August 22, 2024
An arc of interwoven experiences over many years affects when and how a child learns a second language. By adopting longitudinal levers shown by research to impact English Learner trajectories over time, the field can expand on what works and prevent early roadblocks.
Recent Research
In Oregon, studies performed over the past few years show that certain school and district policy levers available to English Learners in the elementary years may support their later chances of enrolling in secondary core content courses—including math, language arts, science, and social studies—that they will need to graduate and be prepared for college and life.
According to Dr. Ilana Umansky and Dr. Karen Thompson with the National R&D Center to Improve Education for Secondary English Learners (the Center), those levers include
- Dual Language/Bilingual Instruction,
- Counselor Availability,
- Teacher Preparation, and
- Extra Instructional Time.
Over the next year, the Center will release additional findings based on further data analysis in Oregon and additional states.
Dual Language/Bilingual Instruction
Practitioners and communities that want to offer students quality dual language programs should consider one of the most popular multilingual offerings in American schools: the Dual Language Immersion (DLI) model. This model, also known as two-way immersion, conjoins English speakers and non-English speakers in the experience of learning two languages.
Thanks to an effort being led by the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) at the U.S. Department of Education in partnership with Regional Comprehensive Centers 2, 6, 14, and 15, new tools will become available later this year for states and districts looking to customize and scale up research-based DLI programs.
A forthcoming playbook will explain the key components that researchers say are typically present in fully built out DLI programs, regardless of where they are located in the country. The resource will also report on factors that communities and educators have flagged as likely contributing to their local DLI program success.
Local input is informing these resources. This input was garnered from DLI “Bright Spot” leaders, educators, and parents via numerous OELA school site visits and focus groups facilitated by the Regional Comprehensive Centers across California, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Utah.
A Window Into One Local Bright Spot Discussion
At one OELA DLI roundtable discussion, scores of educators, administrators, and parents gathered in a conference room at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. Projected on the screen in front of the room were the phrases “RAISE THE BAR: Lead the World” and “Provide Every Student With a Pathway to Multilingualism.”
Montserrat Garibay, director of OELA, explains: “We are trying to learn more about state and local policies, processes, programs, and practices that are contributing to high quality Dual Language Immersion Programs. Everywhere we go, we see strong efforts to raise the bar for all children to become multilingual—efforts that deserve to be spotlit.”
Eager to offer perspectives on what had made their particular DLI programs work, hands went up.
“Make sure teachers are prepared to accurately teach Spanish and pronunciate,” one parent said.
Robust discussion followed. Some participants noted specific policies and funding sources or advocacy wins. Others shared stories of successes or challenges (e.g., in teacher recruitment, preparation, curricula).
Regional Comprehensive Center staff rapidly clicked their keyboards to record the ideas pouring forth. Four themes quickly emerged:
- Reflect community values and needs in program design. For example, participants reported that parent feedback has been key in driving effective DLI program design, including calls for field trips, availability of resources in both languages, celebrations of culture, and curriculum review days so that the community has transparency into resources, textbooks, and handouts.
- Build more parent-facing resources on state websites to show the advantages of being bilingual. Alesha Moreno-Ramirez, director, Multilingual Support Division, California Department of Education, advocated showing data to parents to help overcome reluctance based on presumptions (e.g., “My child might not learn enough Spanish or English.”).
- Establish networks of support for dual language educators. The state’s Educator Workforce Investment Grants are creating valuable communities of practice in which dual language educators learn from one another. Discussants reported that networks like the Californians Together EL RISE! initiative were invaluable. “The more we connect with this network the more we are going to keep our teachers because they have purpose, and have roles in decision making,” one participant said.
- Partner across districts and with institutions of higher education to advocate for more language teachers who are qualified. One district leader noted that robust professional learning communities in Spanish, Korean, and now Mandarin and a partnership with the local university, California State University, Fullerton, have made it possible to hire 20 teachers a year over the past 5 years across 23 school sites. Partnerships have even extended to a Korean foundational language group and the Korean consulate, discussants noted.
To these and other suggestions, roundtable facilitator Melissa Castillo, senior advisor for the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, responded: “We are here to listen and learn.”
Focus group feedback will be analyzed by the Comprehensive Centers and reported to OELA this summer, alongside a Comprehensive Center scan of available literature showing what is known about DLI programs, research, and the processes states are using to implement them.
Related Resources for State Educational Agencies
- To receive the forthcoming OELA playbook and other OELA news, subscribe to the NCELA Nexus newsletter.
- To follow National R&D Center to Improve Education for Secondary English Learners findings and resources, subscribe to Where the Evidence Leads.
- For longitudinal levers research tied to postsecondary pathways, read Translating Opportunity: Improving Postsecondary Pathways for Multilingual Learners of English, a study produced by WestEd and Student-Ready Strategies.