All educators – teacher, principals, service providers – need the same important training: they must be prepared to build on the cultural, linguistic, familial, and community influences their students bring to the classroom. This knowledge will help educators support the academic success of the linguistically and culturally diverse students who make up today's student population. The future of Illinois is tied to the educational success of this vibrant and growing student population.
The Forum envisions all Illinois teachers should receive preparation to meet the needs of students’ language, cultural and racial diversity. To meet this overarching goal, the Forum promotes three strategies:
- Advocate that all teachers receive preparation on English Learners and culturally responsive pedagogy;
- Increase the number of bilingual and bicultural educators and educational leaders by 100 over the next four years; and
- Increase the number of qualified Latino educators and educational leaders.
Latino Policy Forum: Spanish Language Arts Survey Methodology
The survey used to develop this brief was developed in partnership with the Illinois Resource Center (IRC). The IRC is statewide intermediate service agency that provides professional development teachers and administrators serving linguistically and culturally diverse students. The IRC has a base of over 450 teachers and administrators across the state of Illinois, many of whom oversee English Learner services. The survey described in this one-pager was distributed electronically at the 2018 Annual Conference for Educators of Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students. The survey was optional, and results kept confidential. Latino Policy Forum was involved in the question development, alongside the Illinois Resource center and Illinois Advisory Council of Bilingual Education, and completed the data analysis.
For more information on the Forum's Diverse Educator Preparation work, please contact Rebecca Vonderlack-Navarro