How California Community Schools Can Empower Educational Diversity

According to a 2022 report by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, a quarter of the US foreign-born population resides in California. Furthermore, 40% of California’s public education system is composed of multilingual students. Given the vast and diverse nature of the state and its student population, the need for an education system that bastions and elevates dual language learners (DLs) and ELL’s remains a present and urgent goal. The California Community Schools model is one approach that has been key to the development of holistic, inclusive, and welcoming educational environments. 

For schools considering applying for the California Community Schools Partnership Program, it is therefore crucial to integrate resources such as the English Learner Roadmap to bastion multilingual learning and family partnerships. We’ll cover questions on how to implement inclusive education practices in the California Community Schools model, as well as: 

1. What are California Community Schools? 
2. What are the benefits of California Community Schools? 
3. What is the importance of multilingualism in education? 
4. How do California Community Schools empower inclusive education? 
5. How do you overcome challenges in multilingual family engagement for CSS? 
6. What is the future of multilingualism in California Community Schools?  

At SEAL (Sobrato Early Academic Language), we merge powerful research and an evidence-based approach to advancing the educational outcomes of multilingual learners. We work across the state of California, partnering with preschools and elementary schools, districts, county offices and other educational stakeholders to ensure all English Learners and Dual Language Learners alike can engage in rigorous and joyful learning. 

To learn more about SEAL, you can see our resources, contact us for more information, or subscribe to our newsletter for updates. 

What Are California Community Schools? 

The California Community Schools model represents a progressive approach to education, focusing on a holistic integration of educational resources, family involvement, and community strengths to foster student success. This innovative model extends beyond traditional academic frameworks by incorporating health, social, and psychological services directly within the school setting, ensuring comprehensive support tailored to the diverse needs of its students. 

At the heart of the community schools model is the concept of partnership. These schools operate under a collaborative framework involving not just the educators and students, but also families, community members, local businesses, and social service agencies. The partnership approach ensures that the educational process is inclusive and responsive to the needs of all students, particularly those from underserved communities. By leveraging the strengths and resources of the entire community, California Community Schools can offer more personalized support to students, helping them overcome barriers to learning that may arise from outside the school environment.

The California Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP) is a significant state initiative backed by a substantial financial commitment of $4.1 billion through the 2030-31 academic year. This investment is targeted at public schools across the state to develop and enhance community school models. 

The funding is intended to facilitate the creation and maintenance of strong and intentional community partnerships, with the ultimate goal of ensuring comprehensive student learning and whole child and family development. This substantial investment underscores the state's commitment to redefining public education in a way that is more inclusive and effective for all students.

California Community Schools Enhance Student Well-Being 

California Community Schools are uniquely positioned to enhance student learning and well-being because they serve as hubs for both education and community services. The role of California Community Schools includes:

• Academic Support and Enrichment: CSS provide high-quality academic instruction tailored to the needs of their diverse student bodies. They also offer a range of enrichment programs that extend learning opportunities beyond the traditional curriculum.
• Health and Social Services: California Community Schools often house on-site health clinics, mental health counselors, and social workers who provide critical services directly to students and their families. This access not only supports students' physical and mental health but also removes barriers to learning associated with health issues.
• Family and Community Engagement: By actively involving families and community members in the school’s operations and decision-making processes, California Community Schools builds stronger relationships that enhance the educational environment. This engagement helps align school programs with the community’s needs and values, fostering a sense of ownership and shared responsibility for student success.
• Holistic Student Development: Beyond academics, community schools focus on developing students' social and emotional skills, critical thinking abilities, and overall resilience. The supportive environment helps students navigate their personal and academic challenges effectively.

The Benefits of Multilingualism for California Community School Students 

The benefits of being multilingual span from economic to social, cognitive, and cultural development. Multilingualism, for instance, is a skill urgently needed in today’s job market, with job postings requiring bilingual skills in California increased from 22,996 to 96,714. Students who foster multilingual skills, therefore, are developing a toolkit for long-term career success. 

California Community Schools place a strong emphasis on embracing linguistic diversity as a core component of their educational philosophy. Given the state's rich multicultural population, multilingualism is seen not just as an asset but as an essential element of student identity and community strength. 

The California Community Schools model actively promotes the inclusion and celebration of students' home languages in the classroom, recognizing that maintaining and developing these languages alongside English contributes to students' cognitive development, academic achievement, and cultural pride.

Research consistently shows that bilingual and multilingual students tend to have better cognitive flexibility, problem-solving skills, and metalinguistic awareness compared to their monolingual peers. By fostering a multilingual environment, California Community Schools enhance these cognitive benefits, which translate into improved academic performance across various subjects. 

Furthermore, multilingualism supports the social and emotional well-being of students by affirming their cultural backgrounds, promoting a sense of belonging, and fostering positive self-esteem. This holistic approach to education aligns with the community school model's goal of addressing the comprehensive needs of students.

The promotion of multilingualism within California Community Schools aligns with broader educational goals and policies, such as the California English Learner Roadmap. This policy framework provides guidance on how schools can support English learners' linguistic and academic development while valuing their home languages and cultures. 

By aligning with these policies, California Community Schools ensure that their efforts to promote multilingualism are consistent with state educational objectives, fostering a supportive environment for all students to thrive.

The Role of Family Partnerships in California Community Schools

Family partnerships are not ancillary but central to the community school model. They are seen as crucial for improving student learning and well-being, especially among underserved populations. The model moves away from seeing families as mere recipients of services or occasional consultants to active partners in the entire educational process.

This also requires there to be a symbiotic relationship between parents and schools, where each party can trust and support each other for the benefit of the students. Some ways this relationship evolves in the classroom include: 

• Inclusive Curriculum: Teaching and learning practices are designed to be inclusive of and centered around the community’s diverse cultural histories and experiences.
• Experiential Learning: Schools emphasize experiential learning that connects students more deeply with their own communities, thereby enhancing engagement and relevance.
• Collaborative Governance: Families actively participate in school governance, contributing to decisions about the school’s climate, curriculum, and services.
• Authentic Engagement: Schools are encouraged to engage families genuinely in the decision-making process, ensuring that their input is valued and impactful.
• Needs Assessment: Families participate in assessing needs at the district and school levels, ensuring that the identified priorities and measures of success reflect the community's perspectives and needs.
• Ongoing Evaluation: Families are also involved in ongoing monitoring and assessments, which helps the schools to continually align their strategies with the community's evolving requirements.

Challenges of Family Participation in California Community Schools

While there are numerous benefits to both celebrating multilingualism in California Community Schools and incorporating family participation into daily learning, there are also some challenges that families may face as they adjust to this new educational model: 

1. Linguistic challenges and communication barriers: Linguistic differences can hinder effective communication between school staff and multilingual families, potentially leading to misunderstandings or misinformation about students' educational needs and school policies.
2. Cultural misunderstandings and lack of representation: Cultural differences can lead to misunderstandings or conflicts, which may discourage family participation. Moreover, a lack of representation in school decision-making processes and educational content can make families feel alienated or overlooked, reducing their engagement.
3. Logistical issues: Practical issues such as transportation difficulties, inconvenient meeting times, and scheduling conflicts can significantly limit the ability of families to participate in school activities and meetings.

Part of the journey towards embracing multilingualism in California Community Schools, therefore, will be discovering what solutions can be developed to 

How to Center Multilingual Families in California Community Schools 

Centering multilingual families within California Community Schools is a vital strategy to ensure that all students receive a holistic and inclusive education. This approach acknowledges the diverse linguistic backgrounds of students and leverages the strengths these families bring to the educational community. In our extensive study on Centering Multilingual Families in California Community Schools, we discovered multiple ways families can be centered and given  a voice in the CCS curriculum to support joyful student learning: 

1. Welcoming and Building Relationships
2. Collaborative Leadership and Shared Decision-Making
3. Supporting Learning at Home
4. Promoting Home Language Development and Multilingualism
5. Engaging Families Through Structured Programs
6. Celebrating and Affirming Multilingualism

Welcoming and Building Relationships in California Community Schools

One of the foundational strategies for centering multilingual families in California Community Schools is creating a welcoming environment and building strong relationships with all families. Schools are encouraged to reflect on their current practices using tools like the Leader Actions Rubric to assess how well they support family partnerships. Simple gestures, such as front office staff greeting families warmly and principals welcoming families at the start and end of the school day, can make a significant difference. 

Additionally, hiring school-based family liaisons who focus on fostering strong, trusting relationships by supporting communication among educators, staff members, and families is highly recommended. These liaisons play a crucial role in organizing events and checking in on less engaged families, ensuring that all families feel connected and involved.

Collaborative Leadership and Shared Decision-Making

Building the capacity for collaborative leadership and shared decision-making is another crucial strategy. Families should be recognized as important stakeholders in school leadership, which requires addressing biases and challenges related to power, voice, and agency. Schools can support this by providing professional development for educators on meaningful collaboration and shared leadership, as well as investing in families’ leadership and skill-building. 

Community-based organizations can be powerful partners in this effort, particularly those that take a community-organizing approach. Ensuring that families, especially those from traditionally marginalized groups, actively participate in community school planning and development is essential. Schools should learn from families and community partner organizations about the best ways to support family participation and take actions to address any barriers to involvement. 

California Community Schools Can Support Learning at Home

Effective family engagement in California Community Schools includes supporting learning at home, which research shows is positively associated with student achievement. Schools are encouraged to dedicate time during staff and teacher collaboration meetings to plan how educators can partner with families to support at-home learning. This planning should highlight family strengths and brainstorm accessible at-home activities for families with varying levels of educational experience. 

Providing families with understandable data on their children’s progress, along with actionable suggestions for supporting their child’s learning at home, is another critical step. Regular updates about children’s progress, family information nights, and workshops on supporting learning and reading at home can help families engage more effectively in their children’s education.

Promoting Home Language Development and Multilingualism

California Community Schools recognize the importance of promoting home language development and multilingualism. Systematic exposure to English, combined with ongoing opportunities to learn in and develop the home language, leads to higher achievement in both languages by the end of third grade and beyond. Schools can invest in professional development for teachers to understand the benefits of bilingualism and support the use of home languages in the classroom. 

Educators can incorporate home languages into classroom activities, such as displaying multilingual visuals, inviting students and families to share their languages, and including language learning goals in parent-teacher conferences. Providing clear information about available bilingual education programs and certifications, like the State Seal of Biliteracy, and celebrating emerging bilingualism with school-wide events are also effective strategies.

Engaging Families Through Structured Programs

Structured programs and resources are vital for engaging multilingual families. Schools can host family engagement nights, which bring families and their children together on campus to participate in hands-on learning activities related to specific topics or skills, such as math, reading, or STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math). Interactive read-aloud workshops can guide families on reading with their children in a way that engages and develops literacy skills. Programs like Raising a Reader, which focus on increasing families’ involvement in their children’s early literacy, are particularly effective. These programs support building strong literacy habits and strengthening family-child relationships through reading. 

Celebrating and Affirming Multilingualism

To create a school culture that celebrates and affirms multilingualism, California Community Schools are encouraged to conduct empathy interviews with families, participate in community walks, and hold classroom gallery walks where students showcase their learning to their families. These activities help educators get to know students’ whole selves, including their cultures, families, and communities, fostering an inclusive environment where all students feel valued. By integrating these practices into daily school life, schools can ensure that multilingual families are not just included but are central to the educational experience, promoting a sense of belonging and engagement for all students. 

You can download the full report if you want to learn more, or check out more of our resources to learn more about multilingual education and DL/ELL student learning. 

SEAL and Dual Language Programs for California Community Schools  

Dual language programs are an integral part of inclusive education in California Community Schools, aimed at serving students from diverse linguistic backgrounds by promoting bilingualism and biliteracy. These programs deliver instruction in multiple languages (English and a partner language such as Spanish as an example). The goal is to develop proficiency in both languages, ensuring that students achieve academic success while maintaining their cultural and linguistic heritage.

By integrating instruction in English and a partner language, dual language programs ensure that students not only achieve high levels of proficiency in both languages but also maintain their cultural and linguistic heritage, which is crucial for their identity and self-esteem.

What is the SEAL Model? 

At SEAL, our approach is evidence-based and centers and empowers language and culture at all levels, leading the way for life-long benefits for our Dual Language and English Language Learner students. The SEAL model approaches learning as a process that requires rigorous research and promotes joy by celebrating student identity, consistently uplifting teachers, and empowering families and local communities to have a voice in the education system. The SEAL model succeeds from adhering to the following principles: 

1. Language Development: SEAL classrooms are characterized by their language-rich environments. Teachers use thematic units to build vocabulary and concept knowledge in both languages, incorporating structured academic conversations and extensive reading and writing activities.
2. Professional Development: SEAL offers intensive professional development for teachers, including ongoing coaching and support to implement SEAL strategies effectively. This ensures that educators are well-prepared to meet the diverse linguistic needs of their students.
3. Family Engagement: SEAL promotes strong partnerships with families by encouraging their involvement in school activities and providing resources in multiple languages. Family workshops and activities that connect home and school learning are integral parts of the SEAL approach.
4. Assessment and Continuous Improvement: The SEAL model includes a robust assessment framework to monitor student progress and inform instruction. Regular assessments help teachers identify areas of need and adjust their teaching strategies accordingly.

The impact of the SEAL approach, both in California community schools and beyond, has made a substantial impact on multilingual learners in California. With over 2,400 California teachers trained and 50,000 students reached, SEAL operates in 367 preschool sites and elementary classrooms across 67 local educational agencies, school districts, and county offices, with 86% of these being Title I schools. Evaluation studies show improved teaching practices, increased student engagement, and enhanced language and academic development among English Learners and Dual Language Learners, affirming SEAL's effectiveness in creating inclusive, supportive, and academically rigorous environments.

SEAL in Action: Mountain View Case Study 

The Mountain View School District provides a compelling example of the impact of dual language programs through its implementation of the SEAL model. The district, which serves a predominantly Hispanic/Latinx student population, many of whom are ELs, adopted the SEAL model in 2014 in response to low student performance in vocabulary and reading comprehension. The district's approach included selecting pilot schools, providing professional development for teachers, and actively involving families in the educational process. Some positive outcomes included: 

• Increased Engagement and Motivation: Teachers and school leaders noted that the SEAL model activated students' desire and willingness to learn, creating a culture of joyful learning. Students became more engaged in their studies, which was reflected in their improved academic performance​​.
• Enhanced Language Skills: The SEAL model's focus on rigorous vocabulary development and language use in various contexts helped students build strong language skills. This was evident in students' ability to understand and use complex academic vocabulary in conversations and written work​​.
• Improved Test Scores: The district observed increases in students' test scores, particularly in language development assessments. These improvements highlighted the effectiveness of the SEAL model in supporting ELs' academic growth

No matter the district or state, the support of multilingual students and families can deeply impact the short and long term success of young learners, whether that be through models like SEAL and institutions such as California community schools. 

At SEAL, we base our approach on extensive evidence and research to bastion English Learner, Dual Language Learner, and Multilingual Learner communities. To learn more about our work and our efforts to develop more inclusive, empathetic, and effective education programs, you can see resources, case studies, or contact us for more info.