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Californians Together

Championing the Success of English Learners

Media Coverage

SACRAMENTO BEE – Tom Torlakson: This is why California needs to expand bilingual education

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My recent visit to Cahuenga Elementary School in Los Angeles gave me a glimpse of what California’s future could be if we seize the opportunity to expand the teaching of world languages.

At Cahuenga, beginning in kindergarten, many students learn Korean or Spanish along with English, while learning about Korean and Latin culture through music, dance, theater and literature. These dual-language immersion programs, like 400 others in California public schools, put students on the path to fluency in two or more languages.

Numerous studies show that fluency in another language boosts students’ mental flexibility and enhances their ability to learn all subjects, including their native language.

Bilingual students have to switch back and forth between languages, which helps them develop strong attention control and skills that help them academically and socially. They often understand language structures better than their single-language peers, giving them a potential advantage in reading and writing.

Learning a foreign language introduces students to new cultures, giving them a broad perspective that helps prepare them for the global economy. Bilingual students are in high demand and generally earn slightly higher salaries once they enter the workforce.

This exciting research inspired me to launch Global California 2030, which seeks to double the number of world language classes taught in California schools, more than double the number of bilingual teachers authorized each year and more than triple the number of graduating high school students who receive a state seal of biliteracy on their diplomas. Perhaps most importantly, it seeks to quadruple the number of dual language immersion programs to 1,600 by 2030.

In 2016, California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 58 and removed outdated barriers to setting up dual immersion programs, signaling clearly that they want more such programs.

Yet these programs are so scarce, parents sometimes have to win a lottery to enroll their child. That needs to change. Every parent should have the opportunity to let their child learn a second language at an early age.

That’s why I support Assembly Bill 2514, which is currently pending in the Legislature. This bill, introduced by Assemblyman Tony Thurmond, D-Richmond, provides 10 grants of $300,000 to local districts to help them set up dual-language immersion programs, developmental bilingual programs for English learners, or early learning dual language programs.

I am urging educators, parents and community leaders to join my efforts to pass this legislation and to enact the broader goals of Global California 2030. Fluency in two languages helps our students succeed academically, socially and economically, while strengthening the rich mixture of heritages and languages that help California stay a global economic and cultural leader.

Tom Torlakson is state Superintendent of Public Instruction. He can be contacted at .

Allison Briceño: What does the English Learner Roadmap mean for teachers?

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In this article, Allison Briceño, one of the fellows in our English Leadership & Legacy Initiative (ELLLI)  answers the important question: What does the English Learner Roadmap mean for teachers?

Californians Together, in collaboration with the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE), has developed the EL Leadership & Legacy Initiative (ELLLI) as a three year effort that will initially result in a group of nineteen new English Learner (EL) education advocates/leaders. The EL fellows will be equipped to advance proactive projects as well as to respond effectively to anticipated political challenges at state and local levels. In addition to the preparation of selected cohorts of new EL leaders, the project aims to make more widely available an EL leadership and legacy curriculum that can empower many other leaders at the local, regional and state levels. The project will draw on the perspectives of many senior EL leaders, and current advocates for ELs and will use a blend of whole group training insinuates, one-on-one coaching and mentoring and project based experiences.

Ed Source: California must take steps to grow the bilingual teacher workforce

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California must take steps to grow the bilingual teacher workforce

Imagine a classroom with confident and curious learners speaking, reading and writing in two languages. Where children are learning complex science or social science concepts taught in one language, with intentional second language development building on that learning. Where English dominant students build proficiency in Mandarin while building their English skills, and Mandarin dominant students maintain their home language while building English proficiency. Imagine a classroom where students are on a path able to speak, read and write fluently in two or more languages, and are joyfully learning and thriving.

Vickie Ramos Harris
Vickie Ramos Harris

This is the type of education more and more families are demanding for their children. This growing interest is reflected in the overwhelming public support — 73.5 percent — at the ballot box last November for the passage of Proposition 58, the California state ballot initiative that creates more opportunities for bilingual education. But as public schools work to respond to those demands, they are quickly realizing they face a crippling bilingual teacher shortage.

A new report released this week by Californians Together confirms that many districts face a shortage of bilingual teachers, and we expect that the shortage will only become more severe. Eighty six percent of the 111 school districts surveyed for the study said they anticipate major shortages even as they look to adding new bilingual programs. Despite this, few districts have a formal plan to deal with these shortages, which could leave many students without access to the significant benefits of bilingualism.

Shelly Spiegel-Coleman
Shelly Spiegel-Coleman

As more families choose language programs that lead to biliteracy for their children, the state can address this shortage by initially targeting teachers who are bilingual but are teaching in English-only classrooms with the professional development that would prepare them to teach in bilingual settings. Our survey shows that there is a pool of nearly 7,000 teachers in California who are bilingual and are well positioned and motivated to reduce this shortage, if supported with professional development.

However, this is just the beginning. Our state policymakers, institutions of higher education, and our public schools must work together to develop the infrastructure to build a bilingual teacher pipeline that meets the growing demand of families for bilingual education and prepares our students for an increasingly global society.

Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature have taken a good first step by providing $5 million in this year’s budget to fund bilingual teacher professional development institutes (AB 952 – Reyes),  to help teachers who have bilingual teaching credentials — but are no longer teaching in bilingual settings — transition back to bilingual classrooms.

In addition, local school districts should:

  • Identify teachers in their existing workforce who speak more than one language, and who are willing to transition to bilingual classrooms.
  • Address the professional development needs of these teachers with Local Control Funding Formula dollars.
  • Provide professional development for district and site administrators, who will lead expansion and development of new bilingual programs.
  • Work with bargaining units to identify diverse incentives for teachers in bilingual classrooms, such as smaller class size, additional compensation, planning time, and classes to improve their second language.

The state should:

  • Work with UC, CSU and private university teacher preparation programs to expand the number of universities offering bilingual certification along with credentialing.
  • Waive fees for current native speakers of languages other than English to apply for and receive their bilingual teaching authorization.
  • Recruit future bilingual teachers from the over 126,000 students who graduated high school with the State Seal of Biliteracy and are currently in college.
  • Ensure that new career technical education (CTE) funding for school districts is used to incentivize and prioritize “Bilingual Teacher” academies for preschool to 12th grade future teachers.

Now is the time to ensure teachers have the professional development they need based on current research, pedagogy and best practices, along with opportunities to strengthen their second language, as well as additional compensation. It is equally imperative that the state begin to lay the foundation for a bilingual teacher pipeline for California’s long-term needs, and support all teachers with the skills and expertise on language development and supporting biliteracy.

As California takes these steps to address the bilingual teacher shortage, the state will serve as an important model of an education system designed to build on our country’s racial, cultural and linguistic strengths in a way that is aligned with science, and is simply good for all children in our state and our nation.

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Vickie Ramos Harris is a Fellow with the English Learner Leadership & Legacy Initiative, a Californians Together project in collaboration with the California Association of Bilingual Education.
Shelly Spiegel-Coleman is the Executive Director of Californians Together, a coalition of 23 statewide professional, parent and civil rights organizations focused on improving schooling for English learners.

The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.

KPCC: As California bilingual education grows, teacher training is key

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As California bilingual education grows, teacher training is key

Zyanya Cazares, a sixth grade teacher who is starting a new assignment this fall teaching in a bilingual education program in Los Angeles, grew up speaking Spanish. But she was recently reminded that the casual, conversational Spanish she spoke at home is not the same as the formal form of the language she’s now being asked to teach.

“As a Chicana, it’s very easy to say, ‘oh I know how to say that word in Spanish, you just add an “o” at the end,’” Cazares said. “But that’s not academic Spanish, and we’re in an academic setting –  so I definitely have to prepare to learn the real word of how to say it academically.”

Cazares was one of a dozen current and aspiring bilingual education teachers who gathered at Cal State Dominguez Hills to learn about the latest teaching methods and also, for many teachers like Cazares, to fill in gaps in their language skills.

More often than not, many educators say, bilingual education teachers’ grasp of academic language in their second language trails that of their academic language in English. Experts in bilingual education say improving those skills will be essential as school districts open new programs after California voters lifted restrictions on dual-language programs last year.

“Principals tell us, we know that the content is important, what they need to teach, but send us teachers [who] speak Spanish well,” said Lilia Sarmiento, a professor of education at California State University Dominguez Hills.

L.A. Unified is leading the pack of school districts in the state opening new bilingual education programs. It’s opening 16 new programs this coming academic year, bringing the total to 101 bilingual programs.

The second language of the vast majority of bilingual programs in California public schools is Spanish. A smaller number are in Chinese, French, and other languages.

Sarmiento helped start the two-week summer training for bilingual teachers where Cazares enrolled. During the second-to-last class session, CSU Dominguez Hills professor Heather Kertyzia talked to them about how to defuse tension with students through the use of non-violent language in the classroom.

“He can’t be independent at home because there are – what’s the word I’m looking for – physical punishments,” she said in Spanish, talking about why students act up in class. Kertyzia is not a fluent Spanish speaker; she learned the language in college and while living in Colombia. Despite incorrect grammar here and there, the message about the lesson remains clear.

Cazares noticed that and says it’s helped calm her nerves about starting her new teaching post.

“Through this class I’ve noticed that it’s empowering to engage the students in the, ‘well how do we say this word,’ or ‘it’s OK not to know how to say every word,’” she said.

Her notebook is full of terms and concepts in Spanish she’ll be using on day one.

“Charlas, is like chats, or talking. So charlas literarias: literature talks; cigla: acronym; citas: quotes,” she said.

It’s exactly those kinds of vocabulary gaps this class is aiming to close. Besides their teaching credential, bilingual education teachers must have additional training. Some educators say the preparation currently required by the state isn’t enough.

“One of our goals is to empower teachers, to create a space where they can use their heritage language to express themselves and to grow, not only professionally but personally,” Sarmiento said.

Educators say these kinds of teachers will be snapped up by school districts.

“We have a current shortage and the shortage is almost going to double with the new programs that the districts are predicting and expanding of the current programs that they have,” said Shelly Spiegel-Coleman, a long time bilingual education advocate and executive director of Californians Together.

The success of new programs will depend on how well trained teachers are. Spiegel-Coleman successfully lobbied Governor Jerry Brown to create grants to train bilingual ed teachers.

There are hundreds of teachers with bilingual education training who’ve been in English classrooms for years so their skills are rusty, Spiegel-Coleman says.

“This is the source that we think is most easily tapped to staff the programs, but we really need the universities, and we need the recruitment, we really need to think about building the pipeline,” she said. And that pipeline, she said, should include the product of current bilingual programs: the thousands of California high school seniors who are graduating with seals of biliteracy on their diplomas.