[lg policy] For Illinois' Preschools, Bilingual Teachers Are In Short Supply

[Dave Sayers]

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2012/09/bilingual_teachers_in_illinois.html

Illinois requires some of its publicly funded preschool programs to provide either bilingual or
English as a second-language instruction to students who are ELLs, a policy it adopted four years
ago and one still considered to be groundbreaking for young English-learners.

But a new survey of more than 350 of the state's preschool programs reveals a major shortage of
early childhood teachers who are actually trained to deliver such instruction to young ELLs. That
finding—among others—presents a difficult impediment just as Illinois' mandate to develop bilingual
skills in the state's 3- and 4-year-olds is just a little over a year away from taking full effect.
Beginning in 2014, teachers who work in state-funded, school-district administered preschool
classrooms with 20 or more ELLs must hold certification in either bilingual instruction or ESL, in
addition to the standard early childhood education credentials.

(More in the linked article.)

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2012/09/bilingual_teachers_in_illinois.html


--
Dr. Dave Sayers
Honorary Research Fellow, Arts & Humanities, Swansea University
and Visiting Lecturer (2012-2013), Dept English, Åbo Akademi University
dave.sayers at cantab.net
http://swansea.academia.edu/DaveSayers
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list