Proud Parent of an “EL” Student
A few years back, a principal vehemently argued with me that a student who had scored “approaching proficient” on her English language screener should not be classified as an English Learner (EL)*. According to this principal, the student, who was at the time entering Kindergarten, spoke English well and did not speak much Spanish. When…
What if our Dual Language Program is Not Working?
We know that, according to national research, a well-executed Dual Language program results in better performance for Emergent Bilinguals than any other form of support. However, Thomas & Collier (2004-2012) share a “warning graph” that demonstrates that calling a program “Dual Language” is not sufficient to get the results we intend for our students. In…
Being a Monolingual Administrator for a Dual Language Program
As this new school year begins, district and school administrators are filled with the typical excitement and anticipation, but additionally, perhaps a novel sense of anxiety. This anxiety may stem from the fact that the start of this school year is characterized nationwide by a record number of teacher vacancies. Perhaps it comes from the…
The Ascription or Denial of Intelligence Based on Race
My friend’s daughter once told me that she figured a relatively new, Asian classmate was intelligent just by looking at her. She then followed the statement with, “I wonder if I made that assumption because of her race,” and proceeded to analyze her thought process. Undoubtedly, as a parent, an educator, and as an equity-minded…
6 Strategies to Elevate the Status of Bilingualism
The Status of English I stayed at home with my daughter for the first five years of her life, largely because I wanted to ensure that she would speak our mother tongue, Tamil. I feared that sending her to daycare would introduce her to English way too early. Nevertheless, once she started school, even when…
The Intersection of Race and Language in Bilingual Education
But unless we can recognize the intersection of race and language, recognize the underlying racism that causes opponents to fight against Dual Language Education, and call out the racism, we will never adequately address the issues that keep children with home languages other than English from having the opportunity to maintain their linguistic identities.
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Social Justice and Education 