In 2016, California voters approved state Proposition 58, repealing an almost 20-year ban on bilingual education for English Learners (ELs), who represent nearly 20% of the state's public school students. The state's reversal on bilingual education reflects a national trend of promoting bilingualism and expanding bilingual (also referred to as…

Multilingual students arrive in classrooms with rich language knowledge and funds of knowledge. Educators must recognize that emergent bilinguals speak multiple languages. They have one unitary language system; their language is bilingualism. Whether in a monolingual classroom setting or a multilingual setting, when working with emergent…

Across the United States, many districts find themselves short on bilingual teachers. More than half of the states face a shortage of such teachers, with shortages most acute in states that provide bilingual education to the greatest numbers of English learners. Bilingual and dual-language education have proven to have a positive effect on the…

This brief is the first of a four-part series that focuses on bilingual education, bilingual educators, and addressing the bilingual teacher shortage in contexts across the United States. This research was commissioned by the New Jersey State Department of Education, which is committed to providing quality bilingual education to its linguistically…

This brief is the second of a four-part series that focuses on bilingual education, bilingual educators, and addressing the bilingual teacher shortage in contexts across the United States. This research was commissioned by the New Jersey State Department of Education, which is committed to providing quality bilingual education to its…

This brief is the third of a four-part series that focuses on bilingual education, bilingual educators, and addressing the bilingual teacher shortage in contexts across the United States. This research was commissioned by the New Jersey State Department of Education, which is committed to providing quality bilingual education to its linguistically…

This brief is the fourth of a four-part series that focuses on bilingual education, bilingual educators, and addressing the bilingual teacher shortage in contexts across the United States. This research was commissioned by the New Jersey State Department of Education, which is committed to providing quality bilingual education to its…

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…

Given that over 5 million K-12 students in the U.S. public school system are classified as English learners (NCES, 2017), many policymakers and school leaders recognize that public schools need ethnically and linguistically diverse educators. But about 80% of teaching staff are white (Williams, Garcia, Connally, Cook, & Dancy, 2016), and only…

In 2016, California voters overturned a 1998 law that curtailed bilingual instruction throughout the state. After nearly 20 years of "English only" programs, what will it take to restore the schools' capacity to provide a broader range of services to English Learners, including dual language immersion and other forms of bilingual…

Language usage in US K-12 classrooms and beyond continues to be an issue of equity (Navarro Martell, 2021; Palmer et al., 2019). Teachers expect racialized students who appear to be Latinx to know and perform as if their native language is Spanish, mientras a otros se les celebra sus intentos de usar el espan~ol; otro idioma colonizador. Some…

Research shows that English learners are too often denied access to complex tasks that address grade-level standards. Teachers have expressed that they believe lack of English proficiency makes complex work impossible or that they fear frustrating students into withdrawal. This article presents how teachers can incorporate students' native…

The instructional programs educators design to help English Learner (EL) students work toward English proficiency look different in schools across the United States. This is due in part to the variety of approaches K-12 educators take to important questions such as: Should the program foster bilingualism or focus solely on English? Should ELs…

This report summarizes Austin Independent School District elementary principals' comments from a December 2017 discussion about the process for choosing bilingual and English as a second language programs for their schools in the 2018-2019 school year.

Culture, class, and language are significant social markers that impact classrooms today with challenges in educating teachers to become culturally responsive and competent. This article presents a theoretical approach on the preparation of bilingual teacher candidates and how the literature can inform teacher education programs on developing…