I have now facilitated workshops that incorporate the critical questions that Luana Y. F. and I developed (as part of a chapter we recently co-wrote) in CT, MA, RI, and OK. Some trends I'm finding among practitioner reflections:
*Bilingual ed mandates are not funded/ underfunded/not sustainably funded/not prioritized in budgets
*K-12 bilingual policy is misaligned/conflicts with post-secondary requirements (access to academic success, standardized testing, and misaligned accommodations)
*Language access is absent/minimally included in diversity dialogues (including hiring practices!) unless a space is predominantly MLLs
*Linguistic enrichment opportunities for MLLs vary widely, from almost nothing meaningful to being embedded in the culture of the school/district, even within same districts and same states. Continuous educator training is necessary to maximize the opportunities.
*a. Policies could stand to benefit marginalized populations, but in practice mainly benefit the establishment, Eurocentric backgrounds, those who already have power and access. b. Policy is driven by Ideology (as opposed to research), divisive policy, special interests, all the -isms
We have a lot of work to do, y'all! Having enough background to engage in dialogue that involves critical questions supports advocacy efforts and moves conversations from digging heels into ideologies to doing what is best for students. #CriticalQuestions #Advocacy #MultilingualLearners #Bilingualism #Biliteracy #BilingualEducation #EducationExplosion2024
