CONTACT

Californians Together

Championing the Success of English Learners

Uncategorized

Long-Term English Learners to Get Renewed Attention in LCAPs

by

Supporting all English learners (ELs) to achieve their highest potential has been a work in progress for California’s public school system. There is much to celebrate over the past decade. We have seen more and more high school graduates attain the State Seal of Biliteracy (57,561 recipients in 2021-22) with half of these recipients being current or former ELs.  Our public schools also reclassify nearly two in three (65 percent in 2022-23) of ever-ELs (EL and RFEP students combined) by ninth grade. 

 

The Need to Focus on Long-Term English Learners

Despite this progress, more work needs to be done to ensure success for all ELs. There are still many ELs who have remained in that status for six or more years with the system not being able to help them make progress towards English language proficiency. These students are long-term English learners (LTELs) and still make up nearly half of all ELs in the secondary grades (grades 6-12). This is why the continued focus on LTELs is so critical. 

 

Progress from 2010 to 2020

Since the publication of Reparable Harm ringed the alarm bells in 2010, much progress has been made in California. From creating a state definition for LTELs in 2012 (AB 2193), to mandating reporting of their enrollment in LEAs in 2016 (SB 750), and more recently passing legislation in 2022 (AB 1868) to ensure that  data on LTEL achievement and disability status is publicly reported, there has been consistent progress. This progress was highlighted in our 2021 publication, Renewing Our Promise, which further shined a light on the steady but slow progress that California had made in lowering the number and proportion of LTELs from 2014 to 2020. 

 

Renewed Urgency Since the Pandemic

However, that progress has taken a hit since the pandemic. For example, in 2023-23, California enrolled 226,535 LTELs, making up 49 percent of secondary ELs. These numbers signify a significant increase in the number and proportion of LTELs since the 2019-20 school year when 204,042 LTELs were enrolled in California public schools, making up 46 percent of secondary ELs. This is a significant increase of over 22,000 LTELs. 

 

The Opportunity: Changes Coming to the LCAP 

With this urgency, there are significant changes that will be coming to the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) templates that can support LEAs in revisiting investments, strategies, and goals for meeting the needs of LTELs. These include changes mandated in the 2023 Budget Trailer Bill (SB 114) making LTELs a numerically significant student group to which LEAs must develop and describe specific actions to meet their needs. With the State Board of Education poised to adopt these and other updates to the LCAP at their November 2023 meeting, we hope that LEAs learn from best practices and continue to set goals for meeting the needs of LTELs. 

 

Call to Action

There are examples of promising practices in Renewing Our Promise including a call to action to meet the goal that by the year 2030 California will reduce by half the percentage of ELs in grades 6-12 who are LTELs. This means ensuring that by 2030 less than one in four ELs in secondary gradea are LTELs. We look forward to seeing how LEAs write strategies to meet the needs of LTELs in their LCAPs and learning about the further expansion and implementation of promising practices so that we continue to build a system where no EL is left behind. Californians Together will continue to monitor these updates at the upcoming November SBE meeting and look forward to sharing additional information and guidance after the final template is adopted. 

 

Resources: 

Citations:

  1.  California Department of Education. 2021-22 Participating Current and Former English Learners. Downloaded August 30, 2023 from https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/sealofbiliteracy.asp
  2.  California Department of Education, DataQuest. 2022-23 “At-Risk” and Long-Term English Learners (LTEL) by Grade. Downloaded August 30, 2023 from https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/longtermel/EverElType.aspx?cds=00&agglevel=State&year=2022-23  

Happy Holidays from Californians Together! ⛄

by

Christmas This year has been filled with excitement and a deep commitment to supporting the needs of all English learners. We feel so grateful and inspired for your support and all of what we’ve accomplished and have had amazing opportunities in continuing our mission of championing the success of all English learners throughout California in 2022. Here are some of our accomplishments:

  • We partnered with 20 County Offices of Education across the state and served over 76% of California’s English learners. In total, EL RISE! served 547 Districts and organizations with 10,211 attendees from September 2021 through June 2022 and a total of 216 sessions were offered to administrators, teachers, counselors, school board members, parents, and community members through EL RISE!.
  •  
  • We published five volumes of the English Learner Roadmap Implementation Guide and Toolkit for Administrators, authored by Dr. Laurie Olsen, which is designed to support administrators as they take up the challenge of leading and supporting the implementation of the EL Roadmap.
  • We released an English Learners in the Central Valley policy brief and held three listening sessions in the Central Valley to launch the development of a policy agenda to centralize the research, policy, and practice resources, and influence and shape the public narrative to reflect the diversity and assets of English learners in K-12 through higher education, and diversify the representation of English learner advocates across the Central Valley and statewide.
  • We continued to build our advocacy network by convening our third English Learner Advocacy Institute as part of our ever-growing English Learner Leadership and Legacy Initiative (ELLLI) network. Sixty teachers, parents, professors, county office and district staff, and allied organization representatives spent 4 days learning the history and lessons from the English learner movement, about current issues, and how to be an effective advocate.
  • With the Center for Equity for English Learners at Loyola Marymount University, we published a fourth review of the Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs), Search for Equity for English Learners: A Review of 2021-24 Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs), documenting the lack of goals, actions and services to address the needs of English learners.

These accomplishments would not be possible without you and the support and collaboration of our coalition members and donors. On behalf of Californians Together we want to express our sincere appreciation for helping us focus our common efforts in seeking to overcome and transform the harms of systemic racial, language, and cultural inequity in education and closing opportunity gaps from early childhood through post-secondary education. As you celebrate these special times with the people you love, we wish to thank you for all of your continued support this past year and in years past. We look forward to building momentum from this year’s efforts in supporting all English learners in 2023!

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

by

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

by

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.

_DSF9338
_DSF8401
_DSF8949

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)

by

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

by

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.