Biden-Harris Administration Launches Initiative to Promote Multilingual Education for a Diverse Workforce
As part of its Raise the Bar: Create Pathways for Global Engagement, the Biden-Harris Administration launched “Being Bilingual is a Superpower,” an initiative by the U.S. Department of Education (Department) to promote multilingual education and bolster high-quality language programs and a diverse multilingual educator workforce across the country.
“Being Bilingual is a Superpower” will promote and further the understanding of bilingualism and biliteracy as an educational and economic imperative for student success, global competitiveness, and engagement. The new initiative under the Department’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) seeks to promote research-based bilingual educational opportunities and language instruction in early learning education settings and beyond.
“Make no mistake: multilingualism is a superpower. Knowing more than one language, acquiring a new language through school, or learning new languages later in life can provide tangible academic, cognitive, economic, and sociocultural advantages,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “As our nation continues to grow more diverse, and as our global economy becomes more interconnected, we cannot seize our nation’s full potential to compete and lead the world unless we Raise the Bar and provide all students with opportunities to become multilingual.”
With the support of bilingual voices of members of Congress and educational leaders, the Department is galvanizing the broader education ecosystem to prioritize multilingual learning to meet the needs of diverse communities and to ensure 21st-century career readiness and global competitiveness.
Data shows that approximately only 20% of the U.S. population speaks more than one language. To underscore the need for bilingual and multilingual education, OELA announced last year nearly $120 million in investments to eligible institutions of higher education and public or private entities with relevant experience and capacity to support educators of English learner students. The Secretary also proposed to reorganize its Title III programming, which supports the success of English Learners, back into the Office of English Language Acquisition.
Read more at the U.S. Department of Education website.
Tags: data, diversity, federal issues
