Bilingual Education
The Bilingual Education Certificate (BEC) is a three, professional development course instructional series for teachers seeking Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) endorsement for bilingual education.
“The bilingual education courses share in common a unifying view of equity and justice that recognizes intersections between race and language. Instructors work with participants to view themselves and their instruction through a critical lens that sees how these intersections can be recognized and used for enhancing instruction.”
Our Program
Teachers, Adminstrators, Literacy Specialists and Coaches, Paraprofessionals
Learners can complete the full bilingual endorsement professional development coursework in a 12-month period.
Courses are online, with a combination of asynchronous and synchronous participation.
Yes; however, if you're interested in the DESE Bilingual Education Endorsement, you must complete the full series.
A new cohort begins each summer. Educators may be able to join mid-cohort with special permission. Please see the "Courses" section below for more information about the schedule.
Schools or districts interested in registering a group as well as individual learners interested in participating in the BEC should email lynchschoolpce@bc.edu.
Courses
The first two courses are focused on the history and politics of bilingual education, and on theory and research in bilingualism and second language acquisition. The third course covers instructional applications, specifically highlighting critical literacy and language arts teaching in bilingual education settings.
Foundations of Bilingual and Dual Language Education
Students will be able to walk into any school that offers a bilingual program and/or serves bilingual pupils and identify the type of program in place depending on the specifics of different contexts. The specific aim is for educators to explore the characteristics of language education programs in the U.S, focused specifically on history, attributes of language program models, political contexts, and legal foundations. These characteristics of language education programs are interrogated through a contemporary lens of equity and power. In service of this aim, educators will explore dual language models, program designs, and implementation, with an introductory focus on the competencies, knowledge, and skills for instruction and assessment in multilingual classrooms and programs.
Format
Online, asynchronous
Dates
Summer 2024
15 PDPs
Professional Development Points
Cost
$400
Bilingualism, Second Language, and Literacy Acquisition
This course is designed to provide practitioners with exposure to contemporary theory and research in bilingualism and literacy, with an eye toward instructional applications. The content covered in this course applies across any instructional context in which multilingual learners are present. Such settings include: Transitional and dual language bilingual education, ESL, SEI, and “mainstream” classrooms. The course is a hybrid course model, with a majority of coursework taking place online, with periodic face-to-face meetings, and assignments that are meant to interface with your day-to-day responsibilities as a teacher, interventionist, specialist, or administrator.
Format
Online, synchronous & asynchronous
Dates
September 30 - December 6, 2024
45 PDPs
Professional Development Points
Cost
$1,200
Bilingual Literacy and Literature
Bilingual Literacy and Literature is one of two courses devoted to praxis, which is the application of theory to practice to promote change and evolution in teaching. As Freire (1972) put it, "For apart from inquiry, apart from the praxis, individuals cannot be truly human" (p. 72). Applied to our work in the Bilingual Education Certificate, the history and theory we covered in the Foundations and Bilingualism courses are centered in thinking about how they apply to teaching. Also centered is remote/hybrid learning in a pandemic, which cannot be ignored. It is important to note here that praxis “cannot occur through antidialogical professional development. Instead, bilingual teachers must be positioned as knowledgeable beings whose lived cultural and linguistic realities drive generative learning in professional development” (Stacy et al., 2020). That is the orientation of this course as well. You, the bilingual educators who are participating in it, are the ones who bring knowledge to bear on the work we do.
Format
Online, synchronous & asynchronous
Dates
January 22 - April 12, 2024
45 PDPs
Professional Development Points
Cost
$1,200
Key learning outcomes are driven by the subject matter knowledge requirements set forth by the DESE to qualify for bilingual endorsement. To these ends, BEC students will learn about: foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism; social and political contexts of language use and instruction; enhanced ways of teaching language through content; bilingual language arts and literacy instruction; and text selection for multilingual children and youth. Participants who successfully complete the 3-course sequence will successfully demonstrate the subject matter knowledge and skill requirements for the DESE Bilingual Education Endorsement.
On their own, participants will still need to complete 75-hours of field-based experience, achieve a passing score on a foreign language test, and apply through ELAR. For the full requirements of the Bilingual Education Endorsement, refer to DESE's website.
Program Faculty
Patrick Proctor
Department Chair, Teaching, Curriculum, and Society
Professor
charles.proctor.1@bc.edu 617-552-6466 Campion Hall Room 121
Course Facilitators
Questions?
For questions about the content and delivery of the courses,
contact Patrick Proctor at charles.proctor.1@bc.edu.
If you are interested in the Bilingual Education Endorsement, the Bilingual Education Certificate program, or individual coursework for your school or school district, contact Ashana Hurd at 617-552-4213, or email lynchschoolpce@bc.edu