Why has the Santa Clara County Office of Education created the Biliteracy and World Languages Communications Toolkit?
The Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) is committed to serving, inspiring and promoting student and public school success. One of the SCCOE’s three-year goals is to improve equitable education and reduce access discrepancies to high quality education for all students. To help address this goal, the SCCOE has developed a Communications Toolkit for building bilingual/biliteracy pathway awards and programs that promote the study of languages and cultures.
These programs have the potential to help eliminate the achievement gap for traditionally underserved students. All students, regardless of their language background, can succeed in learning another language and culture. Non-native English speaking students can benefit by maintaining and continuing development of their primary language while learning English or acquiring a third language. These programs will benefit native English speaking students by encouraging them to learn a second or third language in addition to developing academic literacy in English.
In the 21st century global society and economy, biliteracy and multilingualism, along with other distinct skills such as communication, collaboration and critical thinking are crucial for global competence. Even though many educators understand the importance of promoting 21st century skills, intentional efforts are needed to offer students a range of opportunities that will build these essential skills. The SCCOE is committed to promoting and supporting opportunities for all students to acquire these skills by creating this communications toolkit.