BTPD Program Descriptions

Funding for the Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program (BTPDP) is established by Assembly Bill 99, Chapter 15 and Section 54 Article 5 (commencing with Section 52200) and added to Chapter 7 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code. Each grant project will receive $625,000 for a performance period starting January 1, 2018, through June 30, 2020. The following are descriptions of the awarded programs.

Anaheim Union High School District

The BECOME (Biliterate, Equitable, Communicative, Observant and Multicultural, Educators) Project partners will increase the number of quality and highly effective educators. The project will target three different groups with three different strategies: a) recruiting credentialed teachers who are bilingual and committed to work and obtain their Bilingual Authorization, b) empowering and enhancing Bilingual, Crosscultural, Language and Academic Development (BCLAD) certified teachers who are hesitant and unsure about their preparedness to work in dual immersion programs, and c) recruiting and creating a pipeline of district personnel – paraprofessionals and staff – who have the language skills to work and obtain their teaching credential combined with their Bilingual Authorization. The estimated number of participants for Bilingual Authorization is 60 and approximately 157 educators (teachers, administrators, and paraprofessionals) will receive professional development.

For more information regarding this project, please contact Renae Bryant, Director at Bryant_r@auhsd.us.

Additional partners include: California State University (CSU), Fullerton, Anaheim Elementary School District, and Westminster School District.

Los Angeles County Office of Education

Los Angeles County Bilingual Teacher Consortium (LAC-BTC) will engage an estimated 10 districts and 150 participants to: (1) increase the number of teachers who obtain a Bilingual Authorization as a result of participation in the program; and (2) increase the number of teachers with a Bilingual Authorization who return to teaching in a bilingual or multilingual setting. A primary focus of the LAC-BTC will be to establish a Biliteracy Leadership Collaborative wherein the LAC-BTC Problem of Practice Protocol will be utilized to frame and support of the work of teams of principals and school/teacher leaders as they implement and enhance their dual immersion/biliteracy programs.

For more information regarding this project, please contact Ruth Baskett, Director at Baskett_ruth@lacoe.edu.

Additional partners include: The Center for Equity for English Learners at Loyola Marymount University. 

Oak Grove School District

The Oak Grove School District has the following major goals and outcomes:

• Goal 1: To increase the number of fully authorized BCLAD teachers in the consortium districts - Spanish speaking teachers: 50 percent of Spanish speaking teachers without bilingual authorization who volunteer to participate will qualify for bilingual authorizations based on California Subject Examinations for Teachers: Languages Other Than English passing scores.
• Goal 2: To increase the number of BCLAD teachers who are placed in bilingual settings - BCLAD teacher placement: Teachers with bilingual authorizations will staff 100 percent of new bilingual classrooms.
• Goal 3: To improve the quality of bilingual instruction for English learners through the professional development and support of identified BCLAD teachers - 80 percent of teachers who complete the two-year BTPDP training cycle will exhibit use of research-based strategies in bilingual classrooms to improve outcomes for English learners and all students.
• Goal 4: To engage highly qualified paraprofessionals and Seal of Biliteracy students in bilingual teaching career pathways - 75 percent of bilingual paraprofessionals who express interest in bilingual teacher authorization will participate in one or more career ladder activities.
• Goal 5: To enlist the active support of district and school administrators - 100 percent of the BTPDP district and school administrators will show continued support for BTPDP and its outcomes through project memorandum of understanding that include in-kind contributions and provision of support services, signed by the superintendent.
• Goal 6: To move toward a sustainable and replicable BTPDP. Sustainability: 100 percent of consortium districts will sustain BTPDP components for teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals, and students after funding.

For more information regarding this project, please contact Amy Boles, Director at aboles@ogsd.net.

Additional partners include: Sobrato Family Foundation, Loyola Marymount University, Coalinga-Huron Unified School District, Golden Plains Unified School District, Evergreen School District, Fillmore Unified School District, Mountain View School District, Williams Unified School District, Oak Grove School District, Redwood City Elementary School District, San Lorenzo Unified School District, San Rafael City Elementary School District, and Santa Clara Unified School District.

Patterson Joint Unified School District

The primary focus for this project is to increase incentives for the district’s existing bilingual educators, develop greater skills through professional development opportunities in collaboration with California State University, Stanislaus, to increase the number of qualified local bilingual educators, and develop a third Arabic language program at the middle school and high school levels, with the long-term goal of creating a third dual immersion program in Arabic. Major goals of this grant include increasing the number of quality dual immersion teachers in the district by providing an incentive for BLCAD teachers to teach in a dual immersion classroom and incentivize bilingual teachers who only have their CLAD to apply for a BLCAD by paying for their coursework. The second goal is to provide a pathway and increase the number of bilingual paraprofessionals to become BLCAD teachers. A third goal is to broaden the knowledge of administrators in regards to bilingual programs so they can better support the needs of the program and teachers. The fourth goal is to increase the number of student opportunities at the county level that recognize the value of multiculturalism. The final goal is to expand our dual immersion program into a multilingual program by adding Arabic at the middle school and high school level and eventually creating an Arabic dual immersion program.

For more information regarding this project, please contact Veronica Miranda, Director at vmiranda@patterson.k12.ca.us.

Additional partners include: CSU, Stanislaus; CSU, Sacramento; Central Valley Dual Language Consortium, Waterford Unified School District, Riverbank Unified School District, Multilingual Educators Transforming Achievement, and Ceres Unified School District.

Riverside Unified School District

The district will actively engage and recruit members of its bilingual teacher/paraprofessional workforce to become BCLAD training participants. The goal is to successfully engage 125 people into a BCLAD Credential Program /Community of Practice. The district will support the Instructional Assistants and Community Assistants that have expressed significant interest that will need both financial support and moral support to pursue the training that would allow them to transition into a bilingual teaching position. The project hopes to engage approximately 50 teachers who are not Spanish fluent in Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) that are interested in the training to take advantage of the opportunity in this program to learn a second language and their BCLAD. The UC Riverside Extension will create new, customized Academic Spanish courses and Test Prep for California Subject Examinations for Teachers programs for this BCLAD project that will also be available to RUSD’s local and regional colleagues as a result of this grant.

For more information regarding this project, please contact Annette Raspudic, Director at araseudic@rusd.k12.ca.us.

Additional partners include: University of California, Riverside Extension.

Sacramento County Office of Education

The major goal of the projects is to address the bilingual teacher shortage within a local and regional context in order to expand the number of teachers with bilingual authorization and who have the capacity to apply a core set of knowledge and strategies toward improving students’ biliteracy, bilingualism, and multiculturalism. Additionally, the project will focus on creating systemic support in the region for dual language learning through support of teacher and district leaders to implement and sustain high-quality programs. Outcomes identified by the project include:

• Increasing the number of teachers with bilingual authorization;
• Establishing a clearly defined pipeline of potential bilingual teachers in the region;
• Increasing the knowledge and skills of school and district leaders to support bilingual teachers and bilingual education programs; and
• Increasing the knowledge and skills of teachers, school and district leaders, families, and communities to support and improve bilingual student learning outcomes.
• Bilingual teachers who participate in the program attain a core set of research-based pedagogical practices to support dual language acquisition;
• School and district leadership have the capacity to implement and sustain high-quality bilingual programs and practices;
• Schools and districts have the capacity to work with and respond to families and communities to support and sustain high-quality bilingual programs; and
• Develop strong and coherent regional advocacy from local education agencies and institutions of higher education for high-quality bilingual program.

For more information regarding this project, please contact Connie Lee, Director at clee@scoe.net.

Additional partners include: CSU, Sacramento, Loyola Marymount University, WestEd, Elk Grove Unified School District, Folsom-Cordova Unified School District, Galt Joint Union Elementary School District, Natomas Unified School District, Robla School District, Sacramento City Unified School District, and San Juan Unified School District.

San Bernardino County Office of Education

Through the BTPDP project, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools will support multiple districts in partnership with respected institutions of higher education to increase participating districts’ bilingual teacher pool and grow both bilingual and multilingual programs. The BTPDP project will target: 1) credentialed bilingual classroom teachers not currently working in a bilingual setting; 2) credentialed teachers who are bilingual but need to obtain bilingual authorization; 3) bilingual paraprofessionals who are interested and/or in route to obtaining a bilingual authorization; and 4) Seal of Biliteracy students who may become bilingual teachers, particularly girls, Socio-Economic Status and students of color. By June 2020, the project hopes to have 40 participants that will teach in a bilingual or multilingual education program, 40 participants will obtain a bilingual authorization per year, 30 Seal of Biliteracy participants will be pursuing bilingual professions, and 30 paraprofessionals will be obtaining a bilingual credential.

For more information regarding this project, please contact Angelica Hurtado, Director at Angelica.hurtado@sbss.net.

Additional partners include: Riverside County Office of Education, Hemet Unified School District, Banning Unified School District, Moreno Valley Unified School District, Jurupa Unified School District, Mono County Office of Education, Mammoth Unified School District, Inyo Superintendent of Schools, Bishop Unified School District, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, Ontario-Montclair School District, Rialto School District, and San Bernardino City Unified School District.

San Luis Obispo County Office of Education

The BTPDP has three major goals. The first goal is to increase the number of teachers possessing a Bilingual Authorization and to develop a pipeline of teachers pursuing their Bilingual Authorization, enabling them to teach in bilingual classrooms. The second goal is to create a collaborative, job-embedded culture of professional learning that fosters confidence and competence on the part of teachers in bilingual classrooms, attracts teachers to teaching bilingual students, and encourages retention. The last goal is to create a resource rich portal with a collaborative platform that will facilitate communication, the sharing of knowledge and materials, and the dissemination of artifacts and exemplars developed through the project. Through the BTPDP, additional teachers will obtain their Bilingual Authorization each year of the program and a robust pipeline of bilingual teachers, paraprofessionals, classified employees, and community college and high school students will develop to ensure sustainability. As a result of their participation in the sustained and intensive professional learning offered through the project, teachers and principals will increase their content knowledge as measured by increased professional development, interest in credentials, and additional bilingual assignments within the Consortium counties.

Teachers participating in the project’s sustained and intensive professional learning will provide authentic examples of their learning via the portal, symposiums, and professional development presentations designed to enhance their understanding and best practices. The project will affect systemic and sustainable changes to the culture within the Consortium over the span of the project and beyond. The co-participation model of professional learning among principals, stakeholders, and teachers affects their collaboration, reflection, and dialogue about improving instruction within their schools. The creation and implementation of the Consortium portal within the project will facilitate communication, knowledge sharing, and professional learning among project teachers after the first year of implementation through dissemination of project exemplars (e.g., training videos) with other educators throughout the Consortium.

For more information regarding this project, please contact James Brescia, Director at jbrescia@slocoe.org.

Additional partners include: Kern County Superintendent of Schools, Santa Barbara County Education Office, Kings County Office of Education, and Monterey County Office of Education.