First 5 CA Focuses on Identifying Dual Language Learners (DLLs) & Centering DLLs in Quality Counts CA

By: Vickie Ramos Harris, Director of Educational Equity

California is home to the largest population of Dual Language Learners (DLLs) in the nation, with DLLs making up 60 percent of the state’s population of children birth to age 5. With the historic work First 5 California is leading through the DLL Pilot, California is taking essential steps to ensure the state’s early childhood system supports DLL children so that they can thrive. This work centers on building on the rich cultural and linguistic assets of DLL children and their families and creating opportunities for multilingualism to support children to reach their full potential. This work is part of the Quality Counts California (QCC) collaboration between First 5 California, the California Department of Education, and the California Department of Social Services. QCC is comprised of three layers of California’s current quality improvement system: local, regional, and state.

As part of this work, First 5 California created the DLL Community of Practice (CoP) to bring together the 16 counties implementing the DLL Pilot to learn from each other and collaborate to advance DLL policy and practice. The May, June, and July CoP convenings explored several critical areas in DLL policy:

• The May 2021 CoP meeting focused on the need to identify DLL children systemically and consistently to provide practical, culturally, and linguistically responsive family engagement.
• The June 2021 CoP meeting focused on ensuring Quality Counts California (QCC) is culturally and linguistically responsive and designed to support DLL children’s quality.
• The July 2021 CoP meeting focused on 1) providing culturally and linguistically relevant, and individualized virtual DLL trainings and 2) how teachers are supported to implement those skills in their practice.

To access the resources for early childhood educators and learn more about the policy implications, see Identification of DLL Children, Building Quality Counts California to support DLLs, and Virtual DLL Trainings & Implementation Supports

For more background on the DLL CoP and a recap of the first meeting, click here.

For information about the F5CA DLL Pilot Study led by the American Institutes for Research, click here.

This blog is part of the new series about the First 5 California DLL Pilot Communities of Practice (CoP) by  Advancement Project California, Early Edge California, and the Glen Price Group (GPG), in partnership with First 5 California and the California Department of Education