In November 2021, New Jersey Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages/NJ Bilingual Educators, together with our partners New Jersey Consortium for Immigrant Children (NJCIC) and Education Law Center (ELC), issued a joint report that documents where school districts across New Jersey have fallen short in meeting their obligations under New Jersey's Bilingual Education Code. The report documented instances where there has been a lack of sufficient guidance, support, and enforcement from the New Jersey Department of Education, including shortcomings in the Code itself. The NJ Department of Education included several of our recommendations and made positive changes, but there are still areas that need further attention in order to provide a high-quality education for New Jersey's Multilingual Learners.
To continue to advocate for necessary changes, we invite you to join us in submitting written comments for the December 7th New Jersey State Board of Education (NJSBOE) meeting. Your comments will be delivered to NJ DOE staff and NJSBOE members and become part of the public record of the meeting.
Written comments include two parts: 1) a personalized message and 2) recommendations for changes to the Bilingual Education Code. The personalized message may include your role in your school context, any role you may have in NJTESOL/NJBE or other organizations, and why this issue is important to you. Messages that include a personalized comment in the first comment box are most effective. Recommendations for changes by NJTESOL/NJBE, ELC, and NJCIC are included in the body of the message. You are able to edit the body of the message if you so desire.
NJTESOL/NJBE is committed to the creation of equitable educational spaces that promote multilingualism; encourage the use of students' and families’ full linguistic repertoires; and honor and respect multilingual learners' and their families’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds, experiences, and knowledge.
Thank you for your advocacy!
NJTESOL/NJBE Advocacy Subcommittee
advocacy@njtesol-njbe.org