Webinar Series: Access and Quality in Dual Language Immersion Programs in Early Care & Education
Dual language immersion (DLI) refers to an educational model in which children receive part of their instruction in English and the other part in a partner language (e.g., Spanish). There is a robust body of research supporting DLI programming as the gold standard for children who are emergent bilinguals. Children who are emergent bilinguals with access to high-quality DLI programming in the early years have more advanced bilingual fluency, learn English faster, and have better academic gains in later grades. Yet, only 8% of children who are emergent bilinguals between K-12 have access to DLI programming, creating a major gap between research and practice, as well as persisting educational inequities.
The Children’s Equity Project and The Century Foundation are co-hosting a series of monthly virtual webinars to take deep dives into its recent reports on emergent bilinguals’ access to DLI programs and on how to operationalize high-quality DLI programming for emergent bilinguals in early care and education, specifically infants/toddlers, preschoolers, and students in K-2nd grade. Federal, state, and local education leaders, teachers, and bilingual research experts will serve as panelists.
Intended Audience:
The intended audience for these webinars includes education leaders, program administrators, teachers, coaches, special education personnel, researchers, and more.
These webinars will be ideal for:
Federal, state, and local education agencies seeking to improve their supports of emergent bilinguals.
English programs wanting to transition to DLI programs.
Existing DLI programs committed to ongoing quality improvement.
Topics addressed in the webinars:
A New Framework for Dual Language Education - June 11, 2024
Programmatic Structures - July 19, 2024
Language Allocation - August 27, 2024
Pedagogy, Curriculum, Instruction - September 24, 2024
Assessment - October 2, 2024
Workforce, Professional Development, Credentialing - November 15, 2024
Family Leadership & Engagement - January 24, 2025
Services & Inclusion for Emergent Bilinguals with Suspected or Identified Disabilities - February 2025
Federal, State, & Local Policies to Facilitate DLI Programming - March 2025
For more information on this webinar series, please contact Melissa Palazuelos Ybarra at mpalazue@asu.edu.