Public Hearing on Proposed Dual Language and Biliteracy Bills

On Tuesday, April 9, the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education will hold a public hearing on several bills affecting education, including one that would promote, expand and provide more support to dual language schools, where children learn in English and another language. The bill would also establish a Seal of Biliteracy, which confers recognition to public high school graduates who are fluent in a language other than English.

H.533 would establish an office of “dual language education” within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to promote existing schools, study expansion and document “best practices” within dual language schools in the nation. (Download a PDF version of H.533 here.)

Currently, there are several two way immersion schools (also known as two-way bilingual schools) in Massachusetts. These are a type of dual immersion school in which roughly equal shares of native English speakers and fluent speakers of another language, usually Spanish, learn in both languages. Such schools have grown in popularity in recent years throughout the nation.

In Massachusetts, these schools are located in Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea and Framingham. To learn more about them, read One Nation Indivisible’s story, “Have We Learned Our Language Lesson?”

The Seal of Biliteracy would be affixed to students’ high school diplomas or reflected on their transcripts. Bill sponsors in the Massachusetts House and Senate say that the goal of the seal is to encourage students to learn foreign languages, to provide employers a way to identify biliterate people, to “prepare people with 21st century skills” and to “strengthen intergroup relationships, affirm the value of diversity and honor the multiple languages of a community.” Similar measures have passed in state legislatures in New York and California.

The public hearing will be held at 10 am in Room A-1 at the Statehouse, 24 Beacon Street, Boston, MA. Advocacy materials are available through the Massachusetts Association for Bilingual Education.