February 2024 • Issue 76 • California Association for Bilingual Education

Black History Month

Teaching Resources

• History Channel
• National Museum of African American History and Culture
• NEA
• PBS
• Smithsonian Institution

Important Upcoming Dates

February 1 & 8—ELDTA Module 5: High-Leverage Strategies for English Learner Success (Reading/Writing)

February 21-24—Join us at CABE 2024 in Anaheim!

March 9—DLTA Module 6: Spanish Grammar Instruction: The “What” and the “How” | La pedagogía de la enseñanza de la gramática en español: El “qué” y “cómo”

March 14, 21, & 28—CABE Virtual Racial Equity Series



CABE Legislative Advocate Report

by Jennifer Baker

• CABE & Californians Together Plan 2024 Legislation
• Legislature Slow to Introduce Legislation
• Governor Releases 2024-25 Proposed Budget
• LAO Reviews Governor's Proposed Budget
• Legislature Begins Budget Hearings
• Upcoming Legislature Deadlines

CABE 2024 Board Awards

Legacy Award for Courage to Act and Social Justice

Juan Carrillo

Assemblyman

for 39th District

Legacy Award

Paul Chávez

President

César Chávez Foundation

Legislative & Policy Champion Award

Eloise

Gómez-Reyes

50th District Assembly Majority Leader

Courage to Act and Social Justice Award

Jose Lalas

Corona-Norco USD

Board Member

Courage to Act Award:

Promotion of Bilingual/Bicultural Education

Union of Overseas Vietnamese Language Schools

CABE 2024 Educators and Parent of the Year Awards

Parent of the Year

Jessie Álvarez

Horace Mann Elementary

Anaheim ESD

Paraeducator

of the Year

Alberto Mendoza

Oxnard School District

Teacher of the Year

Christina Liera

Muscoy Elementary

San Bernardino City USD

Baja California

Teacher of the Year

Leticia Sotelo Díaz

Escuela Benemérito

de las Americas

Escuela Maestro Alfredo E. Uruchurtu Sistema Educativo de Baja California

Site Administrator

of the Year

Sandra Loudermilk

Principal, Dolores Huerta International Academy, Fontana USD

District Administrator

of the Year

Dr. Renae Bryant

Director,

Plurilingual Services Anaheim UHSD

CABE 2024 Student Writing Contest Winners

Grades K-2

Spark Tseng

1st grade, Philistine Rondo School of Discovery, Corona-Norco USD

Teacher: Halian Wong

Grades 3-5

Elijah R. Umana

4th Grade, Manzanita Elementary

Covina-Valley USD

Teacher: Yesenia Willison

Grades 6-8

Giovanni Almeida

6th Grade, Keller Dual Immersion Middle School, Long Beach USD

Teacher: Olga Rudruck

Grades 9-12

Joaquín Pérez

12th Grade, Norco High School Corona-Norco USD

Teacher: Anita Arias

Teachership Awards

Chuck and Estella Acosta Teachership

Kasandra Ahumada

UC Irvine

CABE Region 3

Alma Flor Ada Teachership

Viridiana Hernández

UC Irvine

CABE Region 3

Isabel Campoy Teachership

Eloiza

Ortiz Gómez

UC Irvine

CABE Region 3

CABE Bilingual

Teachership

Gabriela

Meléndez Erazo

National University

CABE Region 5

Carlos Penichet

Teachership

Kristine

Shishido

UC Irvine

CABE Region 3

Seal of Excellence Awards

Elementary Program—No. California

Del Roble TWBI Elementary

Oak Grove USD

Patricia Mondragón-Doty, Principal

José L. Manzo, Superintendent

Asian Language Program

John A. Murdy Elementary

Garden Grove USD

Dr. Michele Luong, Principal

Dr. Gabriela Mafi, Superintendent

Elementary Program—So. California

Horace Mann Elementary

Anaheim ESD

Louie Magdaleno, Principal

Dr. Christopher Downing, Superintendent

Secondary Program

Sycamore JHS

Anaheim UHSD

Nancy Cortez, Principal

Michael Matsuda, Superintendent

Chapter of the Year Award

Chapter #58

Antelope Valley Hi-Desert

Palmdale

Region V



As we look forward to CABE 2024 in Anaheim, we also take a look back at "Testimonios" conversations from CABE 2023 in Long Beach. These videos* feature inspiring narratives, in-depth interviews, and remarkable experiences shared by the bilingual education community. We believe that highlighting these stories can foster a deeper connection within our field and inspire one another in our respective journeys. This video series was filmed and produced in collaboration with Summit K12, a CABE 2023 and CABE 2024 sponsor. We hope you enjoy this recently published video from the CABE TV 2023 playlist on YouTube!

*The opinions shared herein do not necessarily reflect those of CABE or Summit K12.

University Seal of Biliteracy and Cultural Competence

The State Seal of Biliteracy has been implemented since 2012 and in an effort to continue language recognition beyond high school, we have now implemented the SDSU and CABE Multilingual California Project (MCAP) University Seal of Biliteracy & Cultural Competence (USBCC). This collaboration with the MCAP at CABE valued and honored the linguistic capital and genius of the first cohort of students who received a digital badge for their professional biliteracy skills. This project was made possible due to the CDE EWIG funding received in 2020-2023 as this project was one of the grant goals.

At the university level, the USBCC has the potential to inspire and encourage students’ language skill development at a professional working level.  The cultural and linguistic immersion component of the university seal supports critical thinking about the cultural context of language proficiency and bilingualism/multilingualism. 

The purpose of this program is to highlight the impact and influence the USBCC has on students. The exam used to assess students’ language proficiency was Avant’s STAMP 4S which assessed reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The pilot semester of SDSU’s USBCC included a cohort of forty students of which fourteen received the seal. Seven recipients were part of the International Business program, and the other seven were part of the College of Business. Thirteen recipients identified as Latinx.  To date, over 100 students have received the USBCC, and continues to grow. The program has expanded to other languages and now includes Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Offering a USBCC can be a step for HSIs to better serve linguistically diverse student populations. Dr. Alfaro and Dr. Castro have presented at CABTE and have partnered in an effort to continue to promote this program at other universities using the free handbook.  The USBCC would be a powerful tool for recognizing linguistically diverse students who are capable of dominating more than one language not only in an educational setting but also in a professional one.   

To date, over 100 students have received the USBCC. The program has expanded to other languages and now includes Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Offering a USBCC can be a step for HSIs to better serve linguistically diverse student populations. The USBCC would be a powerful tool for recognizing linguistically diverse students who are capable of dominating more than one language not only in an educational setting but also in a professional one.   

FREE access to the SDSU Handbook to implement the University Seal of Biliteracy & Cultural Competence a project made possible through the collaboration of CABE MCAP and SDSU.

For more information on the University Seal of Biliteracy, please contact Dr. Alma Castro, Director of Multilingual Programs at alma@gocabe.org.

SDSU University Seal—Scan the QR code or click here: https://www.sdsu.edu/international-affairs/events-and-initiatives/biliteracy-seal

Ceremony to recognize USBCC recipients

at SDSU in 2023

Implementation Team working on the University Seal of Biliteracy & Cultural Competence. Photo (left to right): Dr. Alma Castro, Dr. Cristina Alfaro, Dr. Reka Barton, and Lysandra Perez with a presentation on the “SDSU MCAP University Seal of Biliteracy & Cultural Competence” at the CABE 2023 Conference.

Dr. Zenaida Aguirre-Muñoz was born in Guadalajara, México, as the fifth of nine children. Her mother, a homemaker, and her father, a cook, met in Tijuana, and both were janitors later in life until they retired. Spanish was the only language spoken at home, and Zenaida remembers her mother regularly reading the Bible in Spanish to her and her siblings. They grew up knowing the importance of maintaining their language and culture and frequently traveled to Mexico. Her family moved to San Diego when she was a baby, and she grew up undocumented until the age of nine.

Zenaida entered first grade as an English learner in a poor barrio Catholic school in Logan Heights. The school did not have a bilingual program, and she remembers feeling lost and confused until things started clicking for her in third grade. Her family moved around a lot, making it difficult for her to make friends. As a secondary student in a majority-white school in La Jolla, she didn't understand why there were so few language minority students in Honors and AP classes, a fact that later influenced the direction of her career. Zenaida participated in basketball, volleyball, and track. She says she was terrible at sports but had fun and still likes running today.

After high school, Zenaida attended UC Santa Barbara because she wanted to be a marine biologist. She later realized that to work in a lab, she would need a doctorate, and at that time, she didn't want to be in school that long. She worked as a teacher assistant during college, and after researching other careers, she decided to major in psychology and Spanish to understand K-12 school dynamics better. Afterward, she began her doctoral studies in educational psychology at UCLA, and her dissertation focused on heritage language speakers. She says, "I'm grateful for the Title VII funding that allowed me to rigorously investigate learning opportunities in bilingual education." 

After earning her Ph.D., Zenaida worked at a UCLA research center, studying alternative methods for assessing bilingual students' content understanding. When offered the opportunity to prepare the next generation of bilingual teachers, she moved to Lubbock to be a bilingual teacher educator in the Bilingual and Diversity Studies program at Texas Tech. She taught first and second language acquisition and received funding to work directly with local bilingual teachers to improve the learning outcomes of bilingual students in STEM fields.

Twelve years later, she joined the faculty of the School Psychology program at the University of Houston, where she continued to work with local schools studying STEM learning in inner-city schools. After three years, Zenaida returned to California to mentor students interested in the intersection of language and cognition in bilingual settings at UC Merced, where she still works today as a researcher and bilingual teacher educator. She has a National Professional Development research grant to study and develop bilingual teacher networks.

In addition to serving on the CABE Board, Dr. Aguirre-Muñoz has been on various advisory boards that impact the education of bilingual students and their families, including the Emergent Bilingual Collaborative Advisory, a coalition of five non-profit organizations working to strengthen the skills, knowledge, and capacity of California educators to more successfully empower and support PreK-3 dual language learners and the UC Merced Advisory Board for the Bilingual Teacher Preparation Program.

Zenaida has been a CABE member since grad school in the 90s. It was her favorite conference, and she always appreciated how well-organized it was and how diverse the offerings were. While she was at UCLA, a faculty member encouraged her cohort to become active in CABE and to submit workshop proposals, and consequently, Zenaida frequently presented at CABE conferences. After learning about an opening on the CABE board from then-President Dr. Bárbara Flores, she was elected to the position of Region 2 Representative because she wanted to become integrated with a community that advocates for bilingual education and improved outcomes for underserved bilingual students. Zenaida adds, "Supporting CABE chapters and members in Region II has helped me heal from the isolation of the pandemic."

In her free time, Zenaida enjoys photography, and during the pandemic, she got her first digital camera and began taking photos of landscapes and nature scenes. (See her photos of the Merced Bird Sanctuary below). She also enjoys running on nature trails, listening to music, dancing salsa and cumbia, and spending time with her husband Juan, a Chancellor at UC Merced, and their three sons, Diego (24), an engineer, Santos (22), a soon-to-be film editor graduating from Texas State San Marcos in May, and Amado (18), a senior in high school who wants to be a chemistry professor; as well as their dog, Bruin, a Rottweiler.

CABE Riverside Chapter #6 invites all parents, families, and educators to a free Saturday conference on March 16. Save the date and register today! Bit.ly/3sGJdJF

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Contact the editor: Laurie Miles, Communications Coordinator, laurie@gocabe.org