Bilingual Education in California—Now What?
Since the approval of Proposition 58, people are wondering about bilingual education in California—now what is the big question.
CABE, the California Association for Bilingual Education, says that CA sites and school districts now have a lot more things to take into consideration when implementing a biliteracy program. Starting in July 2017, if the parents of 30 students throughout the school or 20 students from one grade request that a program be started, it will trigger the possible implementation of a program at the site, CABE says. First, though, the California State Board of Education needs to approve regulations in accordance with Prop 58. It also stresses the importance of school sites planning for at least one year.
Schools, education organizations and lawmakers must also be able to work together in developing the proper infrastructure to construct a successful bilingual teacher pipeline, it adds. By doing so, it will be satisfying both the ever-increasing demand by families for bilingual education while also preparing the students, CABE says.
A new report, however, released by Californians Together indicates that a significant percentage of school districts across California face a growing shortage of bilingual teachers. In the coming future, though, there will be 7,000 bilingual teachers available who are in an excellent position to help with the shortage, but this will require professional development, says the report.
The state government is greatly helping the movement by providing $5 million in the 2017 budget. These monies will be used to fund the professional development of bilingual teachers in assisting those with the proper bilingual teaching credentials but are no longer teaching to transition back to bilingual classrooms, says EdSource.
As this expansion of bilingual education in CA continues, ESL parents also play an integral role. With the large Hispanic population in California, for instance, programs like the Latino Family Literacy Project that educates and guides parents in setting up a regular reading time at home with bilingual books help greatly to solidify children learning two languages. Teachers can attend a one-day, program training at a workshop near them or via an online webinar.