTS Research Corporation on efforts to institutionalize educational improvements through federal programs; and (3) the issue of capacity building within the specific context of the Title VII program. On the issue of capacity building, the study considers key issues which should be addressed by a department in designing and implementing procedures for application approval, technical assistance, monitoring, and evaluation. It discusses concerns related to building effective local bilingual programs and the programs. Finally, some suggestions from research on institutionalizing educational change are given to provide guidance on fostering legitimacy in local bilingual programming. (AMH)