In 2018-19, CEEL served as the institute of higher education partner with three of the eight Bilingual Teacher Professional Development programs funded by the California Department of Education. The partnerships support bilingual authorized teachers not currently working in bilingual/dual-language classrooms in their transition to such settings. CEEL has supported more than 100 bilingual educators through this initiative.

CEEL also continues to engage with local and statewide partners in the area of early childhood education and early language and literacy development, including through the establishment of the Dialogic Reading and Language Development Professional Learning Institute with the Los Angeles Unified School District. Additionally, CEEL’s implementation of the national professional development grant project Rigorous Opportunities for Young Children to Accelerate Language Learning affords the opportunity to examine the impact of research-based professional development of the Sobrato Early Academic Language model at the classroom and systems levels of LAUSD.

Finally, through the ongoing support of the Sobrato Family Foundation, CEEL launched the first statewide Deans’ Summit on Responding to the Shortage of Bilingual Teachers. The summit included the participation of deans and faculty from 12 institutes of higher education across the state, with the goal of building or revitalizing bilingual teacher preparation programs.