Invaluable Lessons Taught By Bilingual Educators

By: Erin James

There are 50.5 million Latinos in the United States, composing 16 percent of the total population and a significant portion of the labor force.?In today’s American public education system, Latinos are by far the largest minority group, numbering more than 12.4 million in the country’s elementary, middle and high schools.?Currently, nearly 22 percent, or slightly more than 1 in 5, of all pre-K–12 students enrolled in America’s public schools is Latino.?

Bilingual Educators Facilitate Acculturation of Minority Students

Urban schools in border states and metropolitan areas with large minority populations have too few qualified teachers who are able to share cultures, languages and sympathetic points-of-view with students. We are now seeing the negative outcomes this has on students.

Progressive school leaders understand the impact of inadequate resources, language barriers, and other socioeconomic obstacles often impair the teacher’s ability to provide the quality education all students deserve. As a?result, school leaders are taking aggressive actions to recruit teachers who are capable of better facilitating the acculturation of minority students.?Many school districts are receiving funding to hire and retain teachers of the same backgrounds as students since reports reflect that doing so will result in improvements of:

• student performances and lower attrition rates,
• acculturation issues that often make it difficult for students to bond with teachers. Immigrants adapt by imitating cultural and psychological characteristics of their role models and mentors, and
• shared interests, language and cultural knowledge that help to build bridges to expand student engagement.

Correcting Shortcomings

The shortage of qualified Latino and bilingual teachers deprives minority students of mentors, role models and linguistic mediators to help them transition to successful academic careers. Fortunately, some positive steps have begun to correct these looming shortcomings in education. Mentoring and induction policies have increasingly targeted minority teachers to help them acquire the skills to survive. Charter and magnet schools offer specialized programs that customize curricula to address the needs of each district. Successful Latino entrepreneurs push education and recruitment programs to give back to their communities and engage minority students.

?The Role of National Systems

1. State Departments of Education help to apportion teachers for licensing and assignment where their skills and linguistic abilities will do the most good.
2. Policymakers increasingly consider educator input in making curricula and policy decisions. Active Teaching Skills and Classroom Diversity Benefit All Students
3. Special initiatives, such as the Teacher Cadet Program, encourage top students to consider teaching careers. Students learn about educational problems during their formative years, so they develop the motivation to improve education by committing their talents to teaching.

Active Teaching Skills and Classroom Diversity Benefit All Students

Teachers with the right skills for their jobs enrich the lives of all students, regardless of background. People who want to share their knowledge, culture, and bilingual skills prove especially welcoming in states like New York, California, Arizona, Florida, and Texas. Key strengths needed include experience with computer-based software, graphics design, educational software, and desktop publishing. Candidates with certifications in education and bilingual education become very attractive to school boards, but states have different regulations, and desperate districts might wave credentials in certain areas and accept alternative skills and accomplishments in lieu of teacher training.

Successful teachers usually need English to negotiate bureaucratic pitfalls and serve as effective advocates and intermediaries for minority students. Internships or practicums expose teaching students to successful educators and model classrooms. Most importantly, caring teachers need to demonstrate creativity, patience, communication skills, and cultural sensitivity. No single tactic or magic formula can bridge the gap in academic achievement among white and minority students, and partnerships among community organizations, school districts, parents, educators, and social service agencies can begin to meet the challenges of minority integration, encouraging academic excellence and dealing with high attrition rates due to aging workforces, lack of proper induction efforts and teacher salaries that seldom?match those of private enterprise