CSBA Article on California's Bilingual Education, SEAL and the future

CSBA Article on California’s Bilingual Education and SEAL

The future is multilingual!

A recent California School Boards Association (CSBA) article by Kimberly Sellery, California Embraces Bilingual Education, explores California’s progress and challenges in expanding bilingual and dual language immersion programs. These programs are essential for the state’s 1.1 million English learners, representing 40% of California’s student population.

The article features insights from education leaders and advocates, including Conor Williams of The Century Foundation, Californians Together, and CABE (California Association of Bilingual Educators)—all of whom are valued SEAL partners in advocacy for multilingual education. It also highlights SEAL’s transformative impact on bilingual education in California.

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Tackling Challenges in Bilingual Education

The article discusses how initiatives like Global CA 2030 aim to prepare students for a global economy by fostering multilingual proficiency. However, challenges remain. Leaders emphasize the need for systemic support, sustained funding, and targeted efforts to overcome challenges like the bilingual teacher shortage and the legacy of English-only policies.

“Turning off bilingual education and turning it back on is not like a light switch. By shutting it down, Prop 227 reduced demand for bilingual teachers to such a degree that all of the places that were training these teachers and supplying them stopped. So that means that when they flipped the switch back on, there was no system left to retrain or to keep training bilingual teachers. They had just cratered their supply.”

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SEAL’s impact in Oak Grove School District

The article spotlights the transformative work of districts like Oak Grove School District. By implementing SEAL’s comprehensive model, Oak Grove has achieved remarkable outcomes:

• 79% of reclassified ELs meeting or exceeding standards in English Language Arts.
• Over 65% of Els advanced at least on language level on the CELDT – a 15.5% increase compared to pre-SEAL implementation.

SEAL’s approach emphasizes equity, culturally relevant teaching, and family engagement. As Oak Grove Superintendent Dr. Ivan Chaidez explains:

“SEAL ensures teachers are getting designated and integrated ELD within the classroom. It’s a lot of hands-on learning from different themes that really brings science alive, and it’s all very culturally relevant to our students.”

Oak Grove’s success has been supported by strategic funding allocations, including Local Control Funding Formula supplemental funds, federal Title I and III funds, and board resolutions endorsing the English Learner Roadmap and SEAL partnership. Oak Grove SD Board President Beija Gonzalez highlighted the importance of programs like SEAL in retaining students and offering diverse educational opportunities:

“It’s important for the district to retain our students and our population by offering choice programs like this.”

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A Call to Action

Advocates like Williams and Californians Together stress the importance of prioritizing English learners for dual language immersion programs and addressing systemic inequities. As Williams noted,

“The research is pretty clear...non-native speakers of English do so much better academically if they have access to being able to develop and learn in both languages.”

The article is a power resource and call to action for policymakers and education champions to Invest in the resources and accountability needed to achieve California’s vision for multilingual education.  

Read the full article on CSBA’s website and join us in celebrating multilingualism as a key to educational equity and excellence.

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