A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Model Strategies in Bilingual Education: Professional Development - 1995

Bilingual Educators' Career Advancement Program

California State University
San Bernardino, California

Goals and Context

San Bernardino County, located east of Los Angeles, has experienced a tremendous influx of predominantly Spanish-speaking immigrants within the past 10 years. School systems in the area had few professional educators equipped with the bilingual proficiency or special pedagogical skills required to promote the academic success and English acquisition of these newcomers. Currently, for every teacher with the necessary skills and knowledge, there are from 40 to 100 students with limited English proficiency who need assistance.

The Bilingual Educators' Career Advancement Program (BECA) at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB), supported by a federal Title VII grant, provides professional education to 55 participants at various stages of career development in bilingual education. BECA--a word that means "scholarship" in Spanish--is dedicated to reducing the language minority student/bilingual or English as a second language (ESL) teacher ratio in area schools to 33:1. BECA's strategy is to provide financial aid and systematic career planning assistance to aspiring bilingual educators who are completing undergraduate teacher preparation courses, obtaining the teaching credential, or earning a master's degree.

The project has evolved from a collaboration among bilingual educators at CSUSB and representatives of the 20 largest nearby school districts, representatives of which form an advisory board that guides BECA decisionmaking. The leadership behind BECA comes from a woman who has relevant experience, a Title VII-funded doctorate in bilingual education, and an established reputation for developing and maintaining solid programs, such as BECA. Recognizing the wealth of opportunity and the great need in the area, she brought federal resources to the campus by developing a university-based network to support her project proposal.

Project Description

Participants. BECA targets students enrolled in higher education and committed to obtaining certification in bilingual education or Language Development, or a master's degree in education with a bilingual or ESL emphasis. The largest group of participants consists of Hispanic paraprofessionals working in nearby school districts while completing their college education and/or internships to obtain a teaching credential. However, the project also reaches out to candidates in the masters degree program in Bilingual/Cross-Cultural Education and to monolingual teachers interested in ESL. The project requires students to go through the usual university admission process. Because state teacher certification requirements include graduating in the top half of one's class, BECA students must maintain grade-point averages of 2.86 or better to remain eligible for the program.

Implementation. A major BECA activity is to identify and recruit bilingual students living in nearby communities who want to earn one of California's several professional teaching credentials related to programs for language minority students. BECA guides candidates through the labyrinth of courses and examinations they must take to fulfill certification requirements and/or earn a master's degree in bilingual education or ESL teaching. BECA offers candidates the financial help that many need to meet family responsibilities as well as certification-test preparation assistance. In addition, BECA prepares regularly certified teachers to earn endorsements in language development, bilingual/cross-cultural education, or ESL.

One of BECA's most significant roles is to provide a network and a funding resource for members of the large bilingual community interested in teaching but who have been stymied by the complex preparation process and certification requirements. (California's efforts to upgrade teacher preparation and cultivate a workforce well trained in the special skills demanded by various student populations have periodically led to bewildering arrangements.) Many BECA students are the first in their families to attend college, and some have extensive education in other countries. BECA resources provide essential support and guidance.

Courses. BECA course topics include: (1) developmentally sound, multicultural teaching techniques; (2) an introduction to second language acquisition and sheltered English methods and practices that blend theory and classroom practice; (3) contemporary reading methodology and theory; (4) the social and cultural contexts of language learning and cognition; (5) language acquisition; and (6) bilingual reading and language arts in the unified approach recommended in the state's curriculum frameworks. In addition, students engage in fieldwork that combines practice teaching, clinical experience, and core course content. Many of these courses were developed or expanded as a result of BECA.

Reaching out to communities. In addition to holding classes at its main campus in San Bernardino, the BECA program also offers masters-level courses for bilingual and ESL educators at the Coachella Valley campus of CSUSB, located in Palm Desert, 80 miles east of San Bernardino, to increase the program's target range. BECA has also established and maintains a network of bilingual teachers and paraprofessionals who need access to career and academic advising.

Funding. BECA pays 90 percent of students' costs. The amount per student varies depending on the student's stage in the professional preparation process. The overall costs average about $500 per student per semester. Most students have received between $1,200 and $1,900 in the past two years. BECA relies exclusively on Title VII funds for participant scholarships.

Project Outcomes

BECA enrolls 16 paraprofessionals who are juniors or seniors, 12 teachers needing emergency certification, 8 ESL masters students, and 30 bilingual/bicultural masters students. According to the most recent available data, 47 students graduated in 1992-93, and 23 in 1993-94.

BECA helps CSUSB's School of Education address the demands of area school districts with LEP students by increasing the pool of qualified bilingual and ESL teacher candidates. This includes providing substantial financial aid and systematic career planning for bilingual educators at all postsecondary education levels. Increasing the pool of students who enter the bilingual and cross-cultural programs supports education in the community, and it also enables the School of Education to enrich and strengthen the teaching and study experiences for bilingual and ESL interns, teachers, and advanced graduate students by increasing the range of innovative course options offered.

Lessons from Experience

Communication is the critical continuing challenge to this program, like others serving complex, multicultural, multilingual communities. BECA's staff and participants commented that recruiting students and keeping them in the program is not easy: "You lose a lot of bilingual teachers because they do not have the guidance they need to learn about the program," said the project director. Among the project staff activities that students report to be essential are:

The physical setting of a program and its organizational arrangement also affect participation. For example, the students who work together in the graduate courses on the Coachella campus have high esprit de corps, attend class faithfully, and operate as a cohesive, motivated group. Those taking classes on the main campus function less as a cohort and have lower attendance rates, perhaps because they have a wider variety of courses from which to choose and do not all simultaneously attend the same classes. A major challenge is to prepare teachers for students who speak languages for which no bilingual programs exist.

Furthermore, BECA is one of a number of program options in the San Bernardino area that recruits future teachers and offers advanced professional training for bilingual educators. Collaborating with the bilingual education community at the county, region, and state levels helps to create an environment of support for innovative programs. Because entry into the professional pipeline may be complex and costly, CSUSB has developed multiple access points and resources for potential students.
-###-

[Ezequiel A. Balderas Elementary School] [Table of Contents] [Cooperative Learning in Bilingual Settings and Teachers' Learning Community Center]