SITUATIONAL CONTEXT OF EDUCATION: A WINDOW INTO THE WORLD OF BILINGUAL LEARNERS. María Estela Brisk, Angela Burgos, and Sara Ruth Hamerla. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2004. Pp. vii + 246. $24.50 paper.

In this volume, Brisk, Burgos, and Hamerla offer educators of language-minority students assistance in addressing two perennial challenges: linking sociolinguistic theory and research to classroom practice and strengthening connections between home and school. Their offering comes as a collection of thoughtfully crafted, tested, and honed lesson plans through which teachers and students together study the linguistic, cultural, economic, political, and social factors that affect students and their learning in a bilingual and bicultural environment. They propose that close examination of the situational context of education in one's own community will benefit students, their families, and their teachers and, ultimately, promote learning.