A new campaign to uplift English learners in California is taking off.
The Multilingualism for All campaign, spearheaded by Californians Together, is a decade-long initiative to bring language learning to all students across the state.
At the launch webinar last week, a coalition of education advocates outlined the campaign’s main goals and strategies, plus the benefits of multilingual and bilingual education.
“Our classrooms reflect the languages of the world,” said Martha Hernandez, executive director of Californians Together. “This is not a challenge to overcome. This is a strength to develop in a global and interconnected world, multilingualism is not optional. It is essential.”
Nearly half of K-12 students in the state grow up speaking a language other than English at home, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Roughly a fifth of the student population are learning English as their second language, known as English learners. In the Central Valley, it’s estimated English learners make up around 20% of all students – speaking a variety of languages such as Spanish, Hmong, Punjabi and Arabic.
California has a tumultuous history in providing adequate resources for English learners. State law prohibited bilingual programs for 18 years, until the ban was repealed in 2016. Since then, education leaders and activists have been working toward catching up language programs with other states that have high-quality bilingual education, such as Texas.
“Too many students, especially English learners and students from immigrant communities, are denied sustained opportunities to become bilingual and biliterate,” Hernandez said. “We know better, and we must do better.”
Campaign leaders will be working with local organizations across the state to strengthen initiatives and increase awareness in communities.
Campaign goals need local partnership
The campaign timeline lists ambitious goals through the next decade.
“We’re going to build the schools that our state needs, and we’re going to do that by writing, championing and passing a comprehensive policy framework and a state commitment,” said Laurie Olson, author of the campaign framework.
By 2028, leaders aim to have a formal state legislative commitment to enact the campaign’s proposed schooling system – with deep investments and timelines to phase in curriculum into classrooms, with full implementation by 2035.
“We need to be a state that can utilize, support, honor and thrive because we have such skilled, knowledgeable young people emboldened to share their voices and experiences with the world in multiple languages,” Olson said.
Campaign leaders are working to have groups focused on state, county and district infrastructure. Additionally, Olson said there will also be teams focused on building up the multilingual educator workforce to boost teacher and staffing levels.
In Fresno, local organizations like the Parents Institute for Quality Education (PIQE) and Youth Leadership Institute are partnering with Californians Together to advance campaign initiatives through listening sessions, policy research and outreach to youth.
PIQE hosts the Multilingual Consortium in the Valley, and directs communication between parents and school leaders to advocate for better learning outcomes and more resources in the classroom.
“This work is critical in the Central Valley,” Estela Arreola of PIQE. “We fully support this campaign and align our efforts with its statewide goals.”