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Californians Together

Championing the Success of English Learners

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Central Valley Multilingual Consortium Policy Brief

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The Central Valley Multilingual Consortium is composed of English learner advocates from school-based and community organizations across the counties of San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, and Kern. We are researchers, educators, teachers, administrators, school board members and local leaders. The purpose of the consortium is to support advocates in building individual and community advocacy to be responsive to the needs of Central Valley English learner students. This collective was developed by an advisory group and the Californians Together policy team and facilitated by the organization's Central Valley Policy Associate to uplift what we know about good policies, programs, and practices for ELs. The CV Consortium was modeled after The Consortium for English Learner Success.

To date, the CV Consortium has engaged nearly 100 civil rights, policy, research, educator and community-based organizations all working to strengthen the prosperity of California’s Central Valley by advocating for an educational system that fully supports the needs and embraces the assets of EL students. 

The objectives of the consortium are to create alignment between policy, practice, and research in the Central Valley and statewide, centralize the research, policy and practice resources, influence and shape the public narrative to reflect the diversity and assets of English learners in K-12 and through higher education, and to diversify the representation of English learner advocates across the Central Valley. 

Click the link to read our English learner policy brief titled: English Learners in the Central Valley.

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Read Our New LCAP 2022 Report – In Search of Equity for English Learners: A Review of the 2021-2024 Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs)

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A new LCAP report was released on September 22nd in collaboration with authors Magaly, Ph.D., Elvira G. Armas, Ed.D. and Sylvia Jáuregui Hodge, Ed.D., entitled In Search of Equity For English Learners: A Review of the 2021-2024 Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs).  This is the fourth in a series of analysis of LCAPs focused explicitly on English Learners since the inception of the LCFF in 2013. As expressed by Martha Hernandez, Executive Director of Californians Together, “With each new review, rating and analysis, we hoped to see an improved, comprehensive focus on meeting the state policy mandates for English learners.  As implied by the title of this report, the quest for equity for English learners is still elusive.”

The review and analysis sought to answer the following question:  To what degree did districts with high percentages and high numbers of EL address the needs of the diverse English learners in their LCAPs?   

The briefing presents findings and recommendations from the report for the state, county offices of education and local school districts with a call to action to modify the current accountability system to be responsive and transparent to meet the academic and language needs of English learners. 

“These findings reveal that nine years into Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), seven years of LCAP implementation, and two years after the exacerbation of systemic inequities by the devastating effects of the pandemic, the search for equity continues to mirror the search for “a needle in a haystack” stated Dr. Magaly Lavadenz, one of the authors of the report.

To read the full press release visit the link here.

To purchase our new LCAP 2022 report visit the link here. or to view and download the report visit the link here.

If you would like to spread the word about our new LCAP 2022 report visit our link here.

[New Publication] Effective Literacy Education for English Learner/Emergent Bilingual Students in California by the California Committee for Effective Literacy

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California has set forth a vision of multilingualism as a goal for our students, and has put into place comprehensive research-based frameworks and policies for the education of our culturally and linguistically diverse state. Today, as new literacy initiatives are taking shape, it is essential that they be aligned with and build upon the frame of California’s strong English learner policies that reflect the research on effective practices for English learner/Emergent Bilingual* students and that honor the vision California has set for our students.

In this brief by the California Committee for Effective Literacy titled “Effective Literacy Education for English Learner/Emergent Bilingual Students in California” details four decades of research with a distinct focus on second language literacy development and instruction listing components of effective literacy education for English learners derived from this research base, and specifices their alignment along the four state policy and guidance documents

The characteristics and components of effective literacy instruction for English Learners referred to in this brief are discussed in more depth in a companion white paper published by the National Committee on Effective Literacy: Escamilla, K., Olsen, L., & Slavik, J. (2022) “Toward Comprehensive Effective Literacy Policy and Instruction for English Learner/Emergent Students“. www.MultiLingualLiteracy.org

INDEPENDENT STUDY RIGHTS FOR STUDENTS IN CALIFORNIA

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During the 2021-22 school year, parents and guardians can choose to have their children return to school for in-person instruction or enroll in distance learning through “independent study.”

California schools will no longer have to offer a “distance learning” option to students as they did during the 2020-21 school year. Most county offices of education and school districts instead must offer independent study to certain students who need to engage in remote learning, including students whose health would be at risk by returning to school in-person. For decades, independent study was an optional program that California school districts, county offices of education and charter schools could provide to students. However, to accommodate families’ desire for distance learning, the state recently changed the law to expand who can enroll in independent study and improved certain aspects of it for the upcoming school year and into the future.

To help parents, guardians, and children figure out what learning option is best for them, we are publishing a guide that explains their rights to distance learning through independent study for the 2021-22 school year. The guide also includes other information families should know at the beginning of the school year, including certain student privacy rights and information for English learners, students with disabilities, and foster youth.

The know-your-rights guides, as well as short printable versions and a standalone version of the "10 Key Questions" checklist, are available in English and Spanish here: https://youthlaw.org/case/independent-study-rights/ and https://www.myschoolmyrights.com/distance-learning/.

Sincerely,

National Center for Youth Law
ACLU in California
Children Now
Alliance for Children’s Rights
California PTA
Californians Together
Loyola Law School Youth Justice Education Clinic
Parent Institute for Quality Education
Parent Organization Network
Public Advocates Inc.
Read More

New Report from Californians Together Highlights the Need for School Districts to Prioritize English Learners in their Upcoming 2021-2024 Local Control and Accountability Plans

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The report offers a comprehensive review of 41 school district Learning Continuity and Attendance Plans (LCPs) adopted last fall as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights the need for them to prioritize English learners (ELs)—some of California’s most historically marginalized students and among the most impacted by the pandemic.

 

( VIEW / DOWNLOAD THE REPORT )

Long Beach, CA — Californians Together announces the publication of Teaching and Learning During Uncertain Times: A Review of Learning Continuity and Attendance Plans, a new report which draws upon a comprehensive review of Learning Continuity and Attendance Plans (LCPs) from 41 school districts.  The report aims to inform school district decision-making as they develop their upcoming 2021–24 Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs), and highlights the need for them to prioritize English learners (ELs)—some of California’s most historically marginalized students and among the most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“In reviewing these plans we were able to identify areas for improvement while also finding promising practices that we hope school districts will use as examples of what can be done. Districts have made progress toward digital inclusion and accessibility, but there are still many inequalities to address—these inequities will only worsen without meaningful commitments from educators and district leadership,” says Martha Hernández, Executive Director of Californians Together. 

In late June 2020, California replaced the 2020-21 Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) with the Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan (LCP) as a response to the pandemic. The purpose was to provide information about how districts planned to invest state resources to address student learning and school safety during the COVID-19 crisis in the 2020–21 school year. The plans, which were drafted with stakeholder input and locally approved by school boards, provide a unique view of how well district approaches to distance learning this year centered equity for ELs and other students. However, while conducting the study, Californians Together did not review the implementation of the activities in the plans. 

The districts included in the study were chosen to represent a wide range of communities and settings across the state. For instance, the selected districts spanned 21 counties and enrolled 27 percent of all California K–12 students, as well as 34 percent of the state’s ELs. Californians Together reviewers rated districts’ LCPs across seven focus areas.  Each of these focus areas was broken up into three to five elements: 

 

  1. Family Collaboration
  2. Continuity of Learning for Equitable Access 
  3. Assessment and Progress Monitoring for Student Achievement
  4. Educator Professional Development (PD)
  5. English Language Development (ELD) 
  6. Responsiveness to EL Profiles
  7. Social-Emotional and Mental Health Support

 

In addition, the report contains recommendations for state policy and local implementation while highlighting what could be addressed in upcoming three-year LCAPs.

 

To read the full report visit: http://caltog.co/lcp

 

 

About Californians Together

Californians Together is a statewide advocacy coalition of powerful organizations from all segments of the education community including teachers, administrators, board members, parents and civil rights non-profit groups. Our member organizations come together around the goal of better educating 1.1 million English learners by improving California’s schools and promoting equitable educational policy.

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Media Contact: Ashley Aguirre ashley@californianstogether.org

New book from Californians Together Examines 70 years of English Learner History in California

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NEW BOOK FROM CALIFORNIANS TOGETHER EXAMINES THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH LEARNERS IN CALIFORNIA AND OFFERS IMPORTANT LESSONS FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS IN EDUCATION EQUITY

Now available exclusively from Californians Together in our online store.

Long Beach, CA — Californians Together announces the publication of A Legacy of Courage and Activism: Stories from the movement for educational access and equity for English Learners in California written by Dr. Laurie Olsen. Through interviews with leaders at the forefront of the movement, Olsen tells the story of what happened in the 20 years after the passage of Proposition 227 which nearly decimated bilingual education in California and how advocates overcame anti-immigrant backlash to move the state in a direction that embraces language and cultural diversity. A Legacy of Courage spans 70 years of English Learner history that gives context to that evolving landscape. Born from case studies for the English Learner Leadership & Legacy Initiative (ELLLI), the book offers up lessons for the next generation of leaders as they take up the mantle in addressing ongoing issues of education equity like access to quality bilingual programs and English language development, bilingual teacher shortages, dual language learners in early childhood education, and accountability for English learner achievement.

“The story of getting from there to here is a dramatic and important one,” says Olsen. “It’s a story of demographic change, of racist backlash and courageous movements that pushed towards inclusion and justice. That history illuminates the strategies that can be used to advance change in policies and practices to achieve a more equitable education system.”
With the passage of the ballot initiative Proposition 58 in 2016, and the subsequent adoption of the California English Learner Roadmap in 2017 as new state English Learner policy, California chartered a new course of renewed commitment to multilingualism.

“While we have a moment of opportunity with new more inclusive policies, we still don’t have the capacity, or in some cases still not the attitudes and beliefs, to deliver the schooling needed for this population of students,” adds Olsen.

Californians Together, a statewide coalition advocating for equitable education policy for the state’s 1.1 million English Learners and publisher of the book, hopes that this history will empower those currently enrolled or entering higher education to become agents of change whether they are actively working toward a career as bilingual educators, policy makers or activists.

Martha Hernández, Executive Director of Californians Together adds “There is a new generation of young people who are now working in the legislature, in school leadership, as educators, and as advocates who are themselves from communities of color, communities of immigrants, and communities who speak diverse languages that bridge across multiple cultures. We hope that this book will support them, and inspire them to tackle the challenges with the same resolve as the generation that came before.”

For Olsen, the book is also personal. As an advocate herself who has spent the last six decades researching, writing, and providing leadership development alongside those in the movement, she has witnessed firsthand their determination, insistence and hope in the face of virulent racist backlash against bilingual education and against welcoming children’s languages and cultures into California’s schools.

“This book is kind of a love note—an acknowledgement, a recognition of the incredible human beings who have done the work to stop the injuries and damage of a schooling system that has not yet embraced all of our children as equally valuable and who have done the work to create new models of what schools can and should be. So entering into the current chapters in that history, I hope readers will feel fortified, inspired, informed and strengthened in becoming actors in the struggle on the side of educational justice.”

Olsen was joined by other leaders in the movement who helped co-author chapters in their areas of expertise including: Maxine Sagapolutele, High School English and ELD Teacher, Grossmont Union High School District ; Vickie Ramos Harris, Director of Educational Equity, Advancement Project California; and JunHee Doh, Senior Policy and Research Analyst in Educational Equity at Advancement Project California.

In the course of 241 pages, the book presents five key sections:

Section 1: Movement Building

  • The Story of ELLLI: Supporting a new generation of leadership
  • The San Diego Story: Building a movement for Latino/Chicano educational equity and access

Section 2: Historical Review of Key Issues

  • Where Are The Teachers? A half century effort to address the teacher shortage for English Learners
  • For the Youngest Learners: Dual Language Learners in early childhood education

Section 3: Advocacy Campaigns

  • State Seal of Biliteracy: A ten-year advocacy campaign to reframe bilingualism from problem to asset
  • Reparable Harm: The advocacy campaign for responsiveness to the needs of long term English Learners

Section 4: The Many Role of Advocates

  • Lobbying for English Learners and Bilingual Education: The essential role of the lobbyist
  • The California County Offices of Education: Working within the system and the power of networks to move and English Learner agenda forward
  • A Nonprofit Organization Supports the Movement: California Tomorrow’s immigrant students high school and demonstration project
  • Advocacy Within the Department of Education: moving the field to meet English Learners’ needs through publication and dissemination

Section 5: Appendices

  • The Sweep of History—A California Timeline
  • Additional resources

Praise for A Legacy of Courage and Activism:

What does it mean to be an advocate for educational justice? This book provides concrete, clear, concise and powerful examples of advocating from both within the educational system and from the outside. It’s an important read for anyone interested in California’s education system. I am excited to use it with my teacher preparation students, because I have witnessed how it opens their eyes and hearts to the deep importance of advocacy for bilingual students, and to the history that has gotten us to this point.
— Allison Briceño, Associate Professor Teacher Education at San Jose State University

As a longtime educator, the case studies in this book have proven a critical contribution to my understanding of the history surrounding multilingual learners in the U.S. pushing me to wonder, ‘How did I not hear about these events before?’ The historical context and stories of advocacy are at the same time informative and motivating, with a nod to those advocates upon whose shoulders we stand.
— Alesha Moreno-Ramirez, Staff Development and Curriculum Specialist at Tulare County Office of Education

The historical struggle for multilingual and educational justice for ethnically and linguistically diverse students is documented in each of the chapters of this book on a clear and personal level. Of importance are the challenges it documents of what has transpired over the past 60 years, and the vision it gives of what awaits each of us as we continue the journey to construct democratic schools and the corresponding pedagogical practices.
— Alberto M. Ochoa, Professor Emeritus San Diego State University

A Legacy of Courage and Activism: Stories from the movement for educational access and equity for English Learners in California is available now for purchase in the Californians Together online store.

 

About Laurie Olsen
Laurie Olsen, Ph.D., was a founding Board member and currently serves as President of the board of Californians Together. She was part of the original English Learner Legacy and Leadership Initiative (ELLLI) Steering Committee, playing a large role in shaping the leadership development curriculum. Currently serving as Strategic Advisor (and formerly founding Director) to SEAL.org (Sobrato Early Academic Language), she has seen the growth and replication of SEAL’s PreK-5 model of English Learner centric joyful and rigorous education into 89 schools across 16 school districts in California. Olsen has spent the last six decades researching, writing, advocating, and providing leadership development and technical assistance on educational equity with an emphasis on immigrant and English Learner education, language access and rights. Working with hundreds of school districts, school leadership teams and county offices of education across the nation, Dr. Olsen has designed, demonstrated, evaluated and implemented powerful PreK-12th grade English Learner programs and services, which support effective school change strategies. Her acclaimed Secondary School Leadership for English Learner Success series has reached hundreds of educators throughout California. She has published dozens of books, videos and articles on English Learner education, including the award winning Made in America: Immigrants in U.S. Schools and Reparable Harm: Fulfilling the Unkept Promise of Educational Opportunity for California’s Long Term English Learners. Olsen served as Co-Chair of the California English Learner Roadmap Work Group that created the new English Learner policy for the state, and has served on California Public Schools Accountability Advisory Committee and on then State Superintendent of Instruction Tom Torlakson’s Accountability Task Force. For 23 years, Dr. Olsen directed California Tomorrow’s work in K-12 education, and served as Executive Director of the organization for ten years. She holds a Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Studies in Education from U.C. Berkeley.

About Californians Together
Californians Together is a statewide advocacy coalition of powerful organizations from all segments of the education community including teachers, administrators, board members, parents and civil rights non-profit groups. Our member organizations come together around the goal of better educating 1.1 million English Learners by improving California’s schools and promoting equitable educational policy.

About English Learner Leadership & Legacy Initiative (ELLLI)
Californians Together, in collaboration with the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE), launched the English Learner Leadership & Legacy Initiative (ELLLI) in 2016 to support the development of a new generation of English Learner education leaders and advocates. English Learner (EL) advocates engaged in ELLLI are equipped to advance proactive projects (such as the current biliteracy campaign) as well as to respond effectively to anticipated policy 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 draws on the perspectives of many senior EL leaders and current advocates for ELs and uses a blend of in-person convenings and online platforms for large group training institutes, issue-based and regional network group meetings, one-on-one coaching, mentoring and project-based experiences. The English Learner Leadership and Legacy curriculum provides an advocacy framework, historical context, lessons from the past, immersion in research, mentorship, and skill development to inspire and prepare advocates to work at multiple levels (state, district, community) to establish strategic action agendas, move policy and practice, develop and leverage research, work with media, and build and mobilize coalitions championing the right to quality education for English learners.

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Media Contact: Ashley Aguirre ashley@californianstogether.org