There is high demand and a short supply of bilingual teachers currently in the State of California. Through qualitative interviews of novice bilingual teachers, this study aims to understand the characteristics of novice bilingual teachers and the ways in which these teachers were motivated to become bilingual educators and how they feel prepared…

Drawing on decades of lessons from a Bilingual Teacher Education Program (BTEP) in California that has persevered both restrictive and additive federal and state educational language policies, this manuscript provides an ethnographic snapshot of how this BTEP has strategically navigated through and around anti-immigrant ideologies and policies to…

The post-pandemic world has witnessed a surge in linguistic racism; anti-Asian stigma has not only altered bilingual education but also created tensions for immigrant families and teachers from Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. In this conceptual article, Vygotsky's concept of "perezhivanie" is employed to examine…

Currently, there are 1.3 million English Learners (EL) in California public schools (CDE 2018). The passage of Proposition 58, which presented multilingual education as key to students' future economic success without every using the word bilingual, lifted the previous restrictions on bilingual education programs and increased the demand for…

Fifty years after the Lau decision, dual-language programs face critical challenges, particularly a national teacher shortage, especially in bilingual programs representing less commonly taught languages like Mandarin Chinese. This study explores the workplace environments of 13 Mandarin Dual Language Bilingual Education (MDLBE) teachers in a…

Bilingual education is on its way back in California. After decisively rejecting bilingual education in 1998, state voters enthusiastically endorsed its return in 2016. Educators are eager to offer more bilingual classes--and not only to recently arrived immigrants. Increasingly, English-speaking parents are also sold on the cognitive benefits of…

At a time when Dual Language programs are growing exponentially, educators' conversations revolve around the challenges to identify, name, and confront the pressing issues in effective preparation and continued professional development for bilingual teachers. Currently, the preparation for candidates varies across university programs despite state…

The United States is facing a bilingual teacher shortage, a fact that is particularly troubling as the emergent bilingual population continues to grow nationwide. Prior research suggests that the shortage of bilingual teachers may affect the quality of instruction emergent bilinguals receive, yet little is known about the potential effects of this…

At a national level, the supply of teachers has remained stable in recent years--however, at the state and local level, school districts have been wrestling with long-standing teacher shortages in a number of specific fields, including science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects; career and technical education (CTE); bilingual…

This qualitative study explored Spanish-speaking teacher credential students' beliefs about academic language that might promote or inhibit their decision to become bilingual teachers. Data includes interviews with 11 bilingual teacher candidates who were heritage Spanish speakers. Findings show that most were only aware of English-only…

In the past year, overall teacher workforce trends in California have worsened, with especially severe consequences in special education, math, and science, and significant threats in bilingual education. California's teacher shortage has worsened as teacher demand grows and teacher supply stagnates. As a result, districts are having to hire a…

Teacher shortages have been worsening in California since 2015. After years of budget cuts and teacher layoffs, the passage of Proposition 30, officially titled Temporary Taxes to Fund Education, and the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) brought more money back into California schools after 2014. Many districts began to hire again, looking to…

California is experiencing one of its most severe teacher shortages in two decades. Budget cuts and layoffs resulting from the recession contributed to a steep decline in the number of teachers in California, falling from a high of 310,362 teachers in the 2007-08 school year to 283,836 four years later. Recent efforts, including Proposition 30 and…

This position paper gives the results of informal surveys carried out by the Bilingual-Bicultural Task Force of the California State Department of Education. Only 60 to 65% of the teachers in the state bilingual programs are judged bilingual and 50% bilingual-biliterate. Almost all of the teacher aides are judged bilingual, and a large percentage…

This theme issue focuses on instructional practices, evaluation, and the state of bilingual education. "Effective Implementation of Bilingual Programs: Reflections from the Field" (Abelardo Villarreal, Adela Solis) describes the key characteristics of successful bilingual programs: vision and goals; program leadership; linkage to central…