Correctional educators have multiple challenges to consider when designing appropriate and effective courses for LCD students. The first challenge is to provide the sociocultural support needed to reach students' emotional needs. Another important challenge for correctional educators is to provide effective linguistic and academic support that best meets LCD students' needs. All of the relevant longitudinal studies have shown that only enrichment schooling through students' two languages provides the conditions needed for students to eventually reach grade-level performance in the second language in 4 to 7 years. Students who receive their schooling only through their second language (the large majority) never make it to the 50th percentile on standardized, norm-referenced tests unless they have been fortunate enough to receive at least 5 to 6 years of grade-level schooling in their home country before they emigrated to the host country. One of the strategies that clearly works with LCD students is accelerated learning through the students' primary language and English. For students who have never had the opportunity to attend school and develop basic literacy skills, first language literacy is a crucial base for acquiring second language literacy. The old notion that first language "interferes" with second language learning has not been supported by any research evidence. 1 figure and 23 references