De Casa a Clase: Recruiting, Retaining, and Graduating Bilingual Educators to Serve in Their Own Backyards

• In Event: Cultivando maestr@s bilingües: Testimonios on Highly Effective Bilingual Teacher Preparation Programs at Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Abstract

1. Objective: To share the continuing struggle of recruiting, retaining, and graduating bilingual education students, where combined with the other bilingual teacher training programs from around the state, we are unable to produce enough bilingual education teachers for the bilingual classrooms in our city, state, or nation.
2. Perspectives: Housed within an Early Childhood – 6th grade Education program strategic pedagogical and curricular decisions have been made in order to work with the challenges to bilingual preservice teachers. Informal and formal strategies through testimonios as well as an analysis of the programmatic structure will be presented.
3 Data Sources: Derived from program matrices, program development materials, student work samples used within the preservice bilingual education teacher preparation program. Facilitate shared models of bilingual education programs to assist in the set up and creation of other programs across the nation.
4. Results: Flexibility in curricular and programmatic decisions to maintain a presence for over 50 years.
5. Scholarly significance: This study demonstrates the effectiveness of language planning across the program (Arreguin-Anderson & Kennedy, 2013), Bilingual education pedagogy and practice (Baker & Wright, 2017)

Author

• Belinda Schouten, Our Lady of the Lake University