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There is a persistent shortage of dual-language teachers as the number of English language learners in American schools . While a number of districts have looked to the short-term solution of hiring from Spanish-speaking countries , two new papers from New America highlight recommendations for how to incubate bilingual talent stateside.

Roughly 5 million K-12 students in the United States , specifically targeted for assistance in achieving English proficiency. That accounts for about 1 in every 10 American schoolchildren, the great majority of them children of Spanish-speaking immigrants. And although they are sometimes assumed to be clustered in states like California, Texas, and Florida, tens of thousands have also trekked to the Pacific Northwest.

The two new from New America showcase the region鈥檚 struggle to recruit qualified bilingual educators and help ELLs catch up with their native English-speaking classmates. Researchers identified methods that have helped remove licensure barriers and bring more dual-language educators into the system, though they also highlight the danger posed by President Trump鈥檚 threat to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

According to by the Migration Policy Institute, the state of Washington boasts the eighth-largest ELL population in the country, and both Washington and Oregon are among the nine states with the highest ELL student density. Stymied by a dearth of existing candidates with highly specialized credentials, two districts in those states resolved to create their own. Yet both will struggle to retain them if the Trump administration makes good on its commitment to end DACA, which is estimated to protect 20,000 teachers from deportation.

Although reports abound of DACA-eligible students wracked with uncertainty over their immigration status, the full impact of the program鈥檚 repeal will be borne by countless other children if their teachers simply disappear from school. Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg, who presides over a district that is over 30 percent ELL, that he has specifically tried to attract DACA teachers.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to find great teachers, period. Great bilingual teachers is even more important,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd we have very strong teachers here that we鈥檝e invested in and helped train.鈥�

(麻豆精品 Interview: Denver Schools Chief Talks 鈥楾rump Effect,鈥� School Closures, and Teacher Performance Pay)

Mexico鈥檚 education department has announced that returning Dreamers to act as English language instructors if the program is not renewed by act of Congress. In what could be the greatest irony of the DACA saga, Americans may soon find that they had access to a small army of potential bilingual teachers 鈥� but instead of deploying them to fill a dire shortage at home, they paid to send them to a foreign country.

In , New America researcher Amaya Garcia studies an alternative certification program in Western Washington鈥檚 Highline Public Schools. Of the district鈥檚 nearly 20,000 students, about 25 percent are ELLs, and a local absence of bilingual teachers has forced administrators to come up with a creative solution: the Woodring Highline Future Bilingual Teacher Fellow Program. Participants in the two-year fellowship can earn bachelor鈥檚 degrees and K-8 teaching certificates by working as full-time classroom paraprofessionals and taking education classes on nights and weekends.

Targeting paraprofessionals for roles in bilingual instruction is demographically savvy, Garcia writes. While teachers are much less likely than the greater public to be Hispanic, bilingual, or foreign-born, classroom aides essentially mirror national averages in all three categories.

The Future Bilingual Teacher Fellow Program, funded in part by state grants, represents just one facet of Washington鈥檚 mission to buoy English learners. Gov. Jay Inslee and the legislature have worked for years to channel more funding to dual language immersion programs, and the state monitors the academic outcomes of all students who were ever designated as ELL.

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In neighboring Oregon, Portland Public Schools 鈥� the state鈥檚 largest school district 鈥� had already offered dual language immersion for 25 years when the city moved to dramatically expand its offerings in 2011. The move proved popular, and soon more affluent, English-speaking parents for their own children. So overwhelming was the demand for placement that an nearly as many students as it accepted. Suddenly, the district needed at least a dozen more bilingual teachers.

鈥淲e have a staffing shortage,鈥� a district employee told Garcia. 鈥淲e鈥檝e done trips to Puerto Rico, we have brought in visiting international teachers, but that鈥檚 still not meeting the need that we have. So we decided that we need to grow them ourselves.鈥�

In 2016, the district teamed with Portland State University to , the PPS & PSU Dual Language Teacher Partnership. The university, which has already run its own bilingual teaching pathway for decades, helps screen applicants for the 28 fellowship slots. Recruits must hold a bachelor鈥檚 degree, pass a language fluency test, and gain admission to one of the school鈥檚 education programs. Once accepted, they are employed as either lead teachers, substitutes, or paraprofessionals while working on their graduate coursework.

A year into the program, the district has placed teachers in all of its bilingual education positions. According to the district鈥檚 director of dual language programs, 鈥淚t鈥檚 been very, very successful. We don鈥檛 have a bilingual teacher gap at this point.鈥�

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