Premise
Charlemagne once said, “To have another language is to possess a second soul.” It’s also often said, “Quien habla dos idiomas vale por dos [he who speaks two languages is worth two people].” One of the many benefits of being bilingual is that it exposes an individual to diverse customs and ideas and increases awareness of other cultures. More than half the world speaks more than one language on a daily basis, and speaking two or more languages has many benefits, such as bilingual and multilingual learners (MLLs) having greater problem-solving skills, a multicultural awareness and appreciation, higher academic achievement, and greater opportunities in college and career in the increasingly multilingual world of our times.
The time has come for a fundamental and necessary shift to happen in the way our school systems serve our children, staff, families, and communities.
As leaders of schools, we should be able to provide linguistic diversity through communication with our families and communities, since language is a direct connection with people’s cultures. Posters and visuals are important, and we have to go deeper to the roots of what it takes to ensure academic and linguistic access for our students.
Schools need to be places where students learn about today’s global society and where they access high-quality instruction in bilingual or multilingual settings. Monolingualism has kept language learners separate from the core of instruction, unable to make meaning in each family’s mother tongue, and all too often silenced into assimilation. America’s history and legacy around engaging in forced assimilation practices in Indigenous communities, and working to cut people’s mother tongues through our practices in schools, are something we must reckon with. Ultimately, the development and high-quality implementation of excellent dual language programs is the hope on the other side of the wall that bilingual and multilingual leaders and families have been trying to take down for years. Together we must all take up the mantle and, as system, school, and classroom leaders, see to our collective responsibility to ensure that our students receive nothing but the best education possible.
We invite you to now read about each one of our own contextualized experiences, starting with Marga’s time as a school leader at LOLA Language Academy (LOLA) followed by David’s experience at Downtown Academy. Both names are pseudonyms for the respective schools. During this article, we’ll offer consejitos, or tips, for administrators/teachers, district staff, and superintendents interested in sustaining or initiating dual language programs they could benefit from as they plan and work on their programs.
Vignette: Marga’s Experience
LOLA was reopened in 2017 as a Spanish– English two-way dual immersion (TWDI) school. Its original iteration, LL Elementary, was unfortunately closed in 2011 due to low enrollment. When the district’s leadership explored the reopening of the school, dual language programs were in demand, and families were requesting to have more programs to offer additive bilingual programs at the district. The TWDI program was created as an enrichment program, designed for Spanish-speaking students at all levels of English language proficiency, native English speakers, and students of other language backgrounds who are fluent in English.
A strategy we employed was team teaching, with a Spanish-proficient teacher and an English-proficient teacher at each grade level to serve as language models of the program. Since transferable skills and concepts are taught in either English or Spanish, this allowed for maintenance of 50/50 language allocation. The equal division of instructional time between each language allowed students’ first and second languages to progress. As the founding principal selected to open LOLA, we co-created a shared vision with staff members, families, and the community; made a commitment to expose students to multiple languages; created a continent focus learning model (see below); and aligned our dual language program goals to positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) schoolwide.
The Center for Applied Linguistics affirms that developing cultural competence is integral to language learning. In fact, language proficiency is enhanced when the culture it reflects is embedded in learning that language. Sociocultural competence, as a programmatic goal, is grounded in the idea that our emergent bilingual students would be willing and able to embrace ongoing and unending critical self-reflection. That is, they would be able to see the similarities and differences in each other but would embrace the differences as opportunities to connect rather than seeing them as obstacles to overcome (Medina, 2018). One way we accomplished this was to connect our mascot, a jet, with the idea of traveling around the world and learning from different cultures and traditions. This is how we created the continent focus learning model. Each grade level would focus on an assigned continent, and our students would have culture lessons in both Spanish and English focused on their continent during the school year.
Vignette: David’s Experience
The history of Downtown Academy was that it had once experienced declining enrollment, and in an effort to both increase enrollment and, more importantly, listen to the community’s desire to add an enrichment model that would serve all students, including MLLs who had historically been marginalized, the school applied for and became an in-district charter. Through that charter, the school became a specialized model focused on multiple sections of TWDI classrooms per grade level. It also had one classroom per grade level focused on monolingual instruction, which meant that families had a choice. Additionally, the school had two more pillars of fine arts and sciences in its initial charter. The school grew in popularity as well as in enrollment, and academic outcomes for students consistently ranked high on Texas accountability systems.
Previously, the school had only admitted students into the dual language program, but when I joined as principal, we worked with district staff to make changes in enrollment processes to allow more families to access the school’s programming. The school had a robust waitlist, and families were clamoring for access. On the staffing end, I quickly prioritized hiring great talent and upgraded our hiring processes to ensure strong alignment with our mission, good teaching practices, and coachability for the staff we did hire.
Being intentional about hiring excellent teachers, especially those who understand equity, who build relationships with students and families, and who are collaborators, was key to our success. We incorporated a portfolio process, essays, a group interview process, a sample teach with our students, and most important, current staff voice and input into the process. Great teachers want to be hired early, and as we hired teachers who were first-year teachers, it was important their teams be invested in them as candidates and colleagues.
My experience in working with families and staff also saw new opportunities for advocacy and innovation in our programming. The school brought more culturally sustaining and responsive practices, such as the expansion of Mexican American studies (MAS) (approved by the Texas State Board of Education), into middle school. One teacher had already begun teaching MAS in middle school. Elementary school teachers introduced an MAS club so their students could receive similar experiences. We also introduced the first school-based accordion-conjunto program in a public San Antonio school to expand our fine arts offerings and took a long-standing tradition of the community in its conjunto history to connect with students. The school already had a theater teacher and an art teacher, and we added one more and were able to expand from one music teacher to two, solidifying our guitar class in our master schedule as well.
The Urgency
Both California and Texas have strong declarations about the critical nature and importance of dual language programs and a focus on the improvement in outcomes for emergent bilingual and multilingual learners. Whether through adoption of legislative priorities or state board of education policies, these two states are examples of the urgency of ensuring that more students have access to a high-quality and linguistically responsive education.
Across the country, more states, including Alabama, Louisiana, and Virginia, are focused on following in the footsteps of states that are leading the way in bilingual education, but we still have such a long way to go nationally.
In July 2017, the California State Board of Education (SBE) unanimously approved the English Learner (EL) Roadmap Policy, which lays a foundation for the education of language learners in TK–12. This policy calls for work on providing the support needed to ensure that MLLs have the same academic opportunities as English-only students.
Getting familiar with this policy, going over it with your staff and families, and using it as a guide for your work as an administrator will shift the thinking about MLLs from a deficit- to an assets-oriented approach for your program. Administrators, however, should get to know Principle 3: System Conditions That Support Effectiveness and Principle 4: Alignment and Articulation within and across Systems. Specifically, administrators can work on how to implement all four principles with their principal colleagues by using the tool kits that have been developed for them.
Expanding the number of students who speak two or more languages will require more teachers and more programs to train those teachers. It will also require school leadership and superintendency preparation programs to ensure that there is systemic alignment and knowledge building around dual language. Unfortunately, we are far from solving this issue across the US. More than half of states nationwide are experiencing bilingual teacher shortages, with shortages most acute in states that provide bilingual education to the greatest numbers of MLLs. These shortages were happening pre-pandemic and have only been exacerbated in the last few years.
As we continue to see an increase in dual language programs but a decrease in bilingual teachers, we need to be proactive and find the advantages of promoting the Seal of Biliteracy at schools so these students can turn into our future dual language educators.
The Biliteracy Pathway Recognitions are established to recognize pre-K–8 students who have demonstrated progress toward proficiency in one or more languages in addition to English (Biliteracy Awards). Building pathways to biliteracy requires communities and school leaders to become familiar with the variety of language program options, the research behind them, and the conditions that support effective implementation. A collaborative process of dialogue about goals and purposes and planning for appropriate options for each community should engage all stakeholders.
Research Base
Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education is a resource for all practitioners that gives us a common framework and language that can guide our dual language work and instruction. Providing your staff with guiding principles should be the first action item for leaders implementing dual language programs, and they should be the foundation for all decision making. This is true at all levels. Superintendents, chief academic officers, assistant superintendents of school leadership, content executive directors, instructional coaches, front office staff, and anyone who works in a dual language district or school should be knowledgeable.
Additionally, the C6 Biliteracy Instructional Framework from Dr. José Medina (2018) should inform your school’s thinking. This framework is designed to create access to grade-level standards regardless of student language proficiency. It is also aligned to Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education, Third Edition, and this framework targets the attainment of the three goals of dual language. Any school can use the C6 Framework, since it may be used in dual, bilingual, and/or monolingual school settings because of its additive nature (Medina, 2018).
Implications for Practice and Implementation
Because new hires might join your school throughout the year, the need for continuous program alignment can be met using Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education. All new teachers should receive a copy at the beginning of the school year, even if some of them are already familiar with this resource. The practice and implementation of the seven strands in Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education is a particularly powerful and effective instructional approach you can employ as a cohesive team.
Similarly, leaders must be every bit as discerning when hiring stewards for dual language schools, as well as carefully train future dual immersion principals to be prepared to lead this program. All who are to be involved in the program must be fully educated on what they need to make the program successful. If this program is going to be implemented at your district, the board, the superintendent, and the core district need to be fully aware of the curriculum and of the rigorous endeavor that it takes to run the program and make it successful. Start by learning about the program from your district’s multilingual learner master plan. What kind of program is at your school? How does it work? Are there other schools you could partner with? What is the district’s plan for middle school, for high school?
Conclusion: Key Take-Aways
Be strategic in the work you do. Calendar your year and identify when you’ll do quarterly step-backs with your administrative and teacher leadership teams to revisit your priorities, to measure your progress toward your goals, and to take the time to simply reflect. Schools can often be go, go, go, and you have to remember that, if you want to succeed, sometimes you have to go slow to go fast. It is important to draw on the wisdom of the African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
Most importantly, be gentle on yourself. Being a reflective leader who learns what is important, the most important lessons you are going to need to engage with are in getting to know yourself first. Harness the power of your own story, be clear, and consistently revisit your values and beliefs. You won’t be able to improve or implement everything all at once; you don’t need to. Simply take a deep breath and remind yourself of your why. Remind yourself of who you were as a teacher and why you decided to step into the role you are in today. Your dual language leadership is needed now more than ever. Hold the bar high for your families, students, staff, and community, and give them all the love and support they deserve. And at the same time, take care of yourself and lean into the journey you have chosen to embark on as a dual language leader. Your community will be better for it, and so will you.
Marga Marshall is an educational consultant with experience in bilingual education in Spain and California. She opened the first TK–8 two-way dual immersion English/Spanish school in Concord, California, as one of the district’s magnet schools. Prior to becoming a principal, Marga Marshall was a bilingual teacher, an instructional coach, an English learner coach, and a dual language coach. An educator for over 24 years, her passion is bilingualism, biliteracy, and offering students the opportunity to learn a second language.
As an educational bilingual consultant, Marga Marshall partners with districts providing expert, customized consulting and professional learning in the areas of biliteracy and multilingual learner education.
David Nungaray is a son of Mexican immigrants, a gay educator, and a first-generation college graduate. Currently, he works as a bilingual consulting partner at a national nonprofit, where he oversees partnerships in multiple states. David served as the principal of a K–8 dual language school in Texas prior to his current work. David holds his master’s in school leadership from Trinity University, where he has served as an adjunct professor in multilingual education, school leadership, and special education.
