Raise the Bar: Pathways to Multilingualism / ELEVAR LAS EXPECTATIVAS: Crear vías para el compromiso global from the U.S. Department of Education

Friends:

Check out this U.S. Department of Education piece titled, "Raise the Bar: Pathways to Multilingualism." Multilingualism should be the norm everywhere.

Favor de leer este artículo del Departamento de Educación de EE.UU. titulado, "ELEVAR LAS EXPECTATIVAS: Crear vías para el compromiso global." El multilingüismo debería ser la norma en todas partes. 

-Angela Valenzuela / -Ángela Valenzuela

Raise the Bar: Pathways to Multilingualism

Goal: Provide every student with a pathway to multilingualism.

The Problem

The number of people in the United States who speak a language other than English at home has nearly tripled over the last three decades, our nation is continuing to grow more diverse, and our economy is becoming ever more globally connected. But only 20 percent of Americans can converse in two or more languages. Additionally, English learners are one of the fastest-growing student populations in our nation’s public elementary and secondary schools; yet, far too often, the opportunities for English learners in school are limited.

We must do all we can to improve the learning environments in which English learners are learning English and increase access to high-quality language programs so that they, along with all students, have the opportunity to become multilingual.

Our Strategies

To be sure, the over 5.1 million English learners in our nation’s classrooms must be seen as assets—young people who come to school with wonderful languages and cultures to be shared and valued—and multilingualism should be viewed as the superpower that it truly is.

The Department is committed to working with leaders at the state and local levels to invest in, promote, and support evidence-based language practices and programs. Strategic action in the areas below represent key levers to provide every student with a pathway to multilingualism.
Equitable Access for English Learners:

To expand equitable access to a high-quality education to all English learners, the Department is developing and implementing processes that enhance oversight for the civil rights protections of English learners, as well as related funding obligations for English learner services. We also are promoting evidence-based practices to address the barriers that English learners can encounter in education. And importantly, the Biden-Harris administration has expanded funding for Title III over the last few years, which is crucial to supporting millions of multilingual learners across the country. Through $890 million in Title III grants to states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, the Department will continue to help improve the education of English learners and immigrant youth.

The Department also is continuing its robust oversight of the obligations that schools have to serve English learners under Title VI. The law requires that schools, districts, and state educational agencies take affirmative steps to address language barriers so that English learners may participate meaningfully in their schools' educational programs.

Despite progress across the country, the current, unfortunate reality is that English learners continue to graduate from high school at a lower rate than their peers and face barriers to a high-quality education that other students do not have to overcome. It is important to pay close attention to graduation rates because this data can be indicative of larger issues around equitable access to core curriculum, advanced coursework, and extracurricular programs.

The table below shows the percent of English learners graduating in four years compared to the overall graduation rate across the United States for the 2020-2021 academic year.


High School Graduation Rates for English Language Learners SY 2020-2021
(download data as a spreadsheet)

Increase Access to Quality Bilingual Education for All:

Knowing additional languages along with English is a much-needed skill that will have an enormous impact on our nation’s future workforce as well as our ability to compete and engage globally.

The Department is working diligently to increase access to high-quality language programs. We are continuing to provide technical assistance and oversight to promote research-based bilingual educational opportunities and language instruction in early childhood education settings and beyond.

The Department also is highlighting states and districts that are implementing innovative approaches to serving multilingual students and we are elevating evidence-based programs, including seals of biliteracy at the state level.

The map below shows the total number of districts and the percentage in each state with dual language or two-way immersion programs that receive federal Title III funding.

Being bilingual and biliterate are proven to have significant academic, cognitive, economic, and socio-cultural benefits that are important to recognize and leverage as we prepare students to move into post-secondary education or careers.


Bilingual Education for English Language Learners, 2020 - 2021
(download data as a spreadsheet)



Prepare a Diversified Bilingual/Multilingual Educator Workforce:

To develop and grow a diverse educator workforce that can robustly serve our English learners, multilingual leaners, and multicultural students, the Department is providing technical assistance and funding opportunities through competitive grants, including through first-time funding for the August F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence program.

We also are disseminating information about and supporting evidence-based state and local programs that are building educator workforce capacity, including grow-your-own programs, teacher residencies, and apprenticeship programs. Additionally, the Department is supporting graduate fellowships and colleges and universities that are prioritizing English as a Second Language and bilingual educator preparation programs for bilingual and multilingual educators. If we are to prepare students for a global society and economy, we must continue to increase opportunities for future educators to participate in state, local, traditional, and non-traditional educator preparation programs that provide teacher candidates with the knowledge and skills to serve English learners and multilingual students.

Through the use of the bully pulpit, grant funding, and a new Native Language Resource Center, the Department will continue to elevate the need to support a diverse and multilingual educator workforce to serve our increasingly diverse students and ensure they have the skills to meet the needs of a global economy and society.
Sampling of ARP Funding Highlights:Through the American Rescue Plan (ARP), states and districts are engaged in important work to expand pathways to multilingual education and to support English learners. For example:Indiana's Teacher of English Language Learners (I-TELL) program is paying for tuition and fees for current educators to earn the additional licensure they need to become teachers of record for students who are learning English. This program is a partnership between the Indiana Department of Education and the University of Indianapolis' Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning.​
The Red Hawks Rising Teacher Training Academy is a partnership among Montclair State University, the Newark Board of Education, and the American Federation of Teachers. The program prepares students of color to become teachers who reflect the diversity of the Newark community.
Collier County Public Schools in Florida has launched specific strategies to bridge the digital divide for migrant students based on feedback from migrant students and families and community partners. Schools within the district also are home to Migrant Resource Centers where students and families can go to receive targeted supports, services, and mentoring.
California's West Contra Costa Unified School District is using surveys to keep track of English learners' overall well-being and providing their families with translated communications on available services, including school counseling.​
The Illinois State Board of Education has created a $4 million grant from federal pandemic relief funds that will help to increase the number of bilingual educators in the state.​
Grants and Resources:To capture the ways in which the Department is working to provide every student with opportunities for multilingual learning, the agency released a one-pager with links to federal resources and grants.
For the first time ever, the Department awarded funding for the Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence program. Through this program, $18 million in federal funds will be put to use to support colleges and universities in prioritizing educator preparation programs that prepare multilingual teachers of color to become fully certified to teach multilingual learners, including in dual language programs.​
The Department's National Professional Development grant program is supporting 44 colleges and universities to deliver professional learning for teachers of English learners, with a focus on school readiness and early childhood development.
The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition has disseminated more than 25,000 resources to the field, including briefs, fact sheets, toolkits, podcasts, and other information to serve multilingual learners and highlight their needs.

A really great bill (SB 2061) on Eighth-Grade Algebra by Texas state Senator Jose Menendez

This is a really great bill (SB 2061) by Texas state Senator Jose Menendez who represents San Antonio. It will ensure that many more students take Algebra I in the 8th grade by virtue notifying them early on. Not taking Algebra I in the 8th grade is very consequential as it structures out advanced mathematics later when they get to high school. It reduces their competitiveness at the college level relative to those that have had the full menu of mathematics.

This happens not because our students aren't capable or because this is their choice, but rather because neither they themselves personally nor their parents, are notified about this. 

Let's all lend our support to this bill.  Reach out to whoever represents you in the Texas State Legislature and let them know how you feel.

Thanks to Senator Menéndez for his leadership. This one bill could signal a sea change in so many students' trajectories.

-Angela Valenzuela

	87R6597 TSS-D
	By: Menéndez	S.B. No. 2061

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to information on and requirements for certain courses and
	educational programs offered in public schools, including courses
	offered through the state virtual school network.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 26.0031(c-1), Education Code, is amended
	to read as follows:
	(c-1)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school
	may decline to pay the cost for a student of more than three
	yearlong electronic courses, or the equivalent, during any school
	year.  This subsection does not:
	(1)  limit the ability of the student to enroll in
	additional electronic courses at the student's cost; or
	(2)  apply to a student enrolled in:
	(A)  a full-time online program that was operating
	on January 1, 2013; or
	(B)  a district or school that has fewer than
	1,600 students in average daily attendance for the current school
	year.
	SECTION 2.  Section 28.002, Education Code, is amended by
	adding Subsection (c-4) to read as follows:
	(c-4)  The State Board of Education shall by rule require
	each district to make available to each eighth grade student in the
	district an Algebra I course.  Notwithstanding Section 7.056(e),
	the commissioner may grant a district a temporary waiver from the
	requirements of this subsection if necessary, as determined by the
	commissioner.
	SECTION 3.  Subchapter A, Chapter 28, Education Code, is
	amended by adding Section 28.0161 to read as follows:
	Sec. 28.0161.  NOTIFICATION REGARDING COURSE PATHWAYS AND
	CAREER CHOICES. Each school year, a school district shall provide
	to each district student entering grades 6 through 10 and the
	student's parent or guardian information regarding:
	(1)  the courses offered as part of the foundation
	curriculum adopted under Section 28.002(a)(1) and available at the
	campus attended by the student and at any high school campus that
	the student is expected to attend; and
	(2)  potential career choices and the curriculum
	requirements and courses needed to pursue those careers.
	SECTION 4.  Subchapter B, Chapter 28, Education Code, is
	amended by adding Section 28.028 to read as follows:
	Sec. 28.028.  POSTING OF ADVANCED COURSEWORK INFORMATION.
	(a)  Not later than September 1 of each year, the agency shall post
	information to the agency's Internet website on the number of
	students who, during the previous school year, were enrolled in or
	accepted into:
	(1)  an educational program for gifted and talented
	students under Subchapter D, Chapter 29;
	(2)  an Algebra I course as an eighth grade student;
	(3)  an Algebra II or precalculus course or other
	advanced mathematics course;
	(4)  an advanced placement course;
	(5)  an international baccalaureate course; or
	(6)  an OnRamps dual enrollment course or other dual
	credit course.
	(b)  The information shall include the percentage of
	students who received a passing score in the course or who remained
	in the program, as applicable, and must be aggregated by campus,
	district, and grade level and disaggregated by student race, sex,
	ethnicity, grade level, and socioeconomic status.
	(c)  In posting information under this section, the agency
	must comply with all state and federal privacy laws applicable to
	student information.
	SECTION 5.  Section 30A.153(a-1), Education Code, is amended
	to read as follows:
	(a-1)  For purposes of Subsection (a), a school district or
	open-enrollment charter school is limited to the funding described
	by that subsection for a student's enrollment in not more than three
	electronic courses during any school year, unless:
	(1)  the student is enrolled in a full-time online
	program that was operating on January 1, 2013; or
	(2)  the district or school has fewer than 1,600
	students in average daily attendance for the current school year.
	SECTION 6.  Not later than January 1, 2022, the State Board
	of Education shall adopt rules necessary to implement the
	requirements of Section 28.002(c-4), Education Code, as added by
	this Act.
	SECTION 7.  This Act applies beginning with the 2021-2022
	school year.
	SECTION 8.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
	Act takes effect September 1, 2021.

Coalition for Multiple Pathways (California)

Here's a group out of California that appeared in 2008 that advances Career and Technology Opportunities.- Angela

As California seeks to improve its high schools and better prepare its students for the future, many see “multiple pathways” as a solution.

The Coalition for Multiple Pathways is a statewide alliance of education, industry, and community organizations dedicated to improving California’s high schools and preparing students for postsecondary education and career, both options and not just one or the other. Over 140 organizations have joined to date.

The Coalition brings a collective voice and coordinated effort to expanding access to multiple pathways—programs of study that connect learning in the classroom with real-world applications outside of school. Pathways integrate rigorous academic instruction with demanding technical curriculum and work-based learning—all set in the context of an industry sector.

Description of Coalition

The Coalition for Multiple Pathways is a statewide alliance of education, industry, and community organizations dedicated to improving California’s high schools and preparing students for postsecondary education and career, both options and not just one or the other.

Purpose of Coalition

The Coalition aims to bring a collective voice and coordinated effort to expanding access for California’s young people to multiple pathways—programs of study that connect learning in the classroom with real-world applications outside of school. Pathways integrate rigorous academic instruction with demanding technical curriculum and work-based learning—all set in the context of one of California’s 15 major industry sectors such as arts, media, and entertainment; building and environmental design; engineering; health science and medical technology; information technology; and law and public services, to name just a few.

Goals of Coalition

The Goals of the Coalition are to:

Build awareness and understanding of multiple pathways
Present unified support for multiple pathways to encourage state, regional, and local decision makers to expand and improve pathway programs
Optimize resources and expertise to help promote multiple pathways
Establish state and local policy priorities that support multiple pathways
Boost Coalition membership to engage more education, industry, and community partners who can strengthen multiple pathways throughout California

‘Pathways’ option for dropouts

This program as explained in this article seems to putting the onus of failure completely on the student. It doesn't consider that some youth may be "at risk" because they didn't have access to a quality teachers, counselors, and curriculum, or adequate resources. While this program seeks to help youth we need to start addressing and investing in resources as preventative measures so that we're sure to serve ALL students, rather than waiting for the intervention phase when we've already lost high percentages of youth.

-Patricia

Schools’ program offers area-students a second chance

By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER

Lifestyles & Features Editor

The reasons are many: poor attendance, academic challenges, the economy, discipline problems, family situations.

Those are a few of the scenarios that could cause a student to drop out of school. In Beaufort County, the dropout rate — 5.76 percent during the 2007-2008 school year — has decreased in recent years, although it remains higher than the state average of 4.97 percent over the same time period.

But Beaufort County is addressing the issue: It’s examining why students in public schools leave the classroom and also providing an alternative method for dropouts to obtain their high school diploma.

The Beaufort County Schools Pathways to Success program, in its first year, serves more than 60 students who for a variety of reasons never finished high school.

The program’s slogan is “Pathways to Success. Stop. Think. Choose.”

“The North Carolina Legislature has put aside special funding to address dropouts,” said Michele Oros, BCS director of Pathways. “It first set aside $7 million, and we were one of 60 recipients.”

Beaufort County received $150,000 to implement the new program for the 2008-2009 school year. In October, an additional grant was provided to ensure Pathways would continue through the 2009-2010 term, Oros said.

The money must be used to prevent students from dropping out or to fund programs, such as Pathways, that allow those who have already left school to return and finish their high school education.

Pathways targets former students younger than age 21 who are looking for a second chance, Oros said.

Many of them were struggling in the traditional high school setting and were unable to complete the courses they needed to graduate. Pathways focuses on the core curriculum, including four years of math and English courses, and offers some additional vocational and technical elective classes.

“We hope to get some more of these courses on this campus,” Oros said. “We’re trying to expand our range of offerings from what is currently available here.”

Long range plans are in place for the Pathways program, Oros added.

“I personally feel this program has the potential to change the equation by providing students with a true option,” she said. “And it will help the local workforce by having graduates who can be employed gainfully.”

Approved by the Beaufort County Board of Education, Pathways adheres to much of the same criteria in place at Washington, Northside and Southside high schools.

“The same dress code is in place and the same student code of conduct applies here,” Oros said.

Charles Robinson is among students presently enrolled in Pathways. The 19-year-old moved to Beaufort County last year, and like others realized he was falling short on credits.

“I was supposed to graduate last year,” Robinson said. “I fell in love with Pathways. It gave me a fresh start, and they teach you the things you really need to learn. The school is just amazing to me. The teachers have a lot of patience with us, and I feel like they’re not wasting my time and I’m not going to waste theirs.”

Robinson anticipates graduating in June. He’s currently job hunting and planning to attend a community college, where he hopes to study carpentry and masonry.

“I don’t want my kids to blame me for not accomplishing what they want in life,” Robinson said. “If you’re not in school, you’re going to have a hard life. If I had to stay in school for 10 years, I’d still want my high school diploma.”

Robinson hopes he will be an inspiration for younger students in the same situation.

“If I can come back from having ninth-grade credits to graduating, they know they can also do well,” he said. “If I can do it, they can do it.”

Oros said the program is already succeeding. The very first Pathways graduate is now taking classes at Beaufort County Community College.

“Our job does not end by graduating them,” Oros stressed. “We assist them if they want to pursue secondary education, and the door is always open here — no penalties, no questions.”

Improving Academic Preparation for College: What We Know and How State and Federal Policy Can Help

Check out the full report. Pay close attention to the language used on how to provide youth, especially minority, with academic preparation for college. Curious to what extent this is a race-conscious and equitable plan.

-Patricia

By Robin Chait, Andrea Venezia | Center for American Progress
January 27, 2009

Our society is moving toward a model of preparing all students for some kind of education and training after high school. That is what parents want for their children, what students say they want for themselves, and what analysts and policymakers at all levels believe is needed for success in a global economy. The benefits to the individual are clear—college graduates earn more money, have better career opportunities, engage in greater civic participation, and have a higher overall quality of life. The average annual income for a high school degree in 2006 was $30,072, an associate’s degree was $39,846, and a bachelor’s degree $56,897. Moreover, the advantages of college education compared to a high school degree have widened over the last 60 years, although they have leveled off more recently.

We know that students are getting the message that college pays off. In 2003-04, about 69 percent of high school seniors expected to attain a bachelor’s degree or higher, and another 18 percent expected to complete some postsecondary education. College enrollment rates increased from 49 percent in 1972 to 69 percent in 2005. Yet once students arrive in college, they are often not ready to take college-level classes. College remediation rates are high—estimates range from a little over a quarter to about a third for all freshmen, and from 42 percent to 60 percent for freshmen at two-year institutions.

College completion rates are also stagnant and students are taking longer to complete their degrees. About 83 percent of high school graduates enroll in some form of postsecondary education, but only about 52 percent of students complete their degrees. Further, a very small proportion of students complete a degree in four years—“among students starting at ‘four-year’ institutions, only 34 percent finish a B.A. in four years, 64 percent within six years, and 69 percent within eight and a half years.” Stagnant college completion rates and increasing time to complete college degrees are likely related, since students who are in school for long periods of time are less likely to graduate.

High rates of remediation, stagnant rates of college completion, and more time to degree completion suggest that many students are not fully ready to succeed academically in college. And weak academic preparation is a growing concern in the research and policy communities.

Jay Greene of the Manhattan Institute has estimated that only 34 percent of all students who entered ninth grade in 2002 were prepared for college when they graduated high school. He defines college readiness as graduating with a regular diploma, having completed a minimum set of course requirements (four years of English, three years of math, and two years each of natural science, social science, and a foreign language), and being able to read at the basic level or above on the National Assessment of Education Progress reading assessment.

Rates of academic preparation are even lower for low-income students. Susan Goldberger of Jobs for the Future found in an analysis of data from the National Education Longitudinal Study that “only 21 percent of high school graduates from the lowest economic quintile are adequately prepared for college-level work (somewhat, very, or highly prepared), compared to 54 percent of graduates from the middle and upper levels.” Moreover, students with better academic preparation have higher rates of degree completion. Approximately 78 percent of students who are highly prepared for college complete their degree, compared with 31 percent of students who are not prepared and 46 percent who are minimally prepared.

While these numbers are of great concern, there is still a lack of consensus among researchers and policymakers about what it means to be prepared for college. Are strong academics enough? What role do financial and social capital play? How can federal and state policy help promote academic rigor and student preparation? In this report, we explore these questions in detail and look closely at what we know about postsecondary readiness and success; what is being done to prepare students for college at the federal, state, and local levels; and how well these efforts are working. This report draws on this analysis to outline a more expansive role for federal and state policy to improve preparation and readiness.

Federal policy could play an important role in communicating the need for all students to prepare for college and providing the public with information about what that means. It could also build states’ capacity to develop and measure students’ college readiness by supporting a pilot state program to develop and validate college readiness standards within the reauthorized NCLB/ESEA. Finally, the federal government should invest in research and development to support programs that align secondary and postsecondary education and improve students’ preparation for college; provide funding to improve academic preparation in struggling high schools; and improve data collection and analysis and require public reporting.

States could undertake a range of initiatives to ensure that their policies are translated into changes in curricula and instruction and better outcomes for students. States should develop better student support policies and align them with policies to increase academic rigor, support the development and evaluation of high school models that prepare all students for college, improve data systems to better assess where students are and where they need to be, and monitor and evaluate the implementation of all of these state policies to identify inconsistencies, implementation concerns, and needs for technical assistance.

There are many ways to think about postsecondary readiness. We define it as a student’s ability to complete a transfer-level course in core subject areas at a two- or four-year postsecondary institution with a C or better and move on to the next course in the sequence without remediation. We do not believe that one size fits all, but we do think that there are many academic pathways and instructional approaches that are compatible with postsecondary preparation, and that all students must have the opportunity to prepare for a two-year or four-year degree or credential. The terms postsecondary education, college, and higher education are used interchangeably in this paper to mean some kind of formal education or training after high school in a postsecondary institution that leads to a credential or degree.

This paper reviews the research and makes the case for a definition that includes academic rigor, grades, specific academic skills that students will need to be successful in a college-level course, and “college knowledge”—knowledge about how to apply, enroll, and succeed in a college environment. It may be difficult to come up with objective measures for all these aspects of college readiness, but it is important to consider them all in defining readiness and in helping students meet a threshold of it.

Vocational education war erupts

Vocational education war erupts
05.26.2008
The Sacramento Bee
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com

The old axiom about evil thriving when good people do nothing has a political corollary in the law of unintended consequences.
Single-purpose, shortsighted political decisions made by voters and/or their elected officeholders often interact with each other to create negative impacts that no one really intended.
One of California's more egregious examples has been the erosion of job-oriented high school teaching, what used to be called "vocational education" but more recently has been updated to "career technical education" or CTE.
Educators' professional bias toward college, parents' natural desires for their offspring to have white-collar careers, fears among minorities about discriminatory "tracking," and the political mania for academic testing combined to create a negative atmosphere for continuing to teach high schoolers auto repair, carpentry, metalworking and other skilled crafts. The state's high school dropout rate soared even as employers began experiencing acute shortages of skilled workers.
The good news is that after years of neglect, CTE has become trendy, thanks in large measure to having a champion in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had high school job training in Austria. The state even had a brand new set of CTE curriculum standards.
The bad news is that a bitter, three-sided political war has erupted over what path renewal should take, threatening to stall progress on an issue that's vital to the state's economy and to countless thousands of at-risk students who might remain in school if given educations that match their interests and aptitudes.
Sensing, it would seem, that popular support for technical education is growing, the education establishment has created a glossy, foundation-supported "Coalition for Multiple Pathways" to push the superficially appealing notion that CTE can be combined with academics to qualify graduates for both jobs and admission to four-year colleges.
Jack O'Connell, the superintendent of public instruction and the embodiment of the establishment, kicked off the coalition's official launch last week by declaring that it embraces "a new philosophy" of instruction that eliminates the divide between vocational and college-prep curricula. "The two are not mutually exclusive," he said.
The coalition is pushing its concept on a broad front, including legislation, and that alarms the advocates of traditional vocational classes, who contend that "Multiple Pathways" will bypass students who aren't interested in and/or capable of college-prep academics.
As Multiple Pathways was being launched, the California Industrial and Technology Education Association issued a bulletin denouncing the pending legislation as "scary stuff" and worrying that if it's passed, O'Connell would complete the destruction of traditional vocational classes by redirecting money to the establishment's new framework.
The group says that Assembly Speaker Karen Bass' Assembly Bill 2648 would "turn CTE into delivery models that can focus on college prep at the expense of CTE programs that really prepare students for careers they can enter after high school."
A third technical education advocacy group called "Get Real," created by business and labor groups, is caught in the middle of the crossfire. Its co-chair, Jack Stewart, says there's nothing wrong with Multiple Pathways for many students but it's "too narrow" to deal with the entire problem. "We don't think Multiple Pathways is the right way to go," says Stewart, president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Association.
Stewart and Get Real make a valid point that Multiple Pathways could love vocational education to death. It's an issue Schwarzenegger is in a unique position to resolve, and he should do it as a legacy for his otherwise so-so governorship.


© 2007 California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley