Over the past year, TNTP has been working toward our new North Star: to ensure that all young people have multiple pathways to achieve academic, social, and economic mobility. As the population of multilingual learners continues to grow across the nation, it is past time that we bring these young people, specifically, to the forefront, to celebrate their linguistic and cultural assets and support their growth and development.
This National Multilingual Learner Advocacy Month, we seek to listen and learn from leaders and partners in the field. We invite you to learn with us at events throughout the month:
- Virtual Panel on Tuesday, April 2 from 6-7:30 p.m. ET. Join TNTP for a fireside panel discussion on expanding the science of reading and high-quality instructional materials for multilingual learners. Hear from representatives from The Reading League, Californians Together, The English Learner Success Forum, and Curriculum Associates. Register here.
- In-person Panel on Saturday, April 13 from 9-11 a.m. CT in the San Antonio, TX area. TNTP will be hosting an in-person panel with Our Lady of the Lake University on Bilingual Education and the legacy of Lau v. Nichols, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Hear from experts such as Apolonio Trejo from Our Lady of the Lake University, Dr. Olivia Hernandez from TNTP, Esmeralda Alday from San Antonio ISD, and Aurelio Montemayor from IDRA. Coffee and tacos will be provided for the first 50 attendees. Register here.
- Virtual Panel on Wednesday, April 17 from 7-8:30 p.m. ET. TNTP will host a conversation on the critical role families play in their children’s education, with a focus on the contributions of immigrant families and language preservation efforts. Panelists will include Stephany Cuevas, Assistant Professor of Education in the Attallah College of Educational Studies at Chapman University, Dr. Veronica Benavides, Founder and CEO of Bilingual Generation, and Astou Thaine, Director of Policy of ImmSchools, as well as representatives from our partners at All in Education. Register here.
- Virtual Panel on Monday, April 29 from 6-7:30 p.m. ET. Join us for a fireside panel with policy, higher education, and other leaders who are working to address critical shortages through innovative recruitment and retention strategies for bilingual educators. Register here.
U.S. Secretary of Education, Dr. Miguel Cardona, recently described multilingualism as a cognitive and economic superpower that offers significant benefits for young people’s lives and careers—if they can seize its full potential. In TNTP’s latest publication, Unlocking Learning Acceleration for Multilingual Learners, we share innovative strategies from the field that show what schools and districts can do to strategically and sustainably center the needs of multilingual learners, especially as ESSER funds wind down. We also call on district, state, policy, and philanthropic leaders to demonstrate their commitment to supporting multilingual learners with additional funding and resources.
TNTP team members met U.S. Secretary of Education, Dr. Miguel Cardona, at the 53rd annual National Association for Bilingual Education Conference. L to R: Andrea Diaz, Secretary Cardona, David Nungaray, Jean Harvey.
A diverse, well-prepared teaching workforce, including bilingual educators, is a critical component of serving and supporting young people across our diverse nation. Through cross-sector coalitions, TNTP is working to address the shortage of teachers prepared to serve multilingual learners. A promising program we’ve launched with the support of the Ballmer Group is the Los Angeles Teacher Preparation Program (LATPP), which is a grow-your-own talent pipeline aimed at recruiting and training teachers from within communities to serve their local schools.
TNTP is also driving toward national policy changes that will close the educator-to-student diversity gap. We helped launch the One Million Teachers of Color Campaign, a national coalition that seeks to add 1 million more teachers of color and 30,000 more leaders of color to the educator workforce by 2030. Compelling research shows that educators who reflect the racial, ethnic, and cultural identities of our young people deliver life-changing benefits, like students being more likely to complete high school and go to college, less likely to be suspended, and more likely to be referred to gifted and talented programs. Imagine the additional cognitive, sociocultural, and economic benefits multilingual learners could access if they could learn from teachers who value their linguistic identities as well.
We hope you will join us for learning and discussion at events throughout ML Advocacy Month. And as your school system works to activate your students’ multilingual superpowers, TNTP is here to help.
