MABE endorses a YES vote on Massachusetts Ballot Question 2, which would eliminate the MCAS graduation requirement. Assessment of multilingual learners must be holistic and multifaceted, not reduced to a single standardized test score. Too many bilingual students are being held back from graduating based on a test that does not accurately reflect their capabilities in multiple languages. Accountability is essential for schools serving multilingual learners, but our current high-stakes accountability system fails students and families who come from rich and diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Let’s work together to support schools by expanding bilingual programming, diversifying the teacher pipeline to end the bilingual teacher shortage, and providing much-needed professional and technical assistance for the specific needs of bilingual programs. Ending the MCAS graduation requirement is a step towards educational equity for multilingual learners. Vote YES on Question 2 on November 5, 2024 and learn more about this issue here.  

A Conversation With Award Winning Authors To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, the Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) is hosting three Mexican American children’s book authors for a stimulating conversation about their work next Tuesday, October 15 at 6pm ET.

Register Today

The three panelists are recipients of the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award that honors authors and illustrators who write about the Mexican American experience. During the webinar, the authors will discuss their work and inspiration and will read excerpts from their books.

Welcome to our first ever eNews! This monthly communications to members will celebrate your work, remind you of upcoming events, and feature our partners. Browse until the end for Career Opportunities.  CELEBRATING YOU!

Local Changes  • New! Sendas Program in Arlington School, Lawrence PS, MA • New! Roosevelt Middle School Grade 6 Program in New Bedford PS, MA  • DLBE Middle School program in Providence PSD, RI has new home in Roger Williams Middle School Find details and more information in our DLBE Regional Directory.  We Kicked Off SY 24-25 With Summer Institute Thank you to everyone that learned with us this summer!  Other Summer Accomplishments  • Milford PS, MA wrapped up MABE's La Siembra  • Schechdaddy PS, NY completed Sembrando Raíces with us Coming Up at Nuestro Mundo Compañeros Program at Windham PS, CT celebrates 30 years and honors passing of founder Jean Romano. We want to feature your good news! Email us with images and updates from your programs, schools, and districts.  UPCOMING MABE EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES PRESENTING LIFETIME SERVICE AWARDS AND SPONSOR OPTIONS: REGISTRATION DEADLINES EXTENDED: FROM OUR PARTNERS  DLBE School Climate Study Needs Your Input  Biola University, CA invites you to participate in a 10 minute survey on DLBE program/school climates. There are no easy answers to resolve tensions in DLBE, but your experience and wisdom can offer a first step to finding ways to address the issues that schools face in maintaining a positive, nurturing environment. This survey seeks to identify general challenges for DLBE programs and specific causes for tensions with non-DLBE teachers, as well as both tried and proposed solutions. Take School Climate Survey Results will be shared at the NABE Conference in February 2025, possibly at DLeNM's La Cosecha, and through other DLBE and professional networks. The MA Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition, supported by a grant from the MA Attorney General’s Office, has launched an immigration advocate legal helpline to offer direct legal guidance to community organizations in response to the unprecedented need for services resulting from an influx of international arrivals. Interpretation in Schools MA DESE resources for expanding spoken language interpretation in schools: • Download guidance on delivering high-quality interpretation services • Language ambassador training available online for bilingual individuals and school-based staff members who participate in meetings with an interpreter. • MA districts can download this registry to find and then contact a trained interpreter for the education setting. MABE WEBSITE UPDATES • You can now view our eBlasts and eNews on our website. Members are invited to comment on posts by clicking on the three vertical dots in front of a post's title.  • You can now donate to MABE directly on our website (top right in header).  • Our Professional Development offerings have been updated under Consulting.  • Keep an eye on our Project SEMBRAR page under Advocacy as we work with partners on this National Professional Development Grant.  • We are in the process of revamping our Member's Only Resources! Members can access past Conference, Network, and Summer Institute presentations and materials CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Advocating for the Educator Diversity Act (EDA) Latinos for Education helped form the MA Educator Diversity Act Coalition, which MABE is an active member of. This session, the Educator Diversity Act Coalition worked to pass the EDA in both the House and Senate as an amendment to the Economic Development Bill and was then sent to a conference committee. However, the legislature was not able to report out the Economic Development Bill for a vote before the end of session. Nevertheless, we still hold out hope for the EDA for two reasons. First, the policy amendments attached to the Economic Development Bill can still be reported out for a vote during informal session (which ends with the 2024 calendar year), something the House Speaker committed to working on. Second, the Governor has called for a special formal session specifically for the Economic Development Bill. Both the House Speaker and Senate President have responded to this request and shared they are willing to call the formal session. The Educator Diversity Act Coalition and MABE thanks you all for the role you have played in the legislative wins this session. In just the past 7 months we: Held our first ever rally and another impressive hill day with over 100 people in attendance Passed in the House (just like last session) Sent over 100 letters to Senators in just 24 hours asking they pass the EDA Passed in the Senate unanimously (historic first-time achievement) Got assigned to a conference committee (also a first-time win) Sent a letter signed by over 100 organizations, including our union partners, to the conference committee in support of the EDA These high-level wins and all the work it took to get here cannot go unnoticed or without celebration. The EDA has only gone through 2 sessions, and we have gotten so far!

A message from MABE's President, Michael Gary Hello, ¡Bienvenidos a / Bem Vindos a / Welcome to School Year 2024-25! Let’s take a moment to reflect on all that we have accomplished in these 50 years together for our multilingual learners. Every single one of us that works in this field, no matter our role(s), is a leader and learner, a changemaker and a policymaker for, and on behalf of, our students. We have a lot to celebrate and even more to work toward to reach for our vision of equity in education. I am unbelievably proud to serve for these next two years as MABE’s President. This is a humbling experience. I have served our multilingual learners and families first as a teacher, then as a district director, a school-based coach, and an assistant principal. This year, I have returned to the classroom as an English Language Development (ELD) Teacher. As your MABE President, I serve you. Our Board of Directors and staff serve you. We are stewards of our mission and vision so that we can all collaborate together so the next 50 years will truly change the world for our students. MABE is extremely excited to offer our members a rich agenda of events, activities, and services:

MABE’s 50th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION MABE is turning 50 years old! You are cordially invited to register for MABE’s 50th Birthday Celebration. Come honor bilingual education’s past, present, and future with us! Dance to live music from the Hartt Salsa All-Stars, memorialize history, and enjoy cocktails and appetizers on Friday, November 22, 2024 in Mechanics Hall, Worcester, MA. Sponsors accepted.

REGISTER AND SPONSOR #MABE50

DUAL LANGUAGE BILINGUAL EDUCATION NETWORKS  You’re invited to our Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) Networks for Leaders, Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, Coaches, and Special Educators. We welcome your participation in these networks where you can work with colleagues to build systems of support that sustain effective, research-driven DLBE programs.  Our special topic network this year is Bilingual Research, free to members in good standing. This network will feature local research, and any members interested in learning more about DLBE research and how it can impact DLBE programs are welcome to register.

REGISTER FOR NETWORKS

DUAL LANGUAGE BILINGUAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE We are already preparing for our annual conference, set to take place Saturday, March 8, 2025 in the UMass Amherst Center at Springfield. We are also planning for our Pre-Conference School visits and our Pre-Conference Advocacy Roundtable early in 2025.

CHANGES TO MABE

• New Board of Directors for 24-25

• Meg Burns is the New Director of Professional Learning. We are happy to announce that Dr. Meg Burns is MABE’s new full-time Director of Professional Learning. Meg has been involved with MABE since 2016 as a Board Member, President, and collaborator. Meg brings expertise in language acquisition, early language and literacy development, biliteracy instruction, whiteness studies, culturally responsive pedagogy, family and community engagement, and qualitative research methods. Born and raised in MA, Meg learned Spanish as a second language and taught 1st grade in a public DLBE school. She holds a BA from Vassar College, an MA in Applied Linguistics from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a PhD in Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity from the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she delivered Literacy Squared PD nationwide. Meg is the co-developer of LibrosforLanguage.org and has been a member of the MA BESE’s ELL/Bilingual Education Advisory Council. Most recently, she served as Associate Professor of TESOL and Bilingual Education at Lesley University and conducted research in local DLBE schools.
  
  

• Doug Hardy is retiring. Thank you, Doug, for your work as MABE’s Fiscal Administrative Assistant for 3 years! He is looking forward to spending more time traveling and gardening.

Additionally, MABE continues to offer Consulting Services and help with advocacy. Feel free to contact our Executive Director, Phyllis Hardy, with any questions about Consulting or Advocacy.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you need us. 

Michael Gary
MABE President (2024-2026) 

Contact: Phyllis Hardy, MABE Executive Director 

PRESS RELEASE 

MABE Partners With DLNeM on National Professional Development Grant
Project SEMBRAR To Support Multilingual Educators in MA, RI, CT, NM 

Ashland, MA (September 6, 2024) — The Multistate Association for Bilingual Education, Northeast (MABE) has been awarded a highly competitive grant to collaborate with Dual Language Education of New Mexico (DLeNM) and Educators for a Multilingual Multicultural America (EMMA) on Project SEMBRAR (Sustaining Equity through Mentorship for Bilingual Teacher Recruitment and Retention).  This grant is part of the U.S. Department of Education’s National Professional Development (NPD) program, the Biden-Harris Administration’s $11 million initiative to “support the recruitment and retention of bilingual and multilingual educators,” said the U.S. Department of Education’s Press Office. 

Project SEMBRAR is a Grow-Your-Own (GYO) model that aims to increase the number of certified bilingual and Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) teachers, creating new supportive pathways for both pre- and in-service educators in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Mexico. Through Project SEMBRAR, MABE will further its mission of identifying, promoting, and disseminating research-based programs and practices that support multilingualism and multiculturalism for educational success. Anchored in the National Dual Language Education Teacher Preparation “EMMA” Standards (Guerrero & Lachance, 2018), Project SEMBRAR will employ mentorship and Professional Development (PD) as key levers of change to recruit, support, and retain bilingual teachers. 

“MABE is energized and inspired by the opportunity to collaborate with DLeNM to support the multilingual teacher pipeline through Project SEMBRAR,” said MABE’s Executive Director, Phyllis Hardy. “Our innovative mentorship model creates the conditions for bilingual teachers to be better supported and for experienced bilingual teachers to advance their PD by becoming mentors. Importantly, the project not only addresses the bilingual teacher shortage but also launches the EMMA Standards, which propels our field forward by outlining and defining the competencies that make a quality bilingual teacher. We are honored to have been granted this opportunity and are ready to start work with our partners to continue supporting bilingual educators, and therefore, our English learners.”

DLeNM’s Executive Director, Michael Rodríguez, said, “This grant will help us strengthen efforts to effectively recruit and retain bilingual educators, ensuring that all students have access to the high-quality DLBE programs they deserve.” 

MABE’s involvement in this prestigious consortium is a significant milestone in the organization’s ongoing commitment to inclusive educational practices, and addresses a critical need to equitably serve diverse educational landscapes and the growing number of multilingual learners in DLBE programs.  

For more information about MABE, please visit mabene.org.

   

View PDF Press Release here. 

Protect National Language Education Program Funding

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have now approved separate versions of FY2025 education and defense funding, and they remain very far apart on spending levels. Let's educate Congress on the value and importance of these critical language education programs!

LEARN MORE AND TAKE ACTION

The House bill’s proposed elimination of Title II-A and Title III would remove all specially directed funding for the more than 5 million English Learners in this country and delete the federal government’s largest investment in professional development for K-12 teachers and school leaders. Similarly, the Senate’s proposed $5 million cut to WLARA would significantly pare back federal investments in innovative world language programs at military-connected public schools. But we have time to push back on these devastating budget cuts!

Check out our advocacy pages for each state to stay up-to-date with our Advocacy efforts: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island.

Email us with any advocacy news.

Registration now open for this year's Special Topic Network...

WHAT: The virtual Bilingual Research Network showcases Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) research occurring across our New England region and beyond. The research featured in these webinars is closely connected to and has clear implications for DLBE practice. WHO: Free to MABE members in good standing (with no outstanding balances). Members can register at any time. Commitment to attending all sessions is not required. If you are not a member, join us to register.

REGISTER HERE

ExcEL New Pathway to Bilingual Dual Language Teacher Certification

The ExcEL Leadership Academy is now offering job-embedded, competency-based professional learning that prepares educators to receive professional certification in English as a Second Language (ESOL) and Bilingual Dual Language (BDL). 

The ExcEL Leadership Academy provides programs for PK12 teachers working with English Learners. This program is approved by the RI Department of Education. ExcEL’s ESOL and BDL programs are integrated, and completion of the BDL program qualifies you for both certifications.

For more information on ExcEL’s pathways for ESOL and BDL educators please reach out to Laureen Avery and Jason Cervone. 

Research consistently shows that students benefit academically and socially when taught by teachers who share their cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Diverse teachers bring different perspectives, cultural knowledge, and languages into the classroom, enhancing the learning experience for all students. Preparing newly certified BDL teachers addresses an urgent need for educators to work in Dual Language Bilingual Education classrooms, and as more teachers are available the number of bilingual programs will grow.