Investing in Bilingual Teachers

In the fall of 2017, the California Department of Education awarded a Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program (BTPDP) state grant to eight Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to address the bilingual teacher shortage in California. Oak Grove School District was awarded a BTPDP grant to support a partnership between SEAL and a consortium of twelve school districts and one county office of education. The Oak Grove/SEAL BTPDP project provided activities and resources to teachers to increase their pedagogical knowledge and skills and support their efforts to obtain their Bilingual Authorization. Overall, the project demonstrated positive results by increasing the supply of bilingual teachers and their knowledge and skills.

An article in the March 2022 issue of CABE’s Multilingual Educator magazine by Martha I. Martínez, Ph.D., SEAL (Sobrato Early Academic Language) & Guadalupe Díaz Lara, Ph.D., California State University, Fullerton gives an overview of the Oak Grove/SEAL BTPDP. Read the article below and you can also read the entire March 2022 Multilingual Educator online here.