New Opportunities? ESSA and Its Implications for Dual Language Learners and ECEC Workforce Development

The passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015, the successor legislation to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, provides new opportunities to integrate early childhood education and care (ECEC) with K-12 education. This has special importance for dual language learners who now represent 32 percent of all children under the age of 5.  This report details all of the mechanisms available under the Act to strengthen ECEC for immigrant children. One of the most important tasks is to promote the professional development of immigrants and refugees in the ECEC field, who now constitute about 20 percent of total employment in the field, but who are largely employed in low-wage jobs in home or family care. The authors believe that “new and unprecedented levels of diversity among the U.S. young child population call for an ECEC workforce that is responsive to a wider range of linguistic, cultural, and educational needs.” The report makes five recommendations to achieve this goal, including integrated skill training and English as a Second Language education for ECEC workers. A program currently in place at Miami Dade College provides a model for such an approach. (Diversity Dynamics)

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