Research shows that bilingual education programs, such as dual language immersion, effectively help English learners acquire the English language while also preserving their home language and cultural identity.
But most bilingual education programs, in which academic content is taught in both English and another world language, only exist at the elementary grade level, leaving millions of secondary English learners without this valuable resource.
A new report from the Migration Policy Institute, based on interviews with educators, policy experts, and teacher preparation faculty in California, Illinois, New Mexico, and New York, highlights the structural challenges schools face in offering bilingual education to older English learners, as well as potential solutions.
“Designing, implementing, and sustaining secondary bilingual programs requires a systems approach that is responsive to secondary’s distinct context,” said Lorena Mancilla, an associate director of K-12 partnerships and policy at the think tank’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, in a webinar on Aug. 25.
Secondary bilingual programs face unique challenges
Though most of the nation’s English-learner population is concentrated at the elementary level, more than 2.3 million English learners are enrolled in secondary schools across the United States, according to the new report.
Offering bilingual education programs for elementary grades, on its own, can be challenging for schools, especially when it comes to finding sufficient staffing and curricular materials.
Examples of some of the challenges present when trying to offer bilingual education programs at the secondary level include:
- A lack of clear, actionable state or district policies that establish measurable goals, define accountability structures, and provide dedicated funding streams for K-12 bilingual education programs;
- Insufficient capacity and perseverance to both champion bilingual education policies and translate policy into practice;
- Secondary bilingual programs existing outside of families’ school zones;
- Students having to choose between bilingual programs and electives or additional coursework;
- A lack of available bilingual educators to hire for secondary programs; and
- Teacher preparation programs being designed for elementary school settings, leaving secondary bilingual teachers to write or translate their own curricula.
The report highlights how changes to state and local policy, district and school practices, and teacher preparation pipelines could all help expand students’ access and participation in secondary bilingual education programs.
Offering more secondary bilingual programs requires creative partnerships
Researchers found opportunities for state education agencies, districts, and higher education institutions to all work together to address the unique challenges in creating more secondary bilingual education programs.
Examples of solutions include:
- State and district leaders reviewing master schedules, course offerings, and graduation credit requirements to integrate bilingual coursework into core subjects;
- Districts offering dual enrollment credit and exception protocols making it more flexible for students to continue with bilingual education programs in high school;
- Districts pursuing creative partnerships with consulates and research organizations to recruit and retain secondary bilingual educators;
- Teacher pipeline programs offering bilingual undergraduates mentorship and ongoing professional development from experienced educators until they can formally begin the credentialing process;
- Family engagement work promoting secondary bilingual education options as early as elementary grades;
- And districts partnering with consulates and research organizations to recruit and retain more bilingual educators.
Family engagement and school board interest and investment in secondary bilingual education programs are also key, said Shelly Spiegel-Coleman, a strategic advisor for Californians Together, a multilingual learners advocacy coalition.
At the Aug. 25 webinar, Margarita Machado-Casas, the president of the National Association for Bilingual Education, also spoke of the need to expand accessible pathways to secondary bilingual certification authorization.
“If we are serious about expanding secondary bilingual education and addressing the needs of long-term English language learners, we must be equally serious about investing in the teachers, the programs, and the ecosystems that make this possible across the United States,” Machado-Casas said.
Victoria Kim, an associate policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, notes that the long-term hope is that bilingual educator pipelines extend beyond classroom teachers to include counselors, administrators, and paraprofessionals as well.
“Effective and sustainable implementation of secondary bilingual programs remains a puzzle to be solved,” Kim said.
“Our research findings underscore the need to examine the entire secondary bilingual education systems to identify innovative solutions to the many longstanding challenges that hinder program expansion and progress.”
