I have been the principal at Georgia Brown Elementary School for five years, but my relationship with the school began many years ago when my own children were students there and I began substitute teaching. It’s been a real joy to see the school grow and change over those years and develop the amazing dual immersion program that it has today.
Dual immersion programs allow English language learners to continue their journey in their native language—Spanish, at our school. The more proficient students are in their primary language, the faster they are able to transfer those skills to a second language. Our English speakers have the opportunity to learn a new language.
In the 2022–2023 school year, 95% of kindergarten, 72% of first-grade, and 68% of second-grade students were reading at or above grade level. Here’s how we did it.
A Bilingual Vision Biliteracy is essential to our vision at Georgia Brown. Our school’s mission statement reads, in part, “All students will achieve bilingualism, biliteracy, and sociocultural competency. Georgia Brown provides rigorous standard-based instruction in Spanish and English while engaging in positive cross-cultural experiences.” The statement goes on to declare that all “students will develop high biliteracy skills in Spanish and English by the end of fifth grade.”
We have more than 620 students, who work with 23 teachers and eight intervention teachers. We have a waiting list and use a lottery to determine who gets in. Approximately 80% of our staff are native Spanish speakers. They are from all over Latin America, which is great for helping us reach the sociocultural competency required by our mission.
Our Spanish list is rarely full, so we do conduct outreach to educate local parents about the benefits of a dual immersion program for their students. They believe that their children need English to be successful and tend to see less value in becoming proficient in Spanish. We never have too many open spots; however, because we are a magnet school, we pull students from across our district and even beyond.
Like other dual immersion schools, we are sometimes criticized because our students do not always score as high as students in English-only programs in early grades. We teach kindergarten in Spanish 90% of the day and introduce more English each year. Students transition to reading and writing in English in third grade. They are on a different track than students at English-only schools, and so we can’t really compare to other students in the first few years, though we tend to perform better later on.
Data-Driven Professional Growth Goals Georgia Brown is a data-driven school, and that begins with our teachers’ professional growth goals. They look at their data and create SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals based on it. Throughout the year, after each summative assessment, they dig into the data again to see what progress they’ve made toward their professional growth goals and to consider changes in their classrooms. I encourage them to see their list of goals as a living document and even to keep it on their wall so they keep their goals in mind and adjust them as necessary.
Our professional learning communities (PLCs) have been a game-changer for us. Ninety percent of our faculty is trained on effective PLCs and, during that training, we revisit our school vision. A couple of years ago, if I had asked my teachers about the school vision, they wouldn’t have been able to tell me much. Now they would tell me that all students will achieve bilingualism, biliteracy, and sociocultural competency. It’s posted in every classroom, and every lesson they teach is related to that vision.
Our PLCs have also helped to ensure that our teachers are working closely together yet still have personal freedom. They often plan lessons together in PLC meetings, and whether they are planning together or individually, they begin with the assessment and plan backwards from that. They always have four questions to answer:
• What are students going to learn? • How will students learn it? • Did they learn it? • What will I do with the highest and lowest performers?
Teachers also participate in three data retreats each year. At the first one, they spend an entire day looking at the data and planning the first trimester. They break the trimester down by week so they have a map showing what standard will be addressed and when. They integrate different subject areas, such as social studies and science, and create a common assessment for the end of the first week so they have the full week to teach it.
During weekly PLCs after formative assessments have been completed, teachers come together to look at the data and see who was successful, who needs additional support, and who needs to be retaught by the teacher or an intervention specialist. Teachers get creative with their schedules to provide a ten- to 15-minute lesson to reteach a concept. This continues week by week, so teachers are constantly looking at the data and adjusting, rather than waiting until the end of the trimester to see where students are.
Improved alignment has also been important in moving our school forward. When I got here, we were all over the place, and it took me a year and a half to figure out who was teaching what. We’ve done a lot of work to make sure everyone has the same curriculum and resources and that they are meeting our goals. Consistency really is key.
Curriculum-Aligned Reading Material To ensure students are receiving appropriate reading practice, we go through our multitiered systems of support process and identify the different tiers. Students then find reading material at their Lexile level. Additionally, we use an online research hub of articles and digital books to provide our students and teachers with curriculum-aligned resources in English and Spanish for use in grades K–2.
As a school, we’ve been focusing on culturally relevant practices for a while now. In the past, those projects were sent home, and some parents would end up doing a lot of the work, while other students received no support at all. The online library allows the students to conduct their own research and find their own articles and videos. If they are struggling, the program will read to them so they don’t get stuck. Students have been reading a lot of articles as a result, almost doubling from 15,722 articles in the 2021–2022 school year to 29,366 last year. And they have already read more digital books than they did last school year. They read 1,436 e-books during the entire 2022–23 school year and have already read 1,571 books from July to October to kick off this school year.
The online library has also been helpful in integrating subjects such as social studies and science into our nearly two-hour literacy block. It’s divided into five areas—animals, biography, health, science, and social studies—so it’s easy for students to find the resources to complement what they are learning in, for example, a science lesson.
It’s not always easy to see how dual language immersion benefits all students— even proficiency scores can hide the truth in early grades. But with a commitment to readjusting as the data demands and the help of resources that truly support emerging bilingual students, dual language immersion programs are better for all students.
Celia Moses is the principal at Georgia Brown Elementary School. She can be reached at cmoses@pasoschools.org.
Stephen Krashen argues that those who read more know more
Wexler (2023) has pointed out that a reader’s background knowledge is a significant predictor of reading proficiency. She concluded that “greater background knowledge of the topic was correlated with better comprehension” and suggested that we “begin to more deliberately teach background knowledge.”
While it seems obvious that “deliberate teaching” will build background knowledge, there is another source of knowledge: self-selected pleasure reading. Stanovich and Cunningham (1993) is the breakthrough study in this area. They reported that university students who had more “print exposure”—were more familiar with popular authors (e.g., Maya Angelou, Isaac Asimov) and magazines (e.g., Forbes, Ladies Home Journal) did significantly better on a general knowledge test that included questions on science, social science, politics, current events, technology, and economics, among other subjects.
It is also well established that self-selected reading contributes significantly to language and literacy competence (e.g., vocabulary, spelling, writing; Krashen, 2004), and a recent study confirmed that reading also results in more knowledge of phonics (Krashen and McQuillan, 2023). Of great interest: Stanovich and Cunningham also reported that higher grades (grade point average) in secondary school were a very weak predictor of how well the students did on the test of general knowledge.
Apparently, the hard study that results in better grades does not result in significant real-world knowledge, but reading popular literature and magazines does.
References Krashen, S. (2004). The Power of Reading. Libraries Unlimited. Krashen, S., and McQuillan, J. (2022). “The Case for Acquired Phonics.” Language Magazine, 22, 2, 19–22. Stanovich, K., and Cunningham, A. (1993). “Where Does Knowledge Come From? Specific associations between print exposure and information acquisition.” Journal of Educational Psychology, 85, 2, 211–229. Wexler, N. (2023). “Dramatic New Evidence That Building Knowledge Can Boost Comprehension and Close Gaps.” Forbes. www.forbes.com/sites/nataliewexler/2023/04/09/dramatic-new-evidence-thatbuilding-knowledge-can-boost-comprehension-and-closegaps/?sh=2395e3617725
Stephen Krashen is professor emeritus, University of Southern California. He is active in language acquisition, bilingual education, literacy, and heritage language development and has published over 500 professional papers and books, many of which are available for free download at www.sdkrashen.com. Most important, he was the 1978 incline bench press champion of Venice Beach, CA, and holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
Cross Cultural Solutions, Well-polished tourist destinations are great but if you have ever thought about a new kind of vacation experience, it may be time for you to try volunteering abroad. Unlike a typical vacation, an organized volunteer travel program allows you to donate a portion of your day to a local community while you vacation. Volunteer organizations tend to operate in local communities with greater need for services – communities off the beaten path. Spending time in a local community with a group of fellow volunteers is a far cry from a typical tourist vacation and can be a real eye-opener. Working closely with local people gives you a much richer and unique insight into a culture that you would not have otherwise experienced. Many people who volunteer abroad are amazed at the depth of their cultural exchange experience. For some, it is life-changing. “I spent 4 weeks working in a classroom of five-year-olds within an orphanage. It was the most amazing experience of my entire life. Because of that trip I came to realize how big the world is — how enriching it is to live among different cultures. Today, over a month after I returned, I think of my experiences, and especially the people I met there, constantly. I am a more aware, open person, and I have found not only things within myself, but my life calling and aspiration.” Sarah, Cross-Cultural Solutions volunteer Headquartered in New Rochelle, NY, Cross-Cultural Solutions is a leading organization in the field of international volunteering. CCS has an infrastructure that supports approximately 4,000 international volunteers each year and over 250 sustainable community initiatives. More than 250 CCS in-country staff work year-round, ensuring that volunteers are involved in projects that contribute directly to the goals of each community. The CCS experience includes cultural and learning activities giving volunteers the opportunity to learn about the local culture. There is an in-depth orientation, language training, guest speakers and more. It’s not all work and no play. After volunteer work in the mornings and over the weekend, there is plenty of free time to relax, reflect, or explore the community. To contact CCS, visit their website at www.crossculturalsolutions.org, email info@crossculturalsolutions.org
On April 23, the “Spanish Language Day at the United Nations” is celebrated to raise awareness among the staff of the Organization, and the world at large, about the history, culture and use of Spanish as an official language.
The election of the day attends to the anniversary of the death of the great genius of Spanish lyrics, Miguel de Cervantes. Incidentally, the date of his death coincides with that of the most prestigious English playwright, William Shakespeare. Hence both languages share the day.
English Language Day at the United Nations is also celebrated on the 23rd of April — the date traditionally observed as both the birthday and date of death of William Shakespeare. As well as being the English language’s most famous playwright, Shakespeare had a significant impact on modern-day English. Shakespeare’s creativity with language meant he contributed hundreds of new words and phrases: ‘gossip’; ‘fashionable’ and ‘lonely’ were all first used by Shakespeare. He also invented phrases like ‘break the ice’, ‘faint-hearted’ and ‘love is blind’.
English is one of the languages of international communication. People from different countries and cultures are increasingly able to communicate with each other in English, even if it is not their first language. This makes it an essential tool for global cooperation and diplomacy.
At the United Nations, English is one of the two working languages, along with French.
Last year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of a milestone US Supreme Court ruling, Lau v. Nichols (1974), which set the groundwork for equitable learning opportunities for students designated at the time as limited English proficient (and who are now referred to as English learners (ELs) at the federal level). The Lau decision in tandem with the Equal Educational Opportunities Act, which was enacted by Congress later the same year, required that all public schools implement remedies to ensure students with “limited English proficiency” could participate meaningfully in their education. And yet, despite five decades of attempts to make classroom experiences meaningful for this significant subgroup, we still find ourselves struggling to design educational programs that succeed in developing students’ academic expertise while at the same time meeting their language-learning needs. Why might this still be the case? From a policy perspective, the Lau decision only required “appropriate action to overcome language barriers” but did not specify a particular educational approach or program. A subsequent court case, Castañeda v. Pickard (1981), attempted to define the criteria by which a program might be considered, but the lack of original specificity in the Lau decision “has plagued efforts to identify the essential components of equity with regard to the education of English learners,” according to language policy experts.
With various degrees of success, educators have sought to resolve the dilemma programmatically by offering transitional bilingual education, dual language immersion, and even full English immersion programs. Extensive research has found that students in well-implemented dual language bilingual educational (DLBE) models outperform those in programs taught in English alone, but in reality, most EL-designated multilingual learners still do not have access to DLBE programs in their home or community languages. Instead, they learn both language and academic content largely through the medium of English.
Language and Content Integrated Instruction Through Collaboration
One of the greatest challenges in English-medium schools that enroll EL-designated multilingual learners is the shortage of teachers who are well prepared and certified to effectively integrate content and language instruction, either in secondary (grades 6–12) content-area courses or in elementary (K–5) content-area lessons within general education classrooms. A similarly vexing problem is a reliance upon standalone language classes that are not tied to core content. At the elementary level, these “pull-out” classes are challenging because students are removed from their classrooms and miss the lessons happening there. At the secondary level, standalone language classes are problematic because they often only count for elective (rather than required-for-graduation) credit and are not necessarily tied to other academic content. Taking these courses usually means that students miss out on taking other courses they may need or want to take.
One way around these issues is through implementation of language and content integrated instruction that involves collaboration among ELD and content teachers. One approach, known as co-teaching, calls for two teachers to work together side by side to plan and teach lessons. The content teacher has a credential in a specific content area (at the secondary level) or multiple content areas (at the elementary level); the ELD teacher is a language specialist who is certified to teach ELD to EL-designated multilingual learners. Other approaches that aim to provide content and language instruction simultaneously include:
Consulting, in which an ELD teacher consults with students directly in a content class (“direct consultation”) and/or with a content teacher as they co-plan learning targets, resources, and strategies for the content teacher to implement in their lessons, which are typically delivered without the ELD teacher present (“indirect consultation”); and
Dually endorsed teaching, in which a single teacher is certified in one or more content areas and in ELD and provides integrated language and content instruction on their own. In this model, teachers often collaborate with other ELD and/or content teachers for additional support but may not always do so.
To prevent the linguistic segregation that often takes place in schools with large numbers of EL-designated multilingual learners, students in such classrooms are often a mix of fluent multilinguals, English monolinguals, and EL-designated multilingual learners. In this sense, language and content integrated courses can integrate peers of different language backgrounds and proficiencies together.
Our own research shows that these options may be relatively common nationwide: in a survey we conducted in May 2021, over 70% of the responding districts indicated that they used some form of teacher collaboration to provide integrated language and content instruction for their secondary EL-designated multilingual learners. Professional guidance on these models has grown significantly in the last 20 years, and recently districts themselves have started to provide guidance for each other in defining, developing, and improving instruction through collaboration. However, the design and implementation of these programs has not been explored extensively by researchers, especially when considering district-level policy and implementation.
What We Did
We were interested in learning more about what happens when districts develop these collaborative language and content integrated programs and implement them in their secondary schools. For example, how do district-level policies on language and content integrated instruction shape instructional opportunities for EL-designated multilingual learners at the school level? How do school administrators respond to and navigate the implementation of these policies? We hoped that the answers to these questions could help us better understand the potential of these programs for addressing the long-standing difficulties our educational system has experienced in trying to respond to the Lau decision.
To that end, in 2021–22 and 2022–23 we conducted interviews and observations across three different school districts: one of which had a long-standing language and content integrated model, using co-teaching in particular (Mountain View School District, a pseudonym), and two of which had recently begun implementation of their collaborative models (Woodside and Deerfield School Districts, also pseudonyms). After more than 50 interviews with administrators and teachers and 80 hours of classroom observations, what did we discover?
What We Learned
Policies and their lengths of implementation were different in each district, but at each site, we saw district and school leaders carefully weighing options and making thoughtful decisions. Yet none of the districts found “the solution” for successful implementation of language and content integrated program models. Such a reality is hardly surprising, given the complexity of these models and the challenges of addressing Lau’s mandate. What we did notice, however, were common underlying tensions across these three different districts that were strikingly similar.
Financial Tensions
The first set of tensions we encountered—focused on districts’ inevitably limited financial resources—are probably the most familiar to educators. A truly integrated model would imply that every teacher in a school is ready and able to provide high-quality instruction for EL-designated multilingual learners at all proficiency levels, but linguistically and culturally responsive educators remain in short supply in US schools. Furthermore, hiring enough ELD teachers to collaborate with all content teachers through a co-teaching model would be a very expensive proposition. Financial decisions were particularly fraught because newly arrived immigrant students often enroll after initial staffing decisions have been made, increasing the demand on staff time. Requests for additional resources for these students (e.g., separate “newcomer” language courses, or funding for additional sections of those courses) were reasonable, but districts had to balance these demands against the need to fully implement an integrated model, which meant assigning ELD teachers to as many content-area courses with EL-designated students as possible. Such was the case even in Mountain View School District, which had a long-standing integrated model. These financial tensions suggest that although some issues in implementing integrated language and content instruction models can be solved through additional funding, such as hiring teachers to reduce class size or add class sections, limited instructional capacity clearly burdens districts’ financial systems. In other words, without having 100% of teachers qualified to educate EL-designated multilingual learners, districts are forced to make difficult choices that at least to some extent rely upon a limited supply of ELD-certified teachers.
Tensions of Competing Priorities and Realities
The second group of tensions we found could be best described as “trade-offs”: situations in which districts and schools faced competing priorities and realities. One clear example was district policies about how to place students in integrated language and content courses. All three districts set a maximum for the percentage of EL-designated multilingual learners to be “clustered” in one class, ranging between 40–50% depending on the district. The integration of EL- and non-EL-designated peers within integrated language and content classes is not mandated by Lau, but districts described a commitment to creating linguistically heterogenous classrooms—avoiding unnecessary segregation, as recommended by the Office of Civil Rights—where EL-designated multilingual learners are not segregated by language proficiency and instead have access to a range of language users, including fluent multilingual and English-monolingual students. Schools took this guidance seriously when scheduling students into integrated language and content courses and tried to stay within these guidelines.
However, what schools found is that the less students were clustered—in other words, the more they were dispersed into the school overall—the harder co-teaching or consulting ELD teachers’ jobs became: they had more classrooms and teachers to serve, more complex schedules, and less time to meet with each individual content teacher. On the other hand, grouping students together in a limited number of classrooms made teacher collaboration easier but could not provide EL-designated multilingual learners with sufficient access to English-fluent peers. Educators were genuinely committed to reducing segregated environments for multilingual learners, but they also wanted to ensure students were receiving linguistically responsive instruction.
Another trade-off was that serving EL-designated multilingual learners was still fundamentally “optional” for content teachers: given student clustering, it was never the case that all content teachers had an ELD teacher as a co-teacher or consultant each year. Even when it was an expectation (particularly in the district with the long-standing model) that all content teachers would collaborate at some point in their careers, not all were doing so at a given time, and not all were enthusiastic volunteers. School administrators had choices in terms of which content teachers were assigned to serve EL-designated multilingual learners, and they saw a trade-off between prioritizing this expectation to collaborate, with its goal of building school-wide instructional capacity, and placing students with content teachers who genuinely welcomed these students (and ELD teachers) into their classrooms. One school administrator we interviewed, for example, explained, “There are times where I hesitate… is that really what’s best for the kids if I put [an ELD teacher] in with the teacher who doesn’t want them there anyway?” She described needing to actively mediate between teachers in some such instances but explained that teachers were gradually becoming more accustomed to the idea of collaboration and working with EL-designated multilingual learners. Such examples suggest that school administrators are at the forefront of many trade-offs related to language and content integrated instruction: in making decisions about student placements and teaching assignments, they play a key role in deciding how access, integration, segregation, and shared responsibility for EL-designated multilingual learners are addressed at their school sites.
Tensions of Flexibility
A final set of take-aways relates to what we saw as tensions of flexibility. All three districts intentionally provided some measure of leeway to schools in terms of how they implemented their language and content integrated models. For example, in Mountain View School District, their policy required co-teaching to be used in all schools and by all teachers, but the two districts newer to language and content integrated program models (Woodside and Deerfield School Districts) allowed for co-teaching, consulting, and dually endorsed teachers as options for serving students, which were decided by school-level administrators and teachers. District leaders in the newer programs felt that co-teaching would be preferable but realized that it was a more resource- and time-intensive option, and so purposefully allowed schools to have consultation and dually endorsed teaching as possibilities. What we found in our interviews and observations at the school level was that when offered the three options, many administrators and teachers tended to rely on consultation, which was easier to implement with current staffing levels and schedules. As a result, Woodside and Deerfield district administrators’ preferred option (co-teaching) was not fully implemented, at least in part because it was not required.
In efforts to allow schools to respond to their local contexts and needs, districts for the most part did not dictate specific staffing or scheduling arrangements, another area in which there was purposeful leeway. As a result, there was quite a bit of school-level variation in the number of content teachers with whom an ELD teacher was scheduled to collaborate: between one and eight teachers, depending on the specifics of co-teaching or consultation arrangements. This leeway allowed demographic and local differences to be accounted for, but it led to uneven scheduling and teacher-pairing practices. We saw differences within districts and even within schools, meaning that some ELD teachers had very different workloads from each other. What each was expected to accomplish in their workday was therefore also different in each setting.
A final area of district policy flexibility that was prominent in each district and in the experiences of schools and teachers was guidance provided around the allocation of co-planning time for collaborating teachers that was specifically designated just for their work together to serve EL-designated multilingual learners, rather than general planning or collaboration time allocated to all teachers. In all three districts, this designated co-planning time was not always available during the school day, although administrators and teachers typically tried to arrange the master schedule to allow for it. However, we saw differences between Mountain View and the other two districts in terms of their insistence upon co-planning time. Mountain View was unique in requiring shared collaboration time for co-planning. The amount was limited, however: just 45 minutes per teacher pair each week, which was usually (although not always) part of a designated co-planning time in the school day. By contrast, Woodside and Deerfield suggested, rather than required, designated co-planning time, but they offered paid extended contract time for teachers who wished to plan outside the workday.
So how were these policies implemented at the school level? In Mountain View, school administrators and teachers reported staying true to the 45-minutes-per-week mandate, and in cases in which teachers did not have a shared planning period, they tended to find flexible ways to work together, like during grade-level meetings, professional learning team meetings, or other collaboration times. In Woodside, there was variation in shared planning time, with some pairs having no designated shared time but others having up to 90 minutes per day. In Deerfield, shared planning times were relatively rare, as it was not seen as a priority and had not been supported by the district. In all three settings, teachers were aware of the inherent value of planning time, and those who had it tended to use it for that purpose.
Such issues of leeway and flexibility are not unique to the implementation of language and content integrated instruction, but they raise particularly important issues when considering the potential for such programs to meet their obligations to EL-designated multilingual learners.
What Are the Implications?
The tensions we described tell us much about the real challenges of meeting the promise of the Lau decision. Understanding these tensions clearly is an important first step for any district or school interested in developing or improving programs to serve their secondary EL-designated multilingual learners through language and content integrated instruction. To a large extent, addressing these tensions necessitates the clarification of values in each setting by the educators in that setting.
The beauty and danger of the Lau decision is its flexibility. Simply continuing educational programs despite evidence of unequal outcomes is unacceptable. At a certain point, districts and schools that choose to engage in integrated language and content program models must clearly articulate the tensions in this approach and embrace honest and principled discussions about them.
Amanda K. Kibler, PhD, is a professor at Oregon State University’s College of Education. Her research focuses on the interactional and ecological contexts through which multilingual children and adolescents develop language and literacy expertise, as well as the ways teachers collaborate and use inquiry to understand these processes.
Martha Castellón Palacios is a senior program associate with English Learner and Migrant Education Services at WestEd. She is an experienced researcher, evaluator, and provider of technical assistance to states and LEAs. Her work focuses on improving educational equity for multilingual learners throughout the system.
The research reported here was undertaken as part of the National Research and Development Center to Improve Education for Secondary English Learners and is supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education, through Grant R305C200008 to WestEd.
Rapidly advancing rebels in the mineral-rich eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are contributing to escalating violence and tensions across the country, including growing discrimination and division based on language differences. As conflict spreads, the country’s Catholic bishops have warned that linguistic divisions risk deepening social fractures at a time when national unity is crucial. “While our brothers and sisters living in the eastern part of our country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly those in the provinces of North and South Kivu, are stricken by the horrors of war, in recent days we have witnessed a resurgence of violence based on linguistic expression in other parts of the country,” said the Congolese bishops in a statement. The religious leaders lament that some Congolese are stigmatizing fellow citizens who speak Swahili—one of the country’s four national languages—describing the situation as a “hunt for Swahili speakers.”
According to the bishops, some “pastors” are using church pulpits and other religious gatherings to spread division: “[We are] all the more indignant to see certain ‘pastors’ exploiting the platforms of their churches and other preaching settings to hold speeches that incite discrimination, hatred, and violence against other Congolese men and women because of their origin, language, or morphology.”
The bishops called for maturity and solidarity for all citizens and warned that promoting discrimination under the guise of patriotism threatens national unity and undermines the pursuit of lasting peace. They therefore appealed for solidarity toward those displaced by war and insecurity. “Do not be misled by those who preach division and the hunting down of Swahili speakers, natives of the east, or foreigners as an expression of patriotism and paths to peace for our country,” reads the bishops’ statement. “We invite compassion and solidarity toward those brothers and sisters who find themselves forced by war and insecurity to leave their lands and homes, and to offer them hospitality in our families and in our safe places.”
California state superintendent for education Tony Thurmond has presented a bill, Senate Bill 48 (Gonzalez), that will limit the presence of ICE agents on school campuses. Thurmond also hosted a webinar to promote the expansion of dual language immersion (DLI) programs across California, affirming the importance of preparing students to succeed, compete, and lead in a multilingual, global economy.
SB 48, authored by Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez (D-33), is sponsored by Thurmond to address the safety concerns of immigrant families and to protect school funding that is projected to decline in some parts of the state as attendance is suppressed as a result of deportation fears at school. “We know that the fearmongering happening across our nation has disruptive impacts on children in our immigrant families, and it could cost California schools millions of dollars,” Thurmond said. California is one of a handful of states that still uses an average daily attendance system for attributing funding or the loss of funding to schools.
Approximately half of all students in California are members of immigrant families, in which at least one parent is an immigrant. One in five students in California live in mixed-status families, in which one or more parents are undocumented.
“All California children deserve safe school environments that prioritize student learning, regardless of immigration status,” said Gonzalez. “As chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus, I’m proud to be partnering with Superintendent Tony Thurmond to author this important legislation, which will prevent disruptions to student learning, keep children in school, and prevent families from being torn apart.”
In recognition of California’s uniquely multicultural, multilingual population, Thurmond hosted a webinar to promote the expansion of DLI programs. According to the California Department of Education, “DLI programs have shown to be an effective strategy for increasing student achievement and increasing enrollment in public schools. Parents have shown increasing enthusiasm for DLI and other multilingual learning opportunities, and multiple DLI schools have recently been awarded recognition as 2025 California Distinguished Schools, a distinction reserved for the highest-performing schools in California and those closing achievement gaps most rapidly.”
Back in 2023, $50 million was allocated to fund mandated changes to how Wisconsin children learn to read, but the funds have never been released, thanks to legal arguments over the reading legislation.
The money has been tied up as the legislature awaits oral arguments and a decision by the state supreme court over whether the governor had the authority to strike funding for school boards and charter school compliance from the law.
As that ruling won’t come by the end of the fiscal year, the funds will go back into the state’s massive surplus, State Representative Joel Kitchens (R-Sturgeon Bay) confirmed to Wisconsin Public Radio.
Kitchens, who co-authored the reading law known as Act 20, had hoped to introduce a bill that would release the money for reading before June 30.
Attorney General Josh Kaul has asked the high court to bypass the appellate court and rule on the matter. The supreme court has agreed to hear the Act 20 case but has not yet scheduled oral arguments.
State Superintendent Jill Underly said school districts committed to transforming how students learn to read with the understanding that the state legislature would contribute $50 million to support those efforts. “This delay is an outright betrayal of our students and a failure of leadership,” Underly said. “Legislative leaders have let down both our children and our schools. I don’t want to hear another elected official complaining about literacy outcomes—they have no one to blame but themselves.”
The Trump administration is requiring K–12 schools to certify that they are following federal civil rights laws and ending any discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, as a condition for receiving federal money.
A notice sent by the Education Department gives states and schools ten days to sign and return the certification. It’s the latest escalation against DEI policies, apparently giving the Republican administration a new lever for terminating federal money.
The US Department of Education sent letters to state commissioners overseeing K–12 state education agencies (SEAs) requiring them to certify their compliance with their anti-discrimination obligations in order to continue receiving federal financial assistance. Specifically, the department requests certification of compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the responsibilities outlined in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
“Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right. When state education commissioners accept federal funds, they agree to abide by federal anti-discrimination requirements. Unfortunately, we have seen too many schools flout or outright violate these obligations, including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another based on identity characteristics in clear violation of Title VI,” said acting assistant secretary for civil rights Craig Trainor. “Today, the department is taking an important step toward ensuring that states understand— and comply with—their existing obligations under civil rights laws and Students v. Harvard. As Chief Justice Roberts wrote, ‘Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.’ No student should be denied opportunities or treated differently because of his or her race. We hope all state and local education agencies agree and certify their compliance with this legal and constitutional principle.”
SEAs will be responsible for reporting on their states overall and for collecting certification responses from their local education agencies (LEAs). SEAs have ten days to sign and return the certification.
American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten issued the following statement in response: “In the middle of a school year, the president is trying to bully the very same school districts that he insisted, just a few weeks ago, should be in charge of education. He’s wielding a cudgel of billions in federal aid to tens of millions of children, of all races and ethnicities, to force educators to kowtow to his politics and ideology.
“If a school’s reading specialist is using a book the president doesn’t like, is the federal government going to deny the district funding for after-school care? If a school is celebrating Jewish Heritage Month or Juneteenth, does it lose tutoring support? If an educator is teaching about Jim Crow, is summer school now in jeopardy?
“The president’s approach is rich in irony. On the one hand, the administration wants to abolish the Education Department and dismantle its role in schools, and on the other, it wants to dictate curriculum in minute detail and act as a de facto HR director.
“This is a power grab and a money grab—and it’s also blatantly unlawful. We know the administration wants to divert federal education funds into block grants, vouchers, or tax cuts, but it’s simply not legal; only Congress can do that. Further, federal statute explicitly prohibits any president from telling schools and colleges what to teach, and funds cannot be withheld on the basis of Title VI Civil Rights Act claims without due process.
“The authority cited in the memo, SFFA v. Harvard, was about higher education, not K–12 schools. It’s why we sued the administration over its previous ‘Dear Colleague’ letter, and why this memo just reinforces our concern that political ideology, not kids’ learning, is their priority.
“The president should be strengthening public education, not destroying it. He should be helping the most vulnerable kids, not hurting them. This destructive gambit just hurts children. It strips them of instruction in the middle of their school year. It’s callous, cruel, counterproductive, and simply won’t stand, in both the classroom, the court of law, and the court of public opinion.”
At the end of last month, Representatives Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia) and Jimmy Panetta (D-California) formally reintroduced the World Language Education Assistance Program (World LEAP) Act (HR 1572), which would establish a grant program through the Department of Education to create new and support current world language programs for local K–12 education for up to three years. “As someone who taught English in Japan after graduating college, I have a great appreciation for the critical role language education plays in the lives of countless Americans and our friends across the globe,” said Congresswoman Kiggans. “By giving K–12 schools the opportunity to improve and expand their world language programs, we can empower the next generation with the tools they need to succeed, land meaningful career opportunities, and promote our leadership on the world stage. I am proud to introduce the World LEAP Act with Congressman Panetta to give all students, regardless of background, the chance to develop these critical skills and open the door to a brighter future.” “Investment is needed in world language education, especially as universities cut language programs and some states move to eliminate immersion programs,” said Congressman Panetta. “The World LEAP Act would provide much-needed support to K–12 schools by creating a dedicated grant program to strengthen and expand world language instruction. By investing in language education, we not only empower students and educators but also enhance career pathways that bolster our nation’s economy, security, and global relationships.” “JNCL-NCLIS thanks Representative Jen Kiggans and Representative Jimmy Panetta for their visionary leadership in reintroducing the World LEAP legislation,” said Amanda Seewald, executive director of JNCL-NCLIS. “This program addresses our national need for consistent K–12 language education that grows proficiency in more than one language—a vital skill essential to meeting the demands of our national security and global economic competitiveness. The commitment shown by Representatives Kiggans and Panetta is paving the way for a more interconnected and secure future for our nation.”
To receive funding, recipients must meet the following criteria: Show a current growth in language proficiency from K–12 Demonstrate an ability to continue the program after the grant period has expired Include a professional development component
These funds shall be used for: Professional development for teachers to gain certification and licensure as world language or dual language teachers Carrying out new and improved dual language programs Evaluating the efficacy of the programs
Rep. Kiggans will receive the JNCL-NCLIS Rush D. Holt Award for Language Service to the Nation in honor of her contributions in the public policy arena on this issue.
“We Bokononists believe that humanity is organized into teams, teams that do God’s Will without ever discovering what they are doing. Such a team is called a karass by Bokonon.” –Vonnegut, 1963, p. 1
The excerpt above is from Cat’s Cradle, a novel by Kurt Vonnegut in which he describes a fake religion, Bokononism, followed by the people of a small island in the Caribbean Sea, the Republic of San Lorenzo. According to the book, a karass is a group of people who are brought together at any point during their life to collaborate for the greater good—“if you find your life tangled up with somebody else’s life for no very logical reasons… that person may be a member of your karass” (Vonnegut, 1963, p. 2). Vonnegut also explains that a karass does not have any geographical, racial, political, or other surface-level limitations: “a karass ignores national, institutional, occupational, familial, and class boundaries. It is as free form as an amoeba” (Vonnegut, 1963, p. 2). The concept of karass is not isolated to fiction—in nonfiction and academic contributions in the fields of education, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics, there is a similar concept called club or group membership.
Smith (1988) hypothesized that for successful literacy development, children need to consider themselves as potential readers and writers, or potential members of the “literacy club.” Krashen (2008) also described how language acquisition accelerates when language acquirers consider themselves as potential members of the group that uses the target language. When we join a new group and feel accepted by the native or proficient speakers of a language, our affective filter goes down and we acquire the language and its unique features more efficiently (Krashen, 1997). In this paper, we introduce the karass hypothesis or Krashen–Ashtari hypothesis, the idea that individuals with similar life purposes and passions can come together as a group to achieve certain tasks through collaborations that are higher in value than they could individually. These types of life collaborations have been sprinkled across our human history.
As an established biographer, Charlotte Chandler made it her life’s mission to discover the true essence of and motivation behind creative work among the best-known personalities in the world in various professions, such as Tennessee Williams, Federico Fellini, Bette Davis, Woody Allen, Marc Chagall, Golda Meir, and Alfred Hitchcock. Through their extensive conversations, she found that for all of her interviewees, their work and finding those who were true collaborators throughout their lifetimes were the ultimate satisfactions. In her conversation with Pablo Picasso, he mentioned, “The passions that motivate you may change, but it is your work in life that is the ultimate seduction” (Chandler, 1984, p. 3). This extension of self and fascination with work and finding one’s karass can paint some of the most beautiful experiences life has to offer.
In her book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, Elizabeth Gilbert describes creativity as the hallmark of the human species by stating that “the universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them” (Gilbert, 2015, p. 8). These hidden treasures can be unearthed by self-exploration as well as through collaborations with people and ideas that bring out the best versions of ourselves. Similarly, Gilbert in her book tells the story of a poet, Jack Gilbert, who once after teaching a class on poetry asked one of his talented students if she wanted to pursue writing by asking, “Do you have the courage? Do you have the courage to bring forth this work? The treasures that are hidden inside you are hoping you will say yes” (Gilbert, 2015, p. 55).
The courage to create new projects in any area of expertise requires following and trusting our fascinations and passions or solving problems that cause a revolution in our hearts and minds. Finding one’s karassmates or those allies who can help us to accomplish our shared goals and to collaborate on our interests for the greater good is an essential part of the process. Also intertwined with the karass hypothesis (Krashen and Ashtari, 2024b) is the path hypothesis (Ashtari and Krashen, 2024a), stating that each of us has our own path in life that we consciously or subconsciously are drawn to or our circumstances get aligned for us to follow. In the papers “The Path Hypothesis and Becoming Polyglots”and “Vonnegut Meets Rumi: The karass hypothesis,” we the authors, Stephen Krashen and Nooshan Ashtari, tell the detailed stories of our individual second-language acquisition and academic paths, as well as how our professional paths crossed unexpectedly, leading to us co-writing over a dozen scholarly papers and co-presenting at over 40 conferences so far without having any prior plans for any of the collaborations.
Working with like-minded individuals can bring even more strength and beauty to the work and can help pave the way for others to keep building on the sturdy foundation further.
If you happen to come across karassmates during your life who share the same passion for work that causes a revolution in your heart and mind, then one question remains: Do you have the courage to find the creative treasures and visions that are hidden within you and join those in your karass to help others? We all hope that you say yes.
References
Ashtari, N., and Krashen, S. (2024a). “The Path Hypothesis and Becoming Polyglots.” Asian Journal on Perspectives in Education,4(1), 9–18.
Krashen, S., and Ashtari, N. (2024b). “Vonnegut Meets Rumi: The karass hypothesis.” Asian Journal on Perspectives in Education, 4(1), 1–8.
Chandler, C. (1984). The Ultimate Seduction. Doubleday and Company.
Gilbert, E. (2015). Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. Penguin Random House.
Smith, F. (1988). Joining the Literacy Club. Heinemann.
Vonnegut, K. (1963). Cat’s Cradle. Delacorte Press.
Stephen Krashen and Nooshan Ashtari have spent several decades of their lives advocating for second-language acquisition but never planned any of their collaborations.
Their research paths crossed accidentally, and over the last twelve years, they started to slowly work together on projects to help language acquirers, teachers, and other karassmates around the world. They hope that their publications and presentations will help other researchers and educators find the joy of pursuing the creative process and guide their students in their second-language acquisition journeys.
Last month, Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-California) announced the reintroduction of the Biliteracy Education Seal and Teaching (BEST) Act, a bill that establishes a federal grant program at the US Department of Education to recognize high-level student proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in both English and a second language. Under this program, states would be able to establish or improve their own Biliteracy Seal programs to award seals to K–12 students. The bill focuses on supporting the implementation and scaling of Seal of Biliteracy programs and ensuring that cost is not a barrier to students participating in them.
This recognition not only boosts students’ global workforce competitiveness but also helps employers, colleges, and universities identify candidates with valuable bilingual skills. The initiative is also vital for US diplomacy, intelligence, and military readiness because it ensures a workforce proficient in critical languages.
“Being proficient in two or more languages can be a critical advantage in today’s globalized, competitive economy. By supporting Seal of Biliteracy programs, we can better equip students with essential language skills that enhance their future opportunities and strengthen our national security,” said Congresswoman Brownley. “I have seen firsthand the benefits of this program across California, especially in my district, where bilingualism is very prominent. Preparing our students with multilingualism will open doors to success in both their academic and professional futures.”
“Proficiency in more than one language is a skill of great importance to our nation’s economy and businesses,” said Amanda Seewald, executive director of the Joint National Committee for Languages and the National Council for Languages and International Studies (JNCL-NCLIS). “The BEST Act will help implement and scale Seal of Biliteracy programs that provide this credential to American students. We thank Congresswoman Brownley for her continued leadership on this legislation and for furthering language education nationwide.”
The act would require subgrants from states to school districts to enable them to subsidize the costs of Seal of Biliteracy baseline and final assessments for low-income students.
California’s State Seal of Biliteracy program was first established in 2011 when legislation sponsored by then-Assemblywoman Brownley was signed into law. Since then, over 500,000 high school students have graduated with this seal in California. In the 2023–2024 school year, 490 districts in California participated in the program. Since then, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have established their own statewide Seal of Biliteracy programs.
So many French words have been incorporated into English that we may not even realize that we are hearing French among the languages spoken around us. French is both a global and a local language, spoken by over 320 million around the world and by more than 33 million in the Americas (Nadeau, 2021). In the US, French ancestry may be traced to Canada, Haiti, France, and other areas of the world, particularly African and Caribbean countries.
It is important to consider the reality that the learning and use of French in the US provides access to a global skill and ensures the survival of a heritage language within families and communities.
The good news is that many individuals and organizations in the US encourage, support, and provide opportunities for the use of French in a wide range of settings and activities.
The future of French is framed by and grounded in Francoresponsabilité—a term first used in Québec—defined as développer l’usage de la langue française au quotidien, or developing the use of French in our daily lives, and Franco-activisme—active support for and commitment to French language learning and use and Francophone culture (France-Amérique, 2019, p. 1).
French Language Learning and Use in the US
In the US, French is spoken in the home by two million people, and more than ten million have French ancestry. Much of what is now the US once formed part of Nouvelle France, and French is widely spoken in northern New England and Louisiana. French speakers/Francophones include mother-tongue speakers, heritage-language speakers and learners, and those who have learned French as an additional or world language. Many in the US face the challenge of preserving their family language and of transmitting it to the next present and future generations.
French is learned and used in the US both in traditional educational institutions and in a wide range of community, social, and cultural organizations, and learning environments range from traditional face-to-face on-site meetings to online and hybrid settings.
The American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), founded in 1927, has as its mission “to promote throughout North America the teaching and learning of the French language and French-speaking cultures and civilizations. Our professional organization welcomes and supports educators of French at all academic levels as they seek to broaden their own and their students’ linguistic and cultural horizons to foster and strengthen cross-cultural understanding” (AATF, 2025).
No discussion of French language learning in the US and around the world would be complete without the Alliance française—founded in 1883, and with over 430,000 students in 829 alliances in 135 countries around the world (Fondation, 2025). In the US, there are more than 100 AF offices.
Local initiatives include a wide range of organizations and programs throughout the US, including the Franco-American Centre (FAC) in Manchester, NH, the mission of which “is to preserve the rich heritage of our French communities. We promote history, culture, and education with an understanding of their historic contributions, cultural and artistic expressions, both past and present” (FAC, 2025).
Building on the successful initiative in support of the membership of Louisiana in the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie in 2018, co-founders Scott Tilton and Rudy Bazenet “launched the New Orleans Foundation for Francophone Cultures in June 2020 as a cultural institution aiming to support the revitalization of Louisiana’s heritage cultures, with a focus on Creole, Cadien, and Indigenous communities” (Nous, 2025).
The French-American Academy (FAA), founded in 2007, with the motto “cultivating global leaders in a changing world,” provides bilingual education from preschool through high school. It “strives to provide the highest educational standards with a bilingual, comprehensive curriculum in a safe, nurturing, and creative environment. We foster an atmosphere that promotes critical thinking, curiosity, enthusiasm, and a strong work ethic. In addition, we encourage the physical, social, and emotional development of our students in a nurturing, multicultural setting. Finally, we cultivate diversity and inclusion as well as individual talents. Most importantly, we aspire to see our students become well-rounded, lifelong learners, who are respectful, confident, positive, open-minded, and globally literate” (FAA, 2025).
CinéSchool is an innovative Villa Albertine program under the leadership of Nathalie Charles. “Launched in 2021 by Villa Albertine, the French Embassy in the US, and Albertine Foundation, CinéSchool is an educational film program designed for young audiences, aiming to facilitate French language learning in the United States through French-language cinema” (Villa Albertine, 2025). An example of its innovative and creative approach is its 2024 launch of the innovative Les Grandes grandes vacances, in observance of the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
In educational institutions, language learning has traditionally existed within a framework of language as a school subject or body of knowledge to be absorbed. However, in an immersion-learning setting, the language being learned is also used as the medium of instruction.
Le français des affaires is a program of the International Chamber of Commerce of Paris and Ile de Frances designed to promote and encourage knowledge of French for professional purposes. TAPIF, the Teaching Assistant Program in France, offers US students an opportunity to teach English conversation in French schools and, most recently, a pathway to a career as a French language educator.
French for All
Partnerships have long played a role in supporting and advancing languages, and several French government initiatives have played innovative and significant parts. Most recently, the French for All initiative, launched during President Macron’s state visit to the US in 2022, is working to effectively address the shortage of French teachers through collaborations to provide education and training to native French speakers here in the US who might be interested in a career in teaching French.
French Dual Language Program
This initiative builds on the earlier French Dual Language Program, launched by President Macron during his visit to New York to address the General Assembly in 2017. The Dual Language Program not only supported the development of French dual language programs in US public schools (this is important, as these schools are open to all) but also supported master’s programs in immersion education for teachers and the development of curriculum materials in French for US schools.
While it is essential for language educators, supporters, and stakeholders to support language programs at all levels, whether traditional or immersion programs, as well as language learning beyond the traditional classroom in our communities, immersion is widely considered to be most effective in leading to a successful learning outcome, and Fabrice Jaumont has been described as the “Godfather of language immersion programs” (Pergament, 2014). In the NYC public schools alone, there are some 545 dual language programs for students in grades K–12.
French for All, launched in late 2022, is based on “the principle that foreign language education should be a right, not a privilege, for the next generation of learners in a globalized world” (Villa Albertine, 2023). In its first year alone, French for All supported the Multistate Pathways to Teaching French and the TAPIF to Teacher programs, both designed to address the shortage of qualified language teachers. In addition, it supported the French Heritage Language Program in its expansion beyond New York City, and the new French in Higher Education program, intended to support postsecondary programs in innovation and immersive internships. Beyond French for All, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy supports French–American collaborations and exchanges.
It is also important to support the continuation and expansion of dual language immersion programs generally, and both practitioner and research resources play an important role in bringing needed data and information to educators. Case studies clearly demonstrate how dual language immersion can help to improve academic outcomes and, in the longer term, individual and societal outcomes and beyond.
The French immersion program in Manchester, New Hampshire, scheduled to launch in fall of 2025, is among the most recent success stories. Boston Public Schools offers an immersion program in Haitian Creole and, in addition, Princeton University plans to offer Haitian Creole courses in fall of 2025.
Access and affordability remain key issues, and free and affordable curriculum materials (OERs), as well as scholarships and grants to cover tuition and fees, are needed. Funding for study abroad and virtual study abroad options are also needed.
Conclusions: Francoresponsabilité and Franco-Activisme
In terms of the future of French, Francoresponsabilité and Franco-activisme are essential. The good news is that we can all be francoresponables et franco-activistes, in both our personal and professional lives, supporting both the learning and the use of French in our classrooms and communities.
Kathy Stein-Smith, PhD, is associate university librarian and adjunct faculty in foreign languages and related areas at Fairleigh Dickinson University–Metropolitan Campus, Teaneck, New Jersey. She is chair of the AATF (American Association of Teachers of French) Commission on Advocacy. She is Officier dans l’Ordre des Palmes académiques and a member of Pi Delta Phi, the national French honor society. She is the author of three books and several articles about the foreign language deficit.
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