Does Your Child Speak A Language Other Than English? California Preschools Want To Know

It’s part of a new effort to identify which preschoolers speak languages other than English and make sure they’re supported to both keep those languages and learn English at the same time.

The initial questions asked of all families enrolling in state preschool are: Which language(s) does your child hear at home? Which language(s) does your child hear in their neighborhood and community? Which language(s) does your child understand? Which language(s) does your child speak?

If a child does hear, understand or speak a language other than English, preschool providers are expected to conduct a separate 15-minute conversation with the family, in which they go deeper with questions about how the child uses other languages at home, the child’s favorite stories, books and songs, and how the preschool can help support the child’s language. In addition, the California Department of Education includes resources for preschools to share with families about how they can support their child in becoming bilingual.

Preschools must also report data to the state about the number of children who speak a language other than English and which languages they speak, in addition to the language used in the preschool classroom and the languages spoken by preschool staff.

The California Department of Education developed the questions, under a law passed in 2021, Assembly Bill 1363. So far it only applies to California state preschools, which receive state funding to serve 3- and 4-year-olds from low- and moderate-income families. Many of these preschool programs are run by school districts, while others are in privately run centers.

“We’ve been really excited since the bill was passed,” said Stephen Propheter, the department’s director of early education. “Having this data to help inform policy is super wonderful.”

Propheter said the data will help the department understand better how many preschools are offering bilingual programs, and how languages other than English are being used in the classroom. In addition, it will help state leaders understand whether some communities that speak certain languages are not enrolling as much in state-subsidized preschool programs, so they can focus on trying to help those communities enroll.

A separate bill, Assembly Bill 393, if passed, would extend the same requirements to some other subsidized childcare programs.

Identifying and reporting the number of bilingual preschoolers was one of the goals laid out in California’s master plan for early learning and care, published in 2020. It also called for more professional development for preschool teachers and childcare providers on best practices for teaching children who are learning two languages at once.

More than half of the state’s young children under 6-years-old speak a language other than or in addition to English at home, according to an analysis of 2015-2019 census data by the Migration Policy Institute. Young children who speak a language other than or in addition to English at home are known as “dual-language learners” because they are still developing their home language at the same time that they are learning English.

One of the goals of identifying preschoolers who speak a language other than English is to help them maintain that language, said Carolyne Crolotte, director of the dual language learner programs for Early Edge California, a nonprofit organization that advocated for the bill behind the new requirements.

Virginia Early, the state’s policy office administrator for early education, said that some preschool providers have shared that the interviews are already helping them better understand the families that enroll in their programs.

“Some programs told us that they were thinking more deeply about how to bring in more bilingual educators to have the language of the teachers match the language of the children,” Early said. “Others have told us that based on the information they’re getting, they’re thinking more about what sort of materials they want in their classrooms and putting more things in home language.”

The Fresno Language Project — an initiative between Fresno Unified, Head Start, child care centers and family child care homes — has been conducting similar interviews for almost a decade. Jessica Gutierrez, now program manager for early learning and former preschool teacher at Fresno Unified School District, said teachers use the information they get from the interviews with families to help plan their curriculum, incorporating songs and books in the child’s home language, for example, or inviting families to share their home language and culture in the class.

“We’ve seen how that can help children see themselves in the classroom, be more comfortable and be able to engage, because they see themselves represented,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez was invited by the California Department of Education to share some of Fresno Unified’s experiences in one of their recent webinars to explain the new survey and reporting requirements with other preschool providers in the state.

She said the most common question she has heard from other preschool providers is, “How do we set aside the time?” In Fresno Unified, she said, preschool teachers do this as part of an existing orientation, during which they meet with families. A crucial part of the conversation is explaining to families why preschools want to know about the languages their children understand and speak.

“We want to make sure families understand the importance of bilingualism and that we value their language and culture,” Gutierrez said.

She said preschool teachers also encourage families to help support their children becoming bilingual, by continuing to speak, sing and read or tell stories in their native language at home.

Some parents are wary of sharing that their children speak a language other than English, Gutierrez said, because they don’t want them to be labeled or they are worried about how the information will be used.

State officials have emphasized that preschool providers should share with parents that the reason for gathering information about their children’s languages is to help support them in becoming bilingual, and that being identified as a dual language learner in preschool does not necessarily mean that you don’t speak English or that you would be designated as an English language learner when your child enters transitional kindergarten or kindergarten.