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 [email protected].
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 [email protected]
In April, America’s Languages Caucus was relaunched with the addition of new House co-chair Representative Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia 2). First-term congresswoman Kiggans, who joined Jimmy Panetta (D-California 20) in this important leadership role, brings her Japanese experience to the position. Prior to being winged as a naval aviator in 1995, Kiggans taught English for a year as part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. During this time, she developed a strong admiration for the Japanese people, their language, and their culture. Later on, Kiggans lived at Naval Air Facility Atsugi as a military spouse for three years while her husband was deployed in Japan, but her fascination with the country, its language, and its culture goes back to high school, when she studied in Japan on the Youth for Understanding student exchange program.
Kiggans’s district includes the Virginia Beach Public School System, which is home to an innovative world language program and the recipient of two multiyear World Language Advancement and Readiness Program (WLARP) grants.
“As someone who taught English in Japan as a part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program and later lived there as a Navy spouse, I have a deep understanding and great appreciation for the critical role language education plays in the lives of countless Americans and [for] our friends across the globe,” Kiggans told the Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCL). “I am excited to work alongside my colleague Congressman Panetta to advocate for legislation that will help American students learn additional languages and allow them to thrive in our increasingly connected world.”
The America’s Languages Caucus was established in 2019 by Representative Price (D-North Carolina 4) and Representative Young (R-Alaska) as a bipartisan effort to support and enhance foreign language competence and international education among students and professionals across the US. In 2021, the caucus became bicameral with the addition of Senate co-chairs Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia). The bipartisan, bicameral caucus is currently made up of 24 members of Congress.
Congress Cuts Language Flagship Funding Due to a “congressional change in funding,” the US Department of Defense is withdrawing financing for more than a third of the 31 language flagship programs it had supported at 23 universities nationwide.
“The decision by the National Security Education Program under the US Department of Defense to terminate funding for the [University of Oregon’s] Chinese Flagship in 2024 was shocking, given the national strategic security interest in promoting professional-level language proficiency in languages like Chinese and Korean,” Zhuo Jing-Schmidt, director of the Chinese Flagship Program at the University of Oregon, told InsideHigherEd. com. Grants for 13 flagship programs were not renewed for the 2024–28 cycle, comprising five of the 13 Chinese programs, four Russian, three Arabic, and one Portuguese. One new program was approved— Portuguese at the University of Arizona— so only 19 out of 31 will be open next academic year.
Amanda Seewald, executive director of the Joint National Committee for Languages and the National Council for Languages and International Studies (JNCL-NCLIS), made the point that “Congress needs to see this as a priority and the funding for the programs should be set in a solidified way that can best serve our nation.
It is a statement of our national values of diplomacy and national security and the impact of language education on our ability to address global issues.”
Educator collaboration is an essential component of dual language education across all program models. By design, many dual language programs are based on a partnership between and among two or more educators who come to the practice with language, [multi]literacy, content expertise, and cultural knowledge and skills in their respective languages and combine their fortes through regular collaboration and co-planning. At other times, dual language teachers forge additional partnerships and collaborate with English Language Development (ELD) teachers who may provide additional language instruction, or special educators (such as Occupational Therapy/Physical Therapy providers, speech-language pathologists, and other support personnel), who may offer in-class support to ensure that students’ complex academic, linguistic, sociocultural, and social-emotional needs are met. Given the diversity and momentum of growth within dual language programs, we’re urgently called to make collaborative partnerships a top priority of practice.
Why Collaborate in Dual Language Programs?
Dual language educators are in a critical position to support Pre-K-12 dual language learners’ multilingual development while simultaneously offering instruction that builds racial and ethnic identities, empowers home languages and cultural heritages, and debunks patterns of marginalization and minoritization. Given the many complexities of dual language schools’ programmatic formats and the communities where they are situated, dual language educators (teachers, paraprofessionals, instructional assistants, coaches, and leaders) now more than ever are well-positioned to collaborate in strategic ways within the context of the classroom, the school, the district, and the larger neighborhood community. This article offers some insights on how to tear down silos and dismantle segregated learning experiences for multilingual learners. We believe in and strongly advocate for educators forging partnerships and all members of the school community collaborating for the sake of their multilingual learners. Simply stated, everyone benefits from collaboration.
How do We Know it Works?
It is well-established in the professional literature and well-documented in evidence-based practitioner accounts that the intentional implementation of the collaborative instructional cycle consisting of collaborative planning, instruction, assessment and reflection yields impactful teaching and learning experiences (Lachance & Honigsfeld, 2023). While coteaching is not always feasible, educators may be engaged in co-planning, co-assessing and co-reflecting. In configurations that do include co-delivery of instruction either via coteaching or partnership teaching, co-planning, co-assessing and co-reflecting are essential pre- and co-requisites (see Figure 1)
Figure 1. The Collaborative Instructional Cycle
Adapted from Honigsfeld & Dove, 2019
Applying The Collaborative Instructional Cycle to the Dual Language Classroom
For teaching pairs, trios, or quads who are either co-teaching or partnership teaching, and collaborative teams who devise and implement instruction for dual language learners, we recommend that all members develop a clear plan of action based on the collaborative instructional cycle—co-planning, co-teaching or partnership teaching, co-assessment, and co-reflection.
Co-Planning
Co-planning is an essential activity; it provides teachers the opportunity to set general learning goals for students based on educational standards, to maintain continuity of instruction, to integrate curricula that include partner language and content objectives, to dialogue and discuss effective ways to leverage students’ home language and cultural assets within instruction and assessment processes, and to co-create authentic multilingual, multidimensional materials that give all students access to content while developing both their basic and disciplinary multiliteracies. Without co-planning, there is no co-teaching or partnership teaching, the second element in the integrated instructional cycle. On the flip side, teachers do not have to co-deliver instruction and still can and should engage in co-planning.
Collaborative planning for strategic use of translanguaging in lessons is a beneficial example of collaboration that ensures the creation of a classroom that is a safe and supportive space where students’ multilingual talents are used authentically, regularly, and with purpose. With these practices like these we can also ensure equitable use of both program languages rather than any greater emphasis given to the majority language with English-dominant learners. Some educators might perceive translanguaging pedagogy as the sole responsibility of the bilingual educator, especially in classrooms that are serving emergent bilingual students with different abilities. Our stance is more focused on collaboration between all educators of MLs.
Built on the four pillars of dual language education, we invite you to use a four-dimensional collaborative planning framework (see Figure 2). When all four dimensions noted are considered together, collaborative planning maximizes teacher effectiveness and meaningful impacts on students’ language acquisition and biliteracy learning in both languages. In addition, students’ grade-appropriate core content knowledge and skills develop along with sociocultural understanding and critical consciousness. Collaboration is vitally important whether the team includes dual language partnering teachers or additional service providers such as special educators with or without the opportunity to co-deliver instruction. As such, collaborative planning upholds multilingual practices brought to life in the dual language classroom.
Figure 2
Integrated Focus on Planning for Dual Language Teaching
Focus
Key Questions
Planning Notes
Language Expectations and Opportunities for Bilingualism and Biliteracy
What language learning standards do we target?
What academic language—general and subject-specific—are embedded in the target content in both languages?
What opportunities do our students have to practice the four key language uses (narrate, inform, argue, explain) across both their languages?
Academic Content Development
What content standards do we target and assess?
What scaffolds are needed to support comprehension of content and language through interpretive modes of communication (listening, reading, viewing)?
What scaffolds are needed to support application of content and language through expressive modes of communication (speaking, writing, visually representing)?
Cultural Competence
What materials can help students develop cross-cultural competence?
What learning tasks and activities can students engage in to demonstrate cross-cultural competence?
Critical Consciousness
How have we ensured that both program languages are given equitable attention?
What aspect(s) of critical consciousness have we woven into the lesson content and/or materials?
What opportunities have we planned for our minoritized dual language learners to serve in linguistic leadership roles?
Adapted from Lachance and Honigsfeld, 2023
Co-Delivering Instruction
Co-delivering instruction takes on various forms and involves a range of educators in the dual language context. Co-delivery requires coordinated purpose, equal teaching partnerships, and shared responsibilities for a class community of learners who are not separated for instruction by their labels. Rather, co-delivery involves the thoughtful grouping of students for learning, clear and shared agreements regarding one’s roles and responsibilities during the co-taught lesson, and the coordination of teaching efforts. Co-delivery also invites challenges teachers to remain flexible, to be open to new ideas, and to trust one another to problem-solve together.
Depending on the program model implemented in schools, we differentiate between two major approaches to collaborative instructional delivery in the dual language context: partnership teaching and co-teaching. There are many unique similarities and difference between these two main approaches to co-instruction, but let’s start with some straightforward, simple definitions:
Partnership teaching happens when two teachers systematically align their instruction, work with the same group of students, but do not (or rarely) co-deliver instruction in the same physical setting.
Co-teaching takes place when two teachers physically share the classroom space, responsibility for all students through integrated instructional practices.
Partnership teaching and co-teaching partnerships may also include ELD (English Language Development) teachers, special educators, literacy or math intervention providers, and other educators, such as paraprofessionals or instructional aides (also referred to as paraprofessionals, or teaching assistants). Two-way programs are frequently designed to rely on two teachers collaborating and coordinating instruction for two groups of students. Do you recognize any of these basic configurations for partnership teaching? How do they compare to your context?
Scenario 1:
Group 1/Class 1 begins the day with Teacher 1 in Language 1
Group 2/Class 2 begins the day with Teacher 2 in Language 2
Halfway through the day, the two groups are swapped:
Group 1/Class 1 finishes the day with Teacher 2 in Language 2
Group 2/Class 2 finishes the day with Teacher 1 in Language 1
Scenario 2:
Group 1/Class 1 spends an entire day with Teacher 1 in Language 1
Group 2/Class 2 spends an entire day with Teacher 2 in Language 2
The groups and teachers switch every day
Scenario 3:
Group 1/Class 1 spends an entire week with Teacher 1 in Language 1
Group 2/Class 2 spends an entire week with Teacher 2 in Language 2
The groups and teachers switch every week
[End textbox here]
Co-Assessment
Co-assessment provides teaching partners with opportunities to consider their students’ individual strengths and needs by reviewing available student assessment data to establish shared instructional goals and objectives. Collaborative assessment practices allow teachers to decide the need to further build students’ background knowledge or the requisite for re-teaching and review in either or both partner languages. Although the analysis of standardized assessment scores provides some information, for teaching teams to establish pertinent learning objectives, we urge the examination of additional data such as local school assessments in both partner languages, unit tests in both partner languages, bilingual project-based outcomes, bilingual writing samples, learning summaries, bilingual journal writing, student observations, and other formal and informal evaluations. Comprehensive data collection and analysis reveal a more holistic picture of students’ progressions to then determine individual student needs which may be used more effectively for dual language linguistic, instructional, and programmatic bridging, planning follow-up, and continued instruction for biliteracy.
Co-reflecting
Co-reflecting on educational practices has many aspects, and it frequently sets the parameters for the next collaborative instructional cycle. Reflection provides insight into whether strategies and resources used during lessons are affecting student learning and can be particularly useful when teaching teams want to hone their collaborative skills. Successful teaching partners often reflect on both their challenges and successes to refine instruction. As we transform our collaborative practices in dual language education to be truly multidimensional, we must also shift our actions to increase our collaborative reflections. Biliteracy development is based on the intertwining of both languages, a process we all agree to describe as deeply complex. Stephen Brookfield (2017) suggests that we view what we do and how we form assumptions about the teaching-learning process that takes place in our classrooms through four different lenses. We’ve adapted them for the dual language context:
The students’ eyes: What are the students seeing and experiencing as they assess their own and each other’s multilingual/multiliteracies development?
Our colleagues’ perceptions: What are our colleagues seeing and experiencing within the collaborative assessment processes that are reflective of sociocultural competencies?
Our own personal experiences: What have we experienced in the past that is similar or different than our MLs’? What connections can I make my own sense of critical consciousness?
Relevant theory and research: What do related educational theory and research have to say about these experiences as they align with all four pillars of dual language education?
We recognize that collaborative educators dedicate significant time and resources to the three aspects of the collaborative cycle: co-planning, co-teaching, and co-assessing. We take the stance that co-reflection is a must-have, a critical aspect of the cycle whereby experiences provide empowering motivators to consistently renew the full instructional cycle.
What’s Next?
We remain steadfast to continue our efforts for breaking down the monolingual wall and, we advocate for dual language educators to collaborate with national- and state-level policymakers, community and school leaders, immigrant students and families, and others seeking multilingual schooling for integrated collaborative instruction. Dual language programs and instructional practices must be based on based on the equity principle that multilingual learners avoid isolation from their English-speaking peers for biliteracy development. For students to have a welcomed sense of belonging and thrive academically, they need to be taught by subject-specific experts, that is the dual language content and grade-level teachers who are committed to promoting biliteracy development along with developing MLs’ English-language skills. Therefore, strategic multilingual collaboration practices between dual language teachers and ELD specialists ensure instruction is provided by language-development professionals for students to learn the core curriculum in both program languages. A conclusive representation of what we embrace and honor for success may be demonstrated through the words of Margarita Calderón and her colleagues as they claim, “the success of dual language programs depends on collaboration between teachers, administrators, and students. In a dual language school, teachers are well-prepared to co-teach and students to co-learn” (p. 163). Thus, collaboration is perceived to be the norm, simply stated, a solid necessity for breaking down the monolingual wall.
References
Brookfield, S. (2017). Becoming a critically reflective teacher (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Calderón, M., Espino, G., & Slakk, S. (2019). Integrating language, reading, writing, and content in English and Spanish. Velázquez Press.
Honigsfeld, A., & Dove, M. G. (2019). Collaborating for English learners: A foundational guide to integrated practices. Corwin.
Lachance, J., & Honigsfeld, A. (2023). Collaboration and co-teaching for dual language learners: Transforming programs for multilingualism and equity. Corwin.
Andrea Honigsfeld is a TESOL professor at Molloy University, NY, author/consultant, and sought-after international speaker, whose work primarily focuses on teacher collaboration in support of multilingual learners. She is the co-author/co-editor of over 30 books, eleven of them bestsellers.
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed into law the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy legislation, which would “amend teacher education programs to improve classroom instruction in reading,” adhering to “evidence-based research on phonemic awareness, phonetics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.” The bipartisan bill would align higher education and K–12 resources to retrain Kansas educators in the science of reading, structured literacy, literacy screening, and assessment tools. It directed the Kansas Board of Regents, which has oversight responsibilities for state universities, to appoint a director of literacy education and create a literacy committee. The measure appropriated $10 million to the Kansas Board of Regents for the cost of training teachers in reading and preparing them to earn a reading science credential. Centers for excellence in reading would be established at the six state universities to provide assessment and diagnosis of reading difficulties, train in-service and preservice educators through the use of simulation labs, and support school-based instructional coaches.
California State superintendent of public instruction Tony Thurmond testified in Senate Education Committee about the need for results-proven training for all teachers of reading and math. Thurmond’s testimony was in support of SB 1115, which proposes to fund “evidence-backed educator training in order to address the urgent need for improved student outcomes across the state.” According to the California Department of Education, current efforts to fund educator training in literacy and math are only sufficient to train one third of California’s educator workforce. SB 1115 would fund the remaining two thirds. “This is an issue of moral clarity,” said Thurmond. “In the fifth-largest economy in the world, and in an age when we have access to substantial brain science about how students learn, it should be unacceptable to train only some educators in the best strategies to teach essential skills.” SB 1115 includes support for multiple methods backed by research, including phonics, as well as language development strategies aligned to the California ELA/ELD Framework proven to support and encourage biliteracy and multilingualism.
Oklahoma If passed by the Senate, legislation passed by the Oklahoma House of Representatives could ban teachers from using the “three-cueing” method to teach reading, and instead train them in the science of reading, including phonics instruction. Senate Bill 362 renames Oklahoma’s existing state Reading Sufficiency Act as the Strong Readers Act and includes the following provisions: Oklahoma public school teachers “shall be prohibited from using the three-cueing system model of teaching students to read” starting in the 2027–28 school year. It defines the three-cueing system as “any model of teaching students to read based on meaning, structure, syntax, and visual cues, which may also be known as meaning, structure, and visual (MSV), balanced literacy, or whole language.” Oklahoma teachers are to be trained in “the science of reading to provide explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, encoding, writing, and comprehension, and implement reading strategies that research has shown to be successful in improving reading among students with reading difficulties.” Teacher candidates seeking degrees in early childhood education or elementary education are to pass a comprehensive assessment measuring their teaching skills in reading instruction. SB 362 passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives on a 78–3 vote. The amended legislation now returns to the Oklahoma Senate.
Wisconsin The Wisconsin Legislature is suing Governor Tony Evers and the Department of Public Instruction over literacy legislation passed last summer and the partial veto of SB 971 in February, which empowered the Joint Finance Committee to direct $50 million for specific early literacy programs that were included in the 2023 bill. The lawsuit argues partial vetoes to that bill issued by Evers were unconstitutional. Evers’s partial veto (Act 100) struck out language allocating money for school boards and charter schools to comply with the early literacy program requirements. The lawsuit argues the changes “will allow DPI to treat any money directed to it as money that can be used by the Office of Literacy for any literacy program that office deems fit.” The bipartisan reading bill, known as Act 20, with its emphasis on phonics, is scheduled to be implemented in the 2024–25 school year.
Maryland Maryland’s new Freedom to Read act outlaws book bans within library systems that receive money from the state. The law states material may not be excluded or removed from a school library because of the origin, background, or views of the author and not for partisan, ideological, or religious disapproval either. It also calls for school systems to create a procedure to review titles that may be challenged but must remain available on the shelves during the process. The legislation adds protections against retaliation for library staff who follow the law. A violation of the law could lead to loss of state funding. The law comes to light as Maryland libraries report seeing a 130% increase in formal challenges in their collections since 2019, according to the Maryland State Library Agency.
Contrary to some expectations, the global reaction to U.S. student protests against the war in Gaza has been largely positive with student groups in the Mexico, UK, and France even creating “solidarity encampments” to support the movement.
At Mexico City’s UNAM, the country’s largest college, students erected several tents in front of the university’s administration buildings in solidarity against Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
Mexican geography student Alexa Carranza told National Public Radio (NPR) that she was “heartened by the U.S. college protests, particularly since she had long considered U.S. students to be apathetic about global injustice. Mexican students were demanding their government should entirely sever its diplomatic relations with Israel.
Ana Jiménez, an 18-year-old UNAM student who grew up in Guerrero, a region plagued by drug cartel conflict can relate to the Gaza conflict. “We need global solidarity, an empathetic world,” she told NPR. “When you’re young, there is no other choice but to be a revolutionary.”
UK students have been campaigning to end British arms exports to Israel with protests at government and arms manufacturers’ offices. At Warwick University in central England, students and staff built an encampment on a central campus square and demanded that the university sever relations with companies supplying arms to Israel.
Warwick has academic and research partnerships with companies involved in the production of weapons systems or components used in weapons, including Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Moog.
Elite French school Sciences Po, alma mater of many French politicians, has been the scene of major protests. Despite students’ specific demands, Sciences Po’s leadership says it will not cut ties nor investigate its connections with four Israeli universities. Police were called in to help disperse protestors at Sciences Po’s campus and at the famous Sorbonne.
The number of international students in the UK should be capped and the graduate visa should be abolished immediately, according to a new report by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), an influential right-wing thinktank.
The report, Taking Back Control, billed as a comprehensive survey of the UK’s immigration system, also says that universities where “there is evidence of sustained abuse” should also be prevented from being able to sponsor student visas at all, says, which adds that the London-based satellite campuses of “provincial” universities should be subjected to particular scrutiny as they are said to offer master’s courses “of dubious quality”.
The report was co-authored by Conservative MP Neil O’Brien, who has become one of the biggest critics of the UK’s post-study work options. Scrapping the visa outright is therefore a central recommendation of the report.
Universities should also be held “accountable for their international students”, the report recommends, and “where there is evidence of sustained abuse”, which could include very high dropout rates, low attendance, and a drop in academic standards, “they should be struck off the list of licensed study visa sponsors.”
“We should focus initially on reviewing the 18 satellite campuses of non-London universities in London, which are geared towards international students on master’s courses of dubious quality”, it says.
These universities should “reorient towards educating and training the local or regional population, rather than trying to educate the rest of the world”, the report adds.
The survey recommends that the “arbitrary” target of attracting 600,000 international students a year be “substantially revised” to “focus on quality over quantity.”
“Student immigration is popular because the public believes in attracting the best and brightest students from across the globe, allowing them to study at Britain’s world-class universities, and then return home,” said Karl Williams, the thinktank’s research director and report co-author.
“Unfortunately, the reality is the routes are being abused – often the courses foreign students enroll on are low quality, dropout rates are high, and many students end up staying for the long term after their studies, often in low paid work.
“The reforms we outline will put parliament in control of the overall number of study visas issued, rather than effectively leaving it up to the universities. They will also reduce the potential for abuse – ensuring those who come to Britain on study visas are genuinely here to study, and not as a backdoor to full-time work.”
Career and technical education (CTE) courses and programs offer opportunities for multilingual learners (MLs) to meet their educational and career goals. State education agencies and school districts are required to provide MLs equal opportunities to participate in all available programs and activities, including CTE programs (U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, & U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, 2015). Equitable access to these programs is not only a right, but a promising pathway for preparing MLs for postsecondary education and careers.
CTE courses and programs prepare students for the workforce in a wide variety of industries and occupations such as architecture and construction, education and training, finance, hospitality and tourism, and information technology (ACTE, 2022). Secondary students that successfully complete CTE coursework can earn industry certifications and licenses which support them with transitioning into postsecondary education and careers. In this article I will define what ML representation looks like in secondary CTE programs, explain why CTE is an important option for MLs, explore barriers and potential solutions for ML participation and success in CTE programs, and offer ideas for next steps in this work.
What does ML representation look like in CTE?
MLs are all students whose parents or guardians report speaking one or more language(s) other than or in addition to English at home. MLs may or may not qualify for English Language Development (ELD) services based on their most current English language proficiency (ELP) scores (Snyder et al., 2023), but for the purposes of this article, I am specifically focusing on MLs that do qualify for ELD services. At the secondary level, as of 2020, MLs that qualify for ELD services account for 6.78% of the public-school high school population. They represent 7.7% of 9th graders, 7.4% of 10th, 6.4% of 11th, and 5.6% of 12th graders (National Education Statistics, 2023). These numbers are significant as we explore MLs’ equitable access to CTE programs.
During the 2019-20 school year, MLs students across the country participated in high school CTE programs at roughly the same percentage rate as their share of the high school population in their state (Sugarman, 2023). For example, in North Carolina, MLs students make up 5.1% of total enrollment in high school and 5.3% of CTE participants in high school. While these findings are certainly encouraging, the data does not disaggregate based on different ML groups, such as by ELP level. It is important for schools and districts to analyze their own data on ML participation in CTE programs and to use that information as a springboard for further investigation to identify possible issues around access for MLs. For instance, upon investigation, a district may find that MLs that have recently arrived in the U.S. and are at the beginning stages of English language proficiency are underrepresented in their CTE programs due to limited outreach conducted in ML families’ home languages about the CTE programs available, or CTE program entrance requirements that make it challenging for these students to take part. This finding could then prompt the district to develop targeted outreach to this group of MLs through collaboration between ELD teachers and family liaisons.
Why is CTE an important option for MLs?
In April 2022, the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) released an infographic on preparing MLs for postsecondary education and careers through CTE. The infographic highlights many of the benefits of CTE for MLs, including higher rates of high school graduation, college attendance, and employment for CTE concentrators versus non-CTE concentrators. It also notes that CTE programs open doors to careers in high-demand occupations that have elevated growth and earning potential in fields such as technology, engineering, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing.
Additionally, CTE programs include a hands-on approach to learning that tends to be concrete and provides immediate relevance for MLs. Many CTE classrooms provide regular opportunities for productive talk in which students are working together to solve a problem or create something, making these classrooms an ideal place to learn and practice language. These features of CTE classrooms can have a positive impact on language acquisition and should be intentionally supported and planned for.
It is critical that districts and schools work to ensure equitable ML representation in CTE programs and to promote high-quality educational experiences for the MLs enrolled in these programs. Our current workforce demands diverse, multilingual candidates and MLs are uniquely equipped with these skills. CTE programs are one way for MLs to leverage these skills to be competitive in today’s workforce. When MLs are intentionally included in secondary CTE programs, they can have the opportunity to succeed in whichever path they choose. However, when educators are not intentional about including MLs in CTE programs or don’t support their equitable access to CTE content through research-based instructional strategies, they may inadvertently do MLs a disservice.
PULLQUOTE:
When MLs are intentionally included in secondary CTE programs, they can have the opportunity to succeed in whichever path they choose.
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What barriers exist for ML access to and engagement in CTE programs?
While CTE programs offer many benefits for MLs, it is important to acknowledge that barriers do exist. The first layer of barriers that some MLs face is access to CTE programs. Students and families may not be aware of the opportunities to engage in CTE programs within their school or district due to limited multilingual outreach. Schools or districts may also have specific rules for enrollment into a CTE program, such as a minimum grade point average or a prerequisite academic class, which could lead to MLs being disproportionately kept out of CTE programs (Sugarman, 2023). Issues with scheduling CTE coursework into MLs’ course of study may prevent students from being able to fully access CTE opportunities in their school. Schools often find this especially difficult for newcomer MLs who may have a number of core academic courses that have to complete in order to accumulate all the credits needed to graduate (Sugarman, 2023). Additionally, transportation and program fees can become an issue for students. For instance, some CTE programs or classes may be held at a different location than a students’ home school or there may be participants or industry certification fees associated with the program. Beyond access to programs, challenges around educator preparedness and appropriate instruction may exist. CTE teachers may not have specialized pedagogical training in working with MLs. Without training in best practices, instruction will not likely be scaffolded to meet the strengths and needs of MLs.
How can schools and districts support ML participation and success in CTE programs?
While barriers exist for MLs’ access to and engagement in CTE programs, there are several strategies schools and districts can take to support MLs students’ participation and success in these programs.
ML recruitment and retention efforts are necessary for MLs to successfully engage in CTE programs. Schools and districts can utilize trusted staff, like ELD teachers, counselors, and family liaisons to encourage participation and support the application process for ML students and families. They can also share information about the benefits and address any concerns or misconceptions families may have about the programs (Advance CTE & ACTE, 2024; Najarro, 2023; Gregoire-Smith, 2022). Multilingual outreach should be intentional and align to the needs of students and families, including written materials, phone calls, and social media posts. Schools and districts can also elevate the voices of current ML CTE students with site visits to encourage MLs entering high school to participate. For example, MLs could shadow current ML CTE students during their classes, or ML CTE students could present their experience in CTE and talk about the benefits of the program. To retain MLs in CTE programs, schools can find creative ways to include flexible learning opportunities such as offering early morning or evening classes, creating summer school options, and providing work-based learning credit for jobs students already have (Najarro, 2023; Sugarman, 2023).
Educator preparedness can greatly impact MLs experience and success within a CTE program.To ensure educators are prepared to meet the strengths and needs of the MLs in their courses, professional learning should focus on implementing research-based best practice in instruction and curriculum for MLs (Advance CTE, 2022). Such strategies include the use of peer learning opportunities, explicit vocabulary development, individualized writing support, academic language mini-lessons, and exam preparation using multiple modalities (Gregoire-Smith, 2023a, 2023b). ELD teachers can support this learning through coaching, co-teaching, curriculum writing, and delivering professional development (Advance CTE & ACTE, 2024; Office of the English Language Acquisition & U.S. Department of Education, 2022). The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) identifies MLs as a “special population” under the law and allows funds to be used to hire, recruit, and train teachers. It specifically calls for professional learning “to give educators of students who are English learners [MLs] in career and technical education programs or programs of study the knowledge and skills to provide instruction and appropriate language and academic support services to those students, including the appropriate use of curricula and assessments” (p. 12 – 13).
Collaboration across departmentsand offices has the potential to greatly impact MLs access to and success in CTE programs. ELD departments cannot be solely responsible for the serving MLs, it must be a collaborative effort. When departments collaborate, there are opportunities to join forces in providing equitable access to CTE for MLs. For example, the CTE and ELD departments can come together to evaluate their current policies and practices related to MLs and CTE, identify areas of strength and need, and develop plans to address issues they unsurfaced. Additionally, collaboration efforts can be used to plan for and fund both teachers and professional learning. In fact, Title III of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) explicitly allows funding to provide CTE to MLs (Sugarman, 2023). In their 2022 brief around supporting MLs in CTE, Advance CTE and ACTE call for “federal policy braiding” in which leaders leverage federal funding from Perkins V and ESSA Title III to improve CTE for MLs.
What are our next steps in moving this work forward?
School and district leaders are in a powerful position to ensure CTE is leveraged in their context to support MLs in achieving their educational and career goals. Begin by collaboratively reviewing your context using the following guiding questions.
ML Representation: Is the percentage of MLs in your CTE program smaller than, about the same as, or greater than the percentage of MLs at the school? Do discrepancies exist based on ELP levels? If you don’t know, how might you find out?
Opportunities and Barriers: Do any barriers exist for MLs entering CTE programs in your school or district (e.g., scheduling, proficiency level requirements, or prerequisites)? If so, what are those barriers and how might they be removed?
Recruiting and Retaining MLs in CTE Programs: What strategies does your school or district use to recruit (e.g., multilingual outreach, trusted staff, site visits) and retain (e.g., flexible learning opportunities, work-based learning credit) MLs in CTE programs?
Educator Preparedness: What experience and training related to working with MLs do CTE educators in your context have? Are there opportunities for professional learning related to supporting MLs?
Collaboration Across Departments: To what extent does collaboration across departments in support of MLs exist in your context? How might you work to increase collaboration in support of MLs access to and participation in CTE programs?
Secondary CTE programs offer exciting opportunities for MLs to achieve their personal education and career goals. And it is imperative that schools and districts take the time to leverage CTE as an opportunity for MLs. Wherever you are in the process, I encourage you to celebrate your current successes and consider the idea presented here to prioritize your next steps.
Gregoire-Smith, M. (2023a, April). Supporting English learners’ participation in high-quality CTE. Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE).
National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). English Learners in Public Schools. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgf.
Meghan Gregoire-Smith, M.A., is a multilingual leaner (ML coach) with SupportEd (https://supported.com), a woman-owned small business dedicated to advocacy and educational equity for multilingual learners and their families. In this role, she provides professional development, coaching, and technical assistance to organizations, districts, and educators in support of multilingual learners and their families. She is the co-author of Unlocking Multilingual Learners’ Potential: Strategies for Making Content Accessible, 2nd Edition.
Language development is a responsibility of all teachers, regardless of their assignment or content area. To meet content standards like the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards, students must not only understand content but also develop critical language knowledge and skills, as outlined in English language proficiency standards like those used in Oregon.
The integrated English language development (ELD) service model guides educators to combine content and language instruction. The model provides inclusive, equitable access to core content while improving linguistic and academic outcomes for emergent multilingual students.
What is integrated instruction?
In the integrated ELD model, educators teach language and content simultaneously by designing lessons focused on content standards with scaffolding that supports emergent multilingual students at their respective language proficiency levels. With integrated ELD, students experience explicit language development opportunities throughout the school day—not just in language classes.
Guided by both language and content standards, students receive high-quality, embedded English language instruction while engaging in rigorous language arts practice: reading, writing, speaking, and listening about meaningful current topics, themes, and events. In addition, all students can take elective courses. Newcomer and beginning English learner students, who tend to need more intensive support, may receive additional instruction in a separate ELD class.
Content area and ELD teachers use English language proficiency standards to design integrated language and learning outcomes. The standards define what students should know and do by highlighting how language is used to access grade-appropriate texts and tasks. The standards also delineate how students interact with one another to construct meaning, use language to connect their ideas, and express their understanding of concepts.
The inclusive integrated ELD model differs from traditional practices such as pull-out programs, the typical model for English learner students. Pull-out programs often socially stigmatize students and create barriers to opportunity.i,ii Further, pull-out programs offer few opportunities to extend language learning and are relatively ineffective in terms of student outcomes.iii By contrast, integrated ELD benefits all students—regardless of whether they are designated as English learners.
Why integrated instruction?
Research shows that students acquire English faster, make greater academic gains, form stronger relationships with their classmates, and better engage in classroom tasks if they remain in core classes with their peers instead of being pulled into a separate ELD class.iv By emphasizing grade- level access to core content with high support, the integrated ELD model ensures that students designated as English learners participate in the same engaging disciplinary practices as their peers.v The model helps educators weave concepts, analytical practices, and the associated language demands into a seamless, coherent experience.vi
“Given the growing numbers of English learners attending schools throughout the United States, the increasing language and literacy demands across the subject areas, and the fact that disciplinary instruction can serve as an ideal context for language development, it can no longer be the case that the development of English for academic purposes remains the sole responsibility of English as a Second Language teachers. This responsibility has to be understood as belonging to every teacher, in every discipline.”
– Walqui & Bunch 2019, p. ix
Federal law mandates that all schools give students access to grade-level content and provide ELD that allows English learners “to attain both English proficiency and parity of participation in the standard instructional program within a reasonable amount of time … until [they] are proficient in English and can participate meaningfully” without designated English learner support.vii Similar to the highly effective dual language model, the integrated ELD model provides language instruction in the context of academic content, making content area learning more accessible.viii
Districts that have shifted to integrated ELD programs say the model supports meaningful content- rich activities and language growth. When teachers carefully scaffold language and content learning— and students work and talk together—language development occurs.ix
References
i Callahan, R., Wilkinson, L., Muller, C., & Frisco, M. (2009). ESL placement and schools: Effects on immigrant achievement. Educational Policy, 23(2), 355–384. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904807310034
ii Valdés, G. (1998). The world outside and inside schools: Language and immigrant children.
Educational Researcher, 27(6), 4–18.
iii Collier, V. P., & Thomas, W. P. (2009). Educating English learners for a transformed world. Dual Language Education of New Mexico – Fuente Press.
viii National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. (2017). Promoting the educational success of children and youth learning English: Promising futures. National Academies Press.
ix Ruiz, V. (2016, March 11). Don’t blame the ELD teachers if the predominant ELD paradigm is inadequate & failing our ELL students: Two comparison studies: Focusing on the paradigms that drive & influence our attempts to design effective & successful ELD programs [Presentation slides]. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2772248
At Education Northwest, Kelli Scardina helps schools and districts use evidence-based strategies that promote equitable, effective instruction for emergent bilingual students and provide all students better access to core content and language learning. She shares her experience and expertise from 30 years as a bilingual and bicultural pre-K–12 educator, leader, professional learning facilitator, curriculum designer, program developer, collaborator, and thought partner.
Jennifer Johnson is principal consultant, Equity & Systems Improvement for Multilingual Learners at Education Northwest. Jennifer’s professional passion is in creating educational access and promoting authentic student identity and agency in education. Her career includes 23 years of experience serving in public education as a dual language teacher, bilingual instructional coach, building principal, and district-level multilingual director. Her focus over the years has been on serving diverse, multilingual populations in underserved school settings.
The Missing Scripts program aims to preserve the rich diversity of the world’s languages and protect Indigenous scripts, ensuring their existence in the digital sphere.
Developed in partnership with the Script Encoding Initiative (University of California, Berkeley) and the University of Applied Sciences Mainz (Germany), the Missing Scripts was initiated in response to the alarming realization that only half of the world’s writing forms are present on digital platforms. Missing are not only ancient scripts, some of which remain undeciphered, but also a large number of minority and/or Indigenous writings still in use today. Neglected by the digital industry, these writings, along with the languages they represent, face the threat of extinction, so the program aims to fix this situation. The initial step involves encoding these scripts, a process that entails standardizing them by assigning a numerical identifier to each symbol.
This task has been carried out by the Universal Unicode Standard since the early 1990s. However, mere encoding is insufficient. Equally imperative is the development of input methods such as keyboards to ensure compatibility across various operating systems, as well as the creation of appropriate fonts. Designing these digital fonts requires specialized expertise, involving collaboration with experts, including native speakers, developers, and linguists. This aspect of the program, led by researchers on the Atelier national de recherche typographique (ANRT), a postgraduate research course of the École nationale supérieure d’art et de design (ENSAD), a public art school in Nancy, France, allows these writings to be accessible on computers and smartphones. This approach thus makes a strong case for an interdisciplinary artistic education that combines technology, art, culture, and typography.
This is an essential issue of digital empowerment. Without proper encoding, not only is the publication or exchange of texts impossible but also the construction of vital data sets essential to current technologies, such as automatic translation, voice recognition, machine learning, and AI, becomes unattainable. The Missing Scripts project fits with the proposed outputs of the UN’s Global Action Plan, contributing to the goal of enhancing the practical use of Indigenous languages.
The Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council is calling for “an Alaska committed to increasing the number of Alaska Native language speakers and promoting common use of the languages.”
Instead of its regular biannual reports, the group has issued a call to action (https://drive.google.com/file/d/16r-eMsxbvAw0Be2-ali75c9uyZHT6pcb/view?usp=sharing), entitled Ayaruq, the Yup’ik word for walking stick, to reflect that it is a guide on the path forward. It asks Alaskans and lawmakers to affirm the right to Indigenous education, acknowledge oppression and intergenerational trauma, commit to language equity, and normalize the use of Alaska Native languages.
Council members made specific policy suggestions, including that one semester of an Alaska Native language be a prerequisite for high school graduation in the state, but none of them have yet materialized in proposals from lawmakers.
“If we want something other than language death, which I think is guaranteed for probably 20 of the 23 languages—just guaranteed—but if we want something different, then we have to have systemic change,” Professor X̱’unei Lance Twitchell told Alaska Public Media.
A decade has passed since the last legislation to support Alaska Native languages became law. In 2014, the state updated a 1998 law that recognized Alaska Native languages as official state languages.
Only one piece of current legislation addresses Alaska Native languages. House Bill 26 would expand and rename the Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council, as well as add three previously unrecognized Alaska Native languages to the list of official state languages. The House approved the bill in 2023, but the Senate has yet to schedule it for a floor hearing.
Members of the council have cautioned for years that swift state action is needed to support language pedagogy and use, since many first-language speakers have died.
But as the Alaska Native language community loses its older generation, Twitchell says he sees an exponential increase in the number of young people interested in learning. By his count, there are about 100 active Tlingít learners who ask questions and use the language.
Since the 1990s, the South Korean government has encouraged Korean men, particularly those in rural areas, to marry women from overseas.
However, the lives of these “marriage migrant” women are not easy, as they are often stigmatized, and there have been reports of domestic violence and abuse. Many come to South Korea not knowing the language, but despite this, they are carving out a significant place for themselves in Korean society.
To help them succeed, the Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family plans to offer 104 vocational courses at 77 family centers nationwide. The family center will assess marriage migrants’ preparedness and competency to place them on appropriate preliminary training programs, like understanding of workplace culture, computer skills, and Korean-language education customized for their jobs.
After the initial training, vocational training will be offered, including general courses leveraging an immigrant’s background skills for jobs like bilingual instructor, judicial and medical interpreter, and trade administrative staff, plus entrepreneurship courses that reflect an area’s demand for jobs.
After students complete the preliminary and vocational training courses, the centers will assist them in finding jobs at schools, courts, companies, and organizations as well as offer individual counseling on issues in work–life balance and working conditions encountered after employment.
All courses are free, and to boost participation, educational activity fees are subsidized.
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