Early Edge Blog

What the $5 Million in New DLL Professional Development Means for Early Childhood Educators

August 28, 2018

Last month, Early Edge California and partners successfully advocated for allocation of $5 million in the 2018 California state budget to provide licensed early educators with training on effective strategies to support dual language learners (DLLs).

This new funding – from federal child care quality funds – will expand professional development opportunities to early educators with Child Development Permits who are working with our large and growing population of DLLs. This training is critical because DLLs represent almost 60% of children birth through age five in California.

These funds complement last year’s $5 million Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program, which currently supports eight school districts and county offices of education across California to increase the number of bilingual TK-12 teachers.

Goals and Next Steps:

Early Edge California along with other advocacy partners will be closely working with the California Department of Education (CDE) on the rollout of the $5 million in grant funds.

Our goals for these funds are:

• To strengthen and expand the current DLL-specific training infrastructure, and
• Ensure more early educators and providers have ongoing training and support for serving DLLs and their families.

As new information becomes available regarding these funds, we will send additional updates.

Recipients of Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program funds: Riverside Unified School District, Anaheim Union High School District, Los Angeles County Office of Education, Patterson Joint Unified School District, Sacramento County Office of Education, San Bernardino County Office of Education, San Luis Obispo County Office of Education, and Oak Grove School District