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Championing the Success of English Learners

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WestEd Launches Report Summarizing Recommendations Corresponding to Multilingual Learners with Suspected Disabilities in California

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It can be challenging to distinguish between young multilingual learners language learning needs and the presence of a potential disability. As a result, multilingual learners are often inaccurately referred for special education services orthey miss out on the services they do require. Either scenario has lasting consequences for these children and their academic trajectories.

WestEd has recently released a report entitled “Resourcing Supports for Young Multilingual Learners with Suspected Disabilities in California: Learning Collaborative Recommendations” written by Elizabeth Burr and Jamey Burho and launched a cross-sector Learning Collaborative to promote robust instruction and accurate disability identification for young (prek through grade 2) multilingual learners. The Learning Collaborative reviewed current research and practice and developed high-leverage, actionable resourcing recommendations. This report summarizes those recommendations and outlines corresponding funding streams in three areas:

  • Learning opportunities in preK
  • High-quality Tier 1 Core Instruction in elementary settings
  • Pre-referral supports, assessment, and special education referral

Click the link here to download the report and learn more

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.

Impact of 2022-23 California State Budget Opportunities for Supporting English Learners

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On June 30, Governor Newsom signed a $308 billion State Budget for 2022-23. The approved spending plan presents yet another historic investment in public education, totaling $128.6 billion for K-12 education. This includes a 13 percent increase to the base funding for the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) over the 2021-22 levels.

As a coalition focused on improving educational outcomes for English learners, and immigrant and refugee students, we celebrate these historic investments at the same time that we continue to advocate for ensuring that new programs prioritize the needs of our highest need students and those who have been the most impacted by the pandemic, including English learners. The following reflects the approved budget and the budget trailer bill (AB 180) that is currently being negotiated.

Summary of Legislative Priorities
We appreciate the recognition by the Governor and Legislature that we face a teacher shortage and must continue to invest in the training, recruitment, and retention of teachers. In particular, we will continue to shed light on the need for bilingual teachers. With this goal in mind, we reflect on our legislative priorities, co-sponsored by our partners at the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE):

  • Made it in the Budget: We applaud the inclusion of a $20 million one-time Proposition 98 General Fund to continue the work of the Educator Workforce Investment Grant (EWIG) program in areas of Special Education and in the implementation of the EL Roadmap. It is our hope that these investments will fund non-profits, county offices of education, or county consortia to continue and expand the collaboration across the state of the current grantees.
  • Missed Opportunities: We are disappointed that the following items were not included:
    • $15 million to bring back the Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program (BTPDP) which was highly successful and had a “grow your own” approach to assist teachers in the bilingual education space.
    • $25 million in the California State University budget to increase student enrollment in bilingual authorization programs through the recruitment and retention of full-time faculty through their Colleges of Education. However, we are pleased to see a $5 million one-time investment for the Asian Language Bilingual Teacher Education Program Consortium to increase the number of credentialed teachers with Asian bilingual authorization.

Lastly, as AB 1868 (Rivas) moves through the Legislature, we hope that it will pass with a $1 million ongoing appropriation to disaggregate data in order to strengthen California’s guidance and resources to ensure Long Term English Learners (LTELs) students are correctly identified and provided with targeted interventions that best meet their needs.

Educator Investments that Can Help Support the Bilingual Teacher Pipeline
While not all of our legislative priorities were achieved through the Budget, we still see significant opportunities to expand the bilingual teacher pipeline through the broader educator workforce investments listed below. We will continue to advocate for these investments to prioritize bilingual teachers that can best meet the needs of English learners and students in multilingual programs.

  • Career Pathway Programs ($500 million). This one-time investment over seven years will support the development of secondary school pathway programs focused on technology, health care, education (including early education), and climate-related fields. These programs will bring together school systems, higher education institutions, employers, and other relevant community stakeholders to align needs to preparation. We encourage districts to create bilingual teacher pathways that can recruit bilingual staff and students on the path toward the State Seal of Biliteracy to obtain a teaching credential with bilingual authorization after graduation.
  • Teacher Residency Expansion ($250 million). This investment will increase the pipeline of teachers and school counselors. The Budget also enables school counselors, social workers, and psychologist candidates to be eligible for the Golden State Teacher Grant Program, which provides incentives to individuals to consider earning a credential and serving at a priority school in California for four years, within eight years after completing a preparation program. Currently, there are some but few bilingual teacher residencies and with this new funding, we hope they will expand.
  • Support for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Instruction ($85 million). This one-time Proposition 98 General Fund will create Pre-K-12 educator resources and professional learning opportunities to implement the Next Generation Science Standards, the California Math Framework, the California Computer Science Standards, and the math and science domains of the California Preschool Learning Foundations. It is our goal for these funds to support integrated ELD professional learning and the implementation of strategies to help ELs access the curriculum.
  • Waiving Teacher Examination Fees ($24 million). This one-time investment in 2022-23 and 2023-24 will allow candidates to waive certain teacher examination fees.
  • Integrated Teacher Preparation Program ($20 million). This one-time investment will support a competitive grant program that provides grants to public and private institutions to develop and implement integrated teacher preparation programs allowing teacher candidates to receive their credentials simultaneously while completing their Bachelor of Arts degree. It is hoped that bilingual authorization will be included in this integrated model.

Significant Investments that Can Be Leveraged to Improve EL Outcomes
In addition to the education and LCFF increase, there are several new and continued investments that can greatly expand educational access for English learners. It is our hope that as LEAs expand programs with these investments they prioritize the needs of students that have been the most negatively impacted by the pandemic, including ELs.

  • Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant ($7.9 billion). This grant will support LEAs in establishing learning recovery initiatives through the 2027–28 school year, with investments in instructional learning time, closing learning gaps, student support, instruction, and academic services. As these grants are allocated, we support efforts to increase accountability to ensure that they are improving services for the highest need students such as enhancing both designated and integrated ELD and biliteracy.
  • Arts, Music, and Instructional Materials Block Grant ($3.6 billion). This grant will allow LEAs to expand arts and music programs, deliver standards-aligned professional development, acquire quality instructional materials, develop diverse book collections, and cover operational costs and expenses related to the COVID-19 Pandemic. We hope that LEAs will utilize these resources to secure quality instructional materials for ELs and expand both school and classroom libraries with multilingual books and instructional materials.
  • Expanded Learning Opportunities Program ($3 billion). This investment, on top of the $1 billion allocated through the 2021 Budget Act as part of a multi-year investment plan, increases total ongoing program funding to $4 billion. This additional investment will accelerate the implementation timeline, and beginning in 2023-24, LEAs will be required to offer expanded learning opportunities to all low-income students, English language learners, and youth in foster care. Moreover, LEAs with the highest concentrations of these students will be required to offer expanded learning opportunities to all elementary students.
  • Community Schools ($1.1 billion). In addition to the $3 billion included in the 2021 Budget Act, this additional investment will assure that eligible LEAs interested in applying on behalf of its high-needs schools have access to the community schools grants. These new monies are necessary given the large demand for community school grants received by the California Department of Education earlier in 2022, with over $700 million in total application requests far exceeding the $400 million grant round.
  • Early Literacy ($250 million). This one-time funding, available over five years, will provide grants to high-needs schools to train and hire literacy coaches and reading specialists. The Budget also includes statutory language that clarifies that Expanded Learning Opportunities Program funds may be used to hire literacy tutors that would assist students as part of the program’s enrichment activities. It is our hope that these funds will support bilingual literacy coaches so that this investment continues to support the expansion of pathways to biliteracy.
  • Dual Enrollment Access ($200 million). This one-time funding, available over five years, will strengthen and expand student access and participation in dual enrollment opportunities, which allows high school students to take classes that count towards high school graduation and earning college credit. This can be an opportunity to expand access for ELs, including high school newcomers and LTELs.
  • Community Engagement Initiative ($100 million). This additional one-time funding will allow the initiative to expand its reach to hundreds of additional LEAs. The goals of this initiative are to build positive relationships between schools and their communities through authentic family engagement, which will align with work to build community schools. Strategies within this initiative should include engaging in the home languages spoken by family members.

Expansion of Early Childhood Education
We also continue to applaud the continued investments in the State Preschool Program and Transitional Kindergarten. We see tremendous opportunity for these investments to provide greater access to culturally and linguistically relevant instruction for the 60 percent of children birth to five, who come from a household where another language other than English is spoken.

  • Expansion of State Preschool Programs ($485 million). This will support programs in serving students with disabilities, dual language learners, and childhood mental health. This also includes new requirements for State Preschool providers to incrementally ramp up to serving at least 10 percent of students with disabilities by July 1, 2024, and provide additional supportive services for dual language learners. This additional funding also increases access to more families by raising eligibility from 85 percent of state median income to 100 percent of state median income.
  • Transitional Kindergarten ($614 million). This ongoing Prop 98 funding will begin in the 2022-23 school year, supporting the first year of expanded eligibility for transitional kindergarten, shifting from all children turning five years old between September 2 and December 2 to all children turning five years old between September 2 and February 2. Additionally, the Budget provides $383 million Proposition 98 General Fund to add one additional certificated or classified staff person to every transitional kindergarten class, reducing student-to-adult ratios to more closely align with the State Preschool Program. The Budget also increases the pipeline of qualified transitional kindergarten teachers by allowing the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to issue a one-year emergency specialist teaching permit in early childhood education that authorizes the permit holder to teach transitional kindergarten provided that they hold a bachelor’s degree or higher and meet other requirements. This is an opportunity to initiate multilingual programs beginning in TK.

We will continue to work with the administration and Legislature to advocate for English learners and the expansion of pathways to biliteracy within our budget priorities. It is our goal to ensure that the inclusion and success of the State’s English learners be inserted in several program initiatives and be prioritized.

For more information about the 2022-23 California Budget and the Budget Trailer Bill click here.

To download the Impact of 2022-23 California State Budget Opportunities for Supporting English Learners as a pdf click here.

Californians Together: 2021-22 Budget Update

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The 2021–2022 California State Budget provides an historic investment in our K-12 public education system. The budget invests a total of $123.9 billion overall in K-12 education, the highest level of K-12 education funding in California’s history! This budget also presents unprecedented equity-based investments that are historic not just for the amount, but for how they are being targeted to the highest need students, including English learners. As advocates for English learners, we are excited about the following investments and what they mean for our students:

  • Increased Equity Focused Investment in the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The budget provides a 5% cost-of-living (COLA) increase to the LCFF base grant. Of further note is the additional $1.1 billion to increase the LCFF concentration grant from 50% to 65% of the base grant, supporting school districts with a high proportion (55% or more) of unduplicated students who are English learners, students from low-income families, and foster youth. School districts receiving these concentration grants will need to demonstrate in their LCAP how these funds are used to increase the number of classified and certificated staff in their schools. It is our hope that districts prioritize recruitment and retention of bilingual staff.

 

  • Universal Transitional Kindergarten. The budget includes investments to transition to universal TK over five years. For 2021-22, $300 million will be provided for planning, implementation, and increasing the number of highly qualified early childhood educators. With the goal of increasing access to ALL four year-olds by 2025-26, eligibility will be expanded yearly by two months. To support these additional slots, $600 million will be provided in 2022-23, growing to $2.7 billion in 2025-26. In addition, the Budget includes $130 million for additional access to and increases in reimbursement rates for the California State Preschool Program (CSPP). This gives districts an unprecedented opportunity to expand programs and services for dual language learners—by some estimates, 60 percent of children under age six come from homes where English is not the primary language. This expansion would be supported by the passage of AB 1363 (Rivas), which would establish a definition of dual language learners and a process for their identification. Learn more about AB 1363 here: https://earlyedgecalifornia.org/ab-1363-identifying-supporting-dlls-in-cas-early-learning-system/

 

  • Community Schools Expansion. The Budget includes $3 billion for community schools to expand and support the use of this model to all schools in communities with high levels of poverty. Community schools represent a place-based approach to (1) integrate student supports, (2) expand learning time and opportunities, (3) center family and community engagement, and (4) implement collaborative leadership, practice and decision-making. District can build on the expanded learning time investments and expand on the relationships with families that have been established during the pandemic, especially with our multilingual families. This is also a great opportunity for schools and districts to strengthen and establish partnerships with immigrant-serving organizations to better serve our immigrant and refugee students and their families.

 

  • Educator Preparation, Retention, and Training. The budget provides a total of $2.9 billion to support educator workforce initiatives. To support and retain current teachers, the budget commits $1.5 billion for professional development training resources for teachers, administrators, and other in-person staff (through the Educator Effectiveness Block Grant). In addition, recruitment is prioritized through investments, including $500 million to support 25,000 teacher credential candidates who commit to teach for four years in a high need subject area and school, $350 million to support teacher residencies and grow your own credentialing programs, and $125 million to support over 5,000 classified employees in becoming credentialed teachers. We hope that these investments keep an eye on recruitment and support for bilingual staff. However, we are disappointed that our $5 million request to renew the Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program (BTPDP) was not included, and we will  continue to push for additional support for this type of crucial support for our bilingual teachers and staff.

 

  • Expanded Learning Time. The budget includes $1.8 billion as part of a multi-year plan to implement expanded-day, full year instruction and enrichment for all elementary school students, with funding expected to increase to $5 billion by 2025-26. School districts will receive this funding based on their number of low-income, English learner, and foster youth students, with guaranteed placement for these students. This is an opportunity to re-engage and accelerate learning for English learners, who have missed out on much needed English Language Development (ELD) instruction during the pandemic.

 

  • Additional Notable Investments:
    • $547.5 million for the A-G Completion Improvement Grant Program. Funds high schools to increase the number of students completing A-G coursework upon high school graduation, with a special focus on low-income students, English learners, and foster youth. This is an opportunity to focus on secondary English learners and ensure that they are provided with the necessary coursework to be successful after high school graduation.

 

    • $11.6 million for Immigrant Students in Community Colleges. This investment (an increase of $5.8 million)  will fund Dreamer Resource Liaisons and student support services for immigrant students, including undocumented students, attending community colleges.

 

    • $10 million for the Dual Language Immersion Grant Program. The California Department of Education will award at least 25 Language Immersion Grants for LEAs to initiate or expand established dual language immersion programs. The grant awards will be up to $380,000 over three years. 

 

    • $5 million for California Newcomer Education and Well-Being (CalNew). A highly successful and impactful program run by the Department of Social Services Immigrant Integration Branch that targets additional dollars to school districts serving large numbers of refugee and asylee students. In recent years, the DSS team has also expanded their work to support districts and service providers for the increasing number of unaccompanied minors coming to California. We hope to see continued investments in this important and often overlooked group of students.    

 

    • $5 million for Ethnic Studies Support. Will fund professional learning and instructional materials for LEAs on a regional basis, assisting school districts in providing all students, including English learners,  with appropriate and relevant historical information.

 

In addition, there are key language provisions in the budget that have important implications for English learner access and equity. These include:

 

  • Independent Study Requirements. Requires school districts to provide an independent study option for students and adds additional requirements to the existing programs. These new requirements include the provision of opportunities for synchronous instruction and live interaction; access to technology, connectivity, and a rigorous curriculum; re-engagement strategies for students not participating in instruction; and tracking of student learning. However, we remain concerned that these requirements are not specific enough and would allow some of the similar equity and access issues that disproportionately impacted English learners to persist.

 

  • Flexibility to Grant the State Seal of Biliteracy. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction will have flexibility to grant the State Seal of Biliteracy to students who are on track to graduate in the 2021-22 school year, but are unable to take the required assessments due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

While we celebrate these historic investments, we know  that our work is far from over. With the expanded and new investments, we will continue to advocate to ensure that they effectively serve the students that they are intended for. Meanwhile, we will continue to be involved in conversations about how to best implement new requirements and programs that can have a direct impact on the education of English learners. 

 

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ELRISE! Year One Reflection

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As part of state support for enacting the visionary 2017 CA English Learner Roadmap policy, the legislature and California Department of Education funded two Educator Workforce Incentive Grants, of which EL RISE! (English Learner Roadmap Implementation for Systemic Excellence) is one.

This post takes a look at the learnings from our first year of implementation.

ELRISE! Implementation Goals

  1. Increase educator knowledge of the CA English Learner Roadmap.
  2. Build skills and strategies for implementing evidence-based practices.
  3. Support development of a shared vision and priorities for local planning.
  4. Promote design and sustainability of research-based language acquisition programs, including dual language programs.
  5. Develop local policies and LEA systems focused on EL needs.
  6. Strengthen COE capacity to support LEAs for English learner success

Professional Development during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Like many sectors in Education, those coordinating Professional Development/Learning opportunities were faced with the challenge of having to adapt to a virtual setting. This challenge forced our design team to think of new approaches to professional development. What we found was that not only did our First Year design meet our learning goals, but it also provided an important support network among the County Offices of Education leads who are part of EL RISE! and provided those in attendance with a valuable network of peers who were ready to connect and discuss how they could overcome the challenges of the pandemic together, in particular addressing the challenges faced by English learners. As Districts start to reopen and we approach Year Two of ELRISE!, our Design Team has taken some learnings into consideration: 

Learnings

  • The virtual setting created new opportunities for better accessibility and equity. As a result, we have looked to continue and build on our  virtual professional development offerings and transition as appropriate to  a Hybrid model for Year Two. This will ensure we can continue to provide support for those with a preference for virtual attendance. 
  • There is an additional need for professional development/learning  around  Programs and Services for  Long Term English learners (LTELs) and meeting the unique needs of  Newcomers. For Year Two, we have expanded our offerings to include these crucial areas of need that were identified during our Year One sessions. 

Year One Impact & Participation

Building on existing relationships Californians Together had with several county offices really helped spur engagement. Twenty counties signed our letter promising to be part of the grant and in Year One, all of those counties participated even with the challenges of a virtual setting. In total, EL RISE! serviced 547 Districts and Organizations from September, 2020-June, 2021. Below is a summary of participation based in  the number of professional development sessions and participants: Below is a summary of participation:

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Summary of Year One Resources

What Year One participants had to say

"This training and the abundant resources have been one of the best professional learning sessions I have attended in many years! Thank you!"

"I am excited to try these new things in our classroom and school in order to continue to build those important connections with our families."

"These were some fantastic resources on how to explicitly make the incredibly crucial ideas reflected in the Roadmap principles come to life."

"I am leaving today's training feeling really inspired."

"Presenters were some of the best I've ever had! Thank you for your expertise and obvious thoughtful creation of material and preparation!"

"Thank you for all the tools and resources! I am so excited to do this work and have a community of practice to lean on."

Looking Ahead to Year Two

New Offerings

  • Creating Conditions for Dual Language Learners to Thrive in Early Education
  • Developing and Strengthening Programs and Services to meet the Needs of LTELs 
  • Elementary Coaching to Enact the English Learner Roadmap 
  • English Learner Master Plan Institute: Designing Local Policy aligned to the CA EL Roadmap
  • Integrated and Designated ELD Strand for Secondary teachers
  • Meeting the Unique Needs of Newcomers in the Classroom
  • Fall Webinar: Preparing to Lead Integrated and Designated ELD

Want to participate?

For more information about ELRISE! professional learning opportunities contact 

Dr. Margarita Gonzalez-Amador, Project Administrator

Victoria Weiss, Project Specialist

info@elroadmap.org

More About ELRISE!

There are three main agencies leading the work of EL RISE!: Californians Together , Sobrato Early Academic Language (SEAL), and Loyola Marymount University’s Center for Equity for English Learners (CEEL). Under CaliforniansTogether’s leadership, these three agencies have formed a Design Team to design research-based professional learning and to ensure coherence across the professional learning efforts for multiple roles and across the state. In addition, all three play a role in delivering professional learning opportunities and technical assistance to the field as part of this grant - drawing upon many years of designing demonstration projects, providing professional learning and technical assistance to the field of English Learner education, and creating tools and resources for implementation of research-based practices.

Visit the ELRISE! homepage here

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