Feasibility Study: Filipino Dual Language Immersion at Bessie Carmichael

Filipino Dual Language Immersion at Bessie Carmichael

Feasibility Study





 

Feasibility Study



 

Filipino Dual Language Immersion

at Bessie Carmichael 










 

 

Table of Contents 

 

1. Executive Summary  

2. Background Information 

Historical Background

Current FLES Program

3.  Review of Current Student Data  

Findings  

Filipino Youth Mental Health Report

4.  Community Engagement, Responses, and Focus Groups

Survey Results   

Affinity-Based Focus Groups

5.  Research on Filipino Language and Programs 

Educational System in the Philippines

Filipino Language Programs in the U.S.  

Findings       

6.  Curriculum Resources 

Curriculum Resources and Materials 

Other Resources 

Curriculum Development Process

Findings and Cost        

7.  Teachers 

Findings 

8.  Potential Changes in Bessie Carmichael  

Staffing 

Space

Possible Scenarios

Findings

9.   Fiscal Impact

10. Final Considerations 

11. Appendix A

SF-CESS Report of Focus Groups in Affinity 







 

 

 

  1. Executive Summary

 

SFUSD Vision 2025 outlines Ten Big Shifts. The sixth shift calls for all students to be Culturally Competent and Multilingual: Students will be globally aware, multilingual, and culturally competent, and fluent in a range of "second languages" including sign language and computer coding. Our graduates will see diversity in its many forms as an asset. 

 

An analysis of current demographic data found that students currently enrolled in the Filipino Foreign Language in Elementary School (FLES) program at Bessie Carmichael School show a balance of English Language Learners and English Fluent students. However, we have no measure to determine the Filipino language proficiency of current FLES students. In further exploration, this would be necessary to begin a Dual Language Program (DLI), as at least half of the students need to be native or have native like fluency in Filipino to have the balance needed for a DLI program. With the limited reported data we have in Synergy, we might assume sufficient native Filipino speaking students to balance a DLI program. Prior to launching, the school site and community must initiate a more robust effort to enroll a balance of proficient Filipino and English speaking students in the program for future years to ensure the success of the program. 

 

Three community meetings,  four different surveys, and 4 focus groups and interviews with staff were conducted to gather feedback from the community.  Findings indicated that parents and community members who participated in the survey, of Filipino descent in a great majority,  were very supportive of starting a Filipino DLI language program.  Other parents have suggested opening a Spanish program or expressed they have no opinion about the creation of the DLI model at Bessie. Staff members were divided on this issue. From the surveys, strong comments in favor or opposed are reported. 

 

The San Francisco Coalition of Essential Small Schools (SF-CESS) facilitated a series of affinity-based groups with parents, teachers, and administrators with a total of six different groups that accurately represented the school community. Most participants were Filipino parents. SF-CESS recommendations are also included at this end of this summary. 

 

Since there are no other Filipino Elementary programs in the US, all materials would need to be created or translated to Filipino. This effort will need to involve consultants, and classroom teachers, to develop a scope and sequence, curriculum and lessons that are California Standard Aligned. Time, not money,  is the biggest investment when creating a curriculum, as revisions should be implemented throughout to improve the instruction. 

 

There are very few Filipino Bilingual Certificated (BLCAD) teachers in California or San Francisco; only 4 at the current time in San Francisco. In the past 10 years, only 13 certifications were given a Filipino BCLAD in the entire state, including only one in San Francisco. Teachers in a DLI model are required to have Bilingual certification, though this is not a requirement for the current FLES programs. We surveyed current SFUSD teachers or employees that may be interested in getting a Filipino BCLAD but only five respondents were eligible to move forward. Currently, there is a teacher shortage for all language pathways. We have not been able to staff our Filipino teacher on a special assignment position due to lack of qualified applicants. Without a qualified Filipino TSA, it would be impossible to provide professional development for teachers in primary language instruction and language acquisition. We are experiencing the same situation in Filipino, as with other Spanish, Cantonese, and Mandarin DLI and Biliteracy programs, due to a lack of qualified experienced teacher candidates for hire. The hiring and retaining of teachers in SFUSD  is a major challenge and greatly impacts the quality of instruction for our students.

 

Based on the lessons we have learned with other DLI and FLES, SFUSD programs recommend that we proceed with caution for the following reasons:

  • High quality instructional resources and a curriculum are challenging to create. 

Publishers dedicate teams of people for this matter. We haven't yet completed lessons K-5 for the FLES program at Bessie and Longfellow after 3 years. If we put it in perspective, FLES lessons are 30-40 minutes three times a week, whereas a DLI would need to cover both content and language lessons for at least 50 percent of the time. Even if we gradually embark on this effort, the amount of money and time would have to be substantial, and a multi-year timeline would need to be developed to avoid any delay or the creation of a mediocre curriculum not rigorous enough for students. Importing materials from the Philippines would still need to go in a process for revision and alignment with California Common Core Standards. In most cases, we buy trade books, not complete curriculums from other countries, as they are not aligned to the California Standards. The academic language is more advanced than the level of students here in the US, or there could be cultural sensitivities for which we need to filter, such as religious or political messaging. 

  • Lack of BCLAD teachers. 

Even in most common languages like Spanish and Cantonese, we continue to need effective bilingual teachers. We are currently trying to hire Filipino TSAs, for the second year in a row, and the pool of candidates applying do not meet the minimum requirements, despite removing the requirement of having a BCLAD credential and replacing it with fluency in  Filipino. 

  • Funds to cover the gap in the upper grades. 

In other schools with DLI and Biliteracy programs, funding is needed to cover the gap in the upper grades. As a cohort of students moves from Kindergarten to 3rd grade, the capacity is set with a maximum of 22. This capacity  covers the cost of a classroom teacher. In the 4th and 5th grades, the capacity increases to 35. This creates a funding gap that has historically been covered by PEEF, which given current fiscal considerations is no longer feasible long term. 

  • Classrooms. The school presently mixes General Education and Filipino FLES students in grades 4th and 5th, to cover class size increases. In a DLI program this is not possible due to the requirement of at least 50% of the instructional time to be Filipino. Classrooms need to be secure spaces for both pathways. As it is now, there is now one extra classroom available at Bessie currently used by the after school program. 

 

Without each of these essential components, we predict that changing the model of FLES to DLI would compromise the quality of instruction for students, as we have seen with the rapid and unsystematic expansion of our Biliteracy and DLI programs for Chinese and Spanish. Therefore we propose 

strengthening the current FLES program by: 

  1. Adapting and creating curriculum aligned to the new 2019 CA World Language Standards 
  2. Increasing the number of minutes for FLES instruction from 90 per week to 120 per week
  3. Ensuring that all FLES lessons are taught 90% of the time in the Filipino language (currently, some grade levels only focus on culture and not language)
  4. Continuing to develop a school wide culture celebrating and elevating the Filpino language and culture
  5. Exploring how all students at Bessie Carmichael may participate in FLES model, not limited to the current model where students must be in one homeroom to participate in Filipino FLES
  6. Outlining a K-12 Language trajectory, including the Middle school redesign and High School 
  7. Creating a plan with short and long term goals to incorporate the SF-CESS recommendations 



 

SF-CESS offered the following recommendations: 

Healing: We heard multiple references to harm having been done or continuing to be done because of identity in relationship dynamics, sometimes between educators, students, and families, sometimes between educators. We recommend the school invest in time and space to engage in authentic healing processes to air and clear experiences of harm and to make plans for deeper community building across roles and differences. 

Cultural proficiency: Almost every group referenced the value of diversity as well as the false sense of competition for resources based on diversity, thus leading to systemic and perpetuated experiences of bias and microaggressions. We recommend the school intentionally and explicitly interrogate and commit to cultural proficiency work with representative leadership (ie: role, race, etc.) integrated in their community building as well as their program building. 

Programming: While the language of the debate was centered on the two programs, it is SFCESS’s opinion that the real debate is based on a need for cultural preservation. Given the history of BCS/FEC and the Filipino community, this feels like an incredibly important and valid concern for which the response and priorities should reach far beyond any decision of which program is best. SF-CESS recommends BCS/FEC and SFUSD anchor future work and decisions in clear commitment to the Filipino community; that BCS/FEC will be able to continue its work of centering and lifting up the Filipino community; and that BCS/FEC form a working group with the goal of making programmatic decisions toward that commitment. The language of that commitment should shift from emphasizing different programs to the goal of cultural preservation.

 

Overall, we understand that research shows improved outcomes for bilingual students; however, that comes with the assumptions that all the conditions of a quality bilingual model are met, such as CA Standards aligned rigorous instructional materials, a consistent group of effective bilingual Filipino teachers, structures and systems at the school and district level professional development, and formative and informative assessment in both, Filipino and English, languages in all the instructional content areas that each language is provided. A failure to meet all these requirements jeopardizes the students’ educational outcomes.

 

  1. Background and Development of the Filipino Program in San Francisco

 

The Filipino language programs at Bessie Carmichael is, along with Longfellow, one of the two only elementary Filpino programs in the United States, and has been a vital part of the Filipino-American community in San Francisco for decades.

 

Bessie Carmichael is located in the South of Market (SoMa), a district in the downtown area in the City of San Francisco, is also known as the SOMA Pilipinas Cultural District.  In 1969, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) established the Filipino Education Center (FEC) as a legacy of the Bilingual Education Act. FEC moved to its site on 824 Harrison Street in 1977 from Bessie Carmichael School.

 

Bessie Carmichael Middle School campus was previously the site for the Filipino Education Center (FEC) to support newcomer students as a legacy of the Bilingual Education Act in 1969. The FEC was open until the early 2000s. The newcomer students in the program were merged into the Bessie Carmichael Filipino bilingual (biliteracy) program. 

 

After this merge, the Filipino Education Center became a biliteracy program until 2019 when a proposal to change it to a FLES program. “During the 2009-2010, a Filipino Pathway Committee was formed based on the needs from two elementary school sites: Bessie Carmichael K-8 Elementary School and Longfellow Elementary School.  Both sites have a large Filipino population of students, and neither followed a district defined language pathway.  Bessie had a Filipino Biliteracy Pathway in place with only 30 minutes of daily Filipino instruction, and the students in the pathway were not all English Learners.  This is not in alignment with the district guidelines of a Biliteracy Pathway.  While Longfellow did not have a designated Filipino language pathway, they provided a Filipino enrichment program scheduled during the school day and after school.” (From the proposed plan from 2016)

 

Implementation of the FLES Bicultural and Bilingual program has been proven a challenge due to many changes in school leadership, central office (C&I and LEAD), and Multilingual personnel. Despite the hiring of a full-time Filipino Teacher-on-Special-Assignment, the development of lessons has not yet been completed for all grade levels to provide daily, or at minimum 3 times a week,  Filipino language and culture instruction. See the section on materials for more information. 

 

After the Filipino FLES Proposal (along with Longfellow) was proposed in 2010, decisions were made to implement a FLES Filipino Bilingual Bicultural program in both school sites. 

 

The program, like the city of San Francisco, has undergone many changes. In May 2017, two members of Bessie Carmichael’s English Language Advisory Committee (ELAC) presented a recommendation to Fernando Nuñez, the Multilingual Pathways Director at the time, to change the Filipino language program from a FLES (Foreign Language in Elementary School) to a Dual Language Immersion model for the following school year. It was explained to the ELAC members that the process for programmatic changes requires at least two years. Since that time, the Bessie Carmichael site leadership, ELAC parents, School Site Council, LEAD Assistant Superintendent, and Director, and Multilingual Pathways personnel have engaged in the required steps to explore this possible change.  Below is a timeline outlining the process. 

 

Date

Action/Task

Responsible Party

May 2010

Filipino FLES Proposal along with Longfellow 

Schools proposed 

 C&I approved

May 30, 2018

ELAC recommendation form turned in to Multilingual Pathways for change of program to DLI Filipino for SY18-19 

ELAC parents - Alexis David and Mary Ann Masagca 

August 10, 2018

Program placement proposal sent to C&I

School Principal -Tina Lagdamen

September 8, 2018

Response to the proposal with request for more information

C&I  Chief Academic Officer- Brent Stephens

Jan 29, 2019

Questions answered 

Additional document with new questions 6&7

School Principal - Tina Lagdamen

March 24, 2019

Soft Copy of proposal sent to C&I (missing signature of Assistant Superintendent)

School Principal - Tina Lagdamen

April 5, 2019

Proposal signed by LEAD  via email to be submitted for the Program Change Protocol

LEAD, Assistant Superintendent - Anakarita Allen

April 9, 2019

School Portfolio Office, Deputy Superintendent, Executive Director, PGD, CAO of C&I were informed of the proposal

Multilingual Pathways Elementary Supervisor - Miguel de Loza

2019-2020 School Year

Changes in leadership: 

  • New Principal at Bessie Carmichael
  • New Academic Chief Officer at Curriculum & Instruction
  • New Assistant Superintendent of Cohort 4
  • Multilingual Pathways merged with the Professional Growth and Development Department, with a new director 
 

June 2019

Five SSC members request to postpone the feasibility study 

SSC members, Assistant Superintendent, Jason Hannon, 

Multilingual Pathways Supervisors, Miguel de Loza

November 2019

Community Meeting with SSC Members, Bessie Carmichael parents, staff, Multilingual Pathways to discuss roles and responsibilities of SSC and ELAC

School Principal, Rasheena Bell

Assistant Superintendent, Jason Hannon, 

Multilingual Pathways Supervisors, Miguel de Loza

November 2019

Started the feasibility study

Jason Hannon, 

Assistant Superintendent 

Multilingual Pathways Supervisor Miguel de Loza



 

  1. Review of Student Demographics and Enrollment Capacities in Filipino FLES at Bessie Carmichael K-8
    1. Current Capacities
    2. Home Language Survey 
    3. English Language Proficiency
    4. Newcomers 

 

  1. Current Capacities in the Filipino FLES Program

These are the capacities for February 12, 2020, for a total of 109 students enrolled in the FLES program.  

School Name

Grade

Pathway Code

Pathway Name

Pathway Capacity

Active Students Enrolled

Open Seats

Mix in upper grade levels* 

Carmichael (Bessie) K-8

K

FB

Filipino FLES

22

14

8

 

Carmichael (Bessie) K-8

1

FB

Filipino FLES

22

20

2

 

Carmichael (Bessie) K-8

2

FB

Filipino FLES

22

15

7

 

Carmichael (Bessie) K-8

3

FB

Filipino FLES

22

18

4

 

Carmichael (Bessie) K-8

4

FB

Filipino FLES

22

19

 

11

Carmichael (Bessie) K-8

5

FB

Filipino FLES

33

23

 

10

*Students are mixed with other General Education classes in grades 4th and 5th in order to fund teachers in the upper grades. 

 

  1. Filipino FLES Students Home Language Survey Answers  

Grade Level and Languages

Count of Q1: Language First Learn

Count of Q2: Spoken by Student at Home

Count of Q3: Spoken to Student at Home

Count of Q4: Spoken by Adults at Home

K

14

14

14

14

Other non-English languages

1

1

1

1

English

8

8

8

8

Filipino (Pilipino or Tagalog)

5

5

5

5

1

20

20

20

20

English

8

8

8

8

Filipino (Pilipino or Tagalog)

9

9

9

9

Other non-English languages

3

3

3

3

2

15

15

15

15

Cebuano (Visayan)

1

1

1

1

English

2

2

2

2

Filipino (Pilipino or Tagalog)

10

10

10

10

Spanish

2

2

2

2

3

18

18

18

18

English

8

8

8

8

Filipino (Pilipino or Tagalog)

10

10

10

10

4

19

19

19

19

English

2

2

2

2

Filipino (Pilipino or Tagalog)

15

15

15

15

Other non-English languages

2

2

2

2

5

23

23

23

23

English

10

10

10

10

Filipino (Pilipino or Tagalog)

12

12

12

12

Ilocano

1

1

1

1

Grand Total

109

109

109

109

         

 

  1. Breakdown of Students’ English Language Proficiency in the Filipino FLES Program 2019-2020

English Language Proficiency 

 

Grade level - Typology 

Total

Kindergarten

14

English Learner

5

English Only

8

1

20

English Learner

10

English Only

8

Initially Fluent English Proficient (I-FEP)

2

2

15

English Learner

10

English Only

2

Initially Fluent English Proficient (I-FEP)

3

3

18

English Learner

10

English Only

8

4

19

English Learner

12

English Only

2

Initially Fluent English Proficient (I-FEP)

1

Redesignated Fluent English Proficient

3

To Be Determined

1

5

23

English Learner

8

English Only

10

Redesignated Fluent English Proficient

5

Grand Total

109



 

  1. Newcomers Enrolled in Filipino FLES in 2019-2020

 

Newcomers in FLES at Bessie

 

Row Labels

Total

No

106

Yes

3

Grand Total

109




 

Top 15 SFUSD Schools with Newcomers that speak Filipino, Cebuano or other Filipino Language. K-5 and K-8 Schools are shaded below. 

School

 

Cebuano (Visayan)

Filipino (Pilipino or Tagalog)

Filipino Other

Grand Total

Language Total

0

4

102

1

107

Carmichael (Bessie) K-8

 

2

8

 

10

Marshall (Thurgood) HS

   

7

 

7

Mission HS

 

1

6

 

7

Longfellow ES

   

5

 

5

O'Connell (John) HS

   

5

 

5

Balboa HS

   

4

 

4

Everett MS

   

4

 

4

Galileo HS

   

4

 

4

Washington (George) HS

 

1

3

 

4

Burton (Phillip and Sala) HS

   

3

 

3

Francisco MS

   

3

 

3

King Jr (Dr Martin L) MS

   

3

 

3

Lincoln (Abraham) HS

   

3

 

3

SF Community K-8

   

3

 

3

SF International HS

   

3

 

3

Sheridan ES

   

3

 

3

 

Total of Filipino Newcomers in SFUSD by Grade level

Grade

Students

TK

1

K

3

1

4

2

3

3

9

4

7

5

8

6

11

7

10

8

7

9

12

10

10

11

10

12

12

10

10

Grand Total

107

 

Filipino Youth Mental Health

Advocates for the program constantly refer to the 2017 SFUSD survey for the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Filipino students reported a higher rate for the question if they have ever seriously thought about committing suicide than other ethnic groups. Here is a link to the complete 2017 SFUSD Middle School Report. They suggest that having a DLI program will give students cultural pride in their heritage.   

 

 



 

  1. Response from the Bessie Carmicheal Community 

 

We have received the results from one survey administered by the previous administrator. Two surveys were given more recently by the current administrator. In an effort to collect unbiased data about the community, we also contracted with the San Francisco Coalition of Essential Small Schools (SF-CESS) to conduct research. The results reported below are for each survey or community event.

 

First Survey

The first survey was administered by LAKAS on February 24th, 2017, and received 33 responses. The survey provided two questions: (a) I want my child to learn Filipino, with three possible responses (Language Only, Culture Only, and Language and Culture); and (b) Getting involved with LAKAS with three possible responses (General participation, Leadership, Don’t know yet). The survey was sent to the principal, Tina Lagdamen, from Samina Malak and Alexis David. The two graphics below represent the results sent to Multilingual Pathways.

 

 

 


 

Second Survey

 

The second survey was created by Multilingual Pathways in January of 2019 and included additional questions to collect specific information. The survey was given in Arabic, English, Filipino, and Spanish. These are the results: 

 

The survey was answered by 108 participants

 

 

The participants were: 

  • 51 parents/families (8 Latino families and 3 Arabic families included)
  • 25 Community members that attend the meetings from CBO or other organizations
  • 18 Bessie Carmichael Teachers
  • 7 Bessie Carmichael Staff Members
  • 7 Unidentified responses 

 

 

For the question of After reading and thinking about the descriptions of the language programs and percentages for language instruction, which model do you prefer?

The responses were:

 

Question

Number of responses 

FLES - Continue with the FLES model 

18

DLI - Continue Exploring the proposal for the feasibility of a Filipino Dual immersion Model 

73

Other comments

17 



 

The other comments included:

Neither. I think that this further segregates our students and will specifically affect our underserved students (Black/AA, Latino, students with IEPs)

Not sure yet if it's a good idea.

We are segregating our other ethnicity students from this school

Implement Filipino Dual Immersion Now

Implement K. Now,

Both to co-exist and be developed/maintained/improved

 

Some of the comments in favor: 

I would love for our child to have the opportunity to learn the Filipino language and culture that was not available to me growing up.

For the students to be considered bilingual considering the benefits of bilingualism

I heard great benefits from being bilingual. It would be a great asset to have access to an immersion program. It will improve student interest in school.

Yes i would like to do dual immersion so my daughter will learn her native language

I would love my child be able to know how to read, speak and write in Tagalog

 

Some concerns:

Curriculum. How to have enough bilingual books/mentor texts?

I am concerned how this would affect staffing. I really love the Bessie community. I would love to learn more about Filipino culture and even Tagalog, however I do not have a bilingual credential and worry I would have to leave this school. I also worry about this segregating the children. Over all our Filipino students tend to be higher performing at the middle school. If they were tracked into two classes would this make one class feel less than? What is the percentage of Filipino students vs. other ethnicities at Bessie?

I think the sustainability of the program is important. What are the steps in ensuring to make sure we have a thriving immersion program.

If a student does not speak English and will be taught in school in their own language, when will they learn English? Is this where the 50% comes in?

Diverting resources away from dual-immersion students, how it would affect the middle school staff, inability to find teachers that can teach all subjects at the middle school

 

Overall the participants responded that they would enroll their child if the program was changed to DLI if the instruction was at least 50% in Filipino. A low percentage replied “Not Sure” and a few gave definite “No”.

 


Third Survey

 

The third survey was administered in November and December of 2019. We decided to break down the results by ethnicity. The following graphs...



 

Indicate your race and/or ethnicity

Percentage of Surveys

Total Surveys

African American

16.18%

11

Arabic

1.47%

1

Bangladeshi

1.47%

1

Chinese

1.47%

1

Egyptian and Filipino

1.47%

1

Filipino

48.53%

33

Latino

16.18%

11

Mexican/Chinese

1.47%

1

Mixed Race

2.94%

2

Pakistan

1.47%

1

White

7.35%

5

Grand Total

100.00%

68

 

Forms response chart. Question title: After reviewing the language models (FLES and DLI), which do you prefer to have a Bessie?. Number of responses: 56 responses.

Of the ones in favor, these are the words most repeated on their answers: 

 

Full results of the comments are in this spreadsheet 



 

 


 

Spanish Survey

Very few parents took the survey in November. 

 

Después de ver los modelos de los programas, cual le parecería mejor?

 

After looking at the models, what do you prefer? 

Después de ver los modelos de los programas, cual le parecería mejor?

 

After looking at the models, what do you prefer?

 

0

Cambiar a un modelo de inmersión en Filipino / Change to DLI Filipino

1

Continuar con el programa Filipino FLES/ Continue with FLES

3

Espanol - Change to Spanish 

1

No tengo una opinión

3

Grand Total

9



 

Affinity-Based Focus Groups

The San Francisco Coalition of Essential Small Schools (SF-CESS) held a series of meetings with parents, teachers, and administrators at Bessie Carmichael to ( 1 ) understand the root cause from the many heated interactions from the past community meetings; ( 2 ) provide a safe space for each individual to express their ideas and concerts; and ( 3 ) to provide objective recommendations for this report.  Their final report is included in the last pages and on this link too

Here are some of the general findings from their report:

While the focus groups raised many issues (some tangential), with regards to the focus topic, there were these major findings: 

  1. The debate and conflict pitting FLES and DLI against each other is steeped in very limited 

knowledge that is calibrated across groups and individuals; 

  1. Regardless of which program families believe they support, the intended goals they hoped 

each program would achieve were more common than different; 

  1. At the root of the debate is a greater concern for maintaining Filipino pride, and 

commitment to a cultural space within schools for the Filipino community. Most of the focus group participants were less committed to the type of program than to the outcomes of the program. *Given the above finding, it is not a surprise to interpret some of the challenges translating to racialized conflict and competition for resources and priority in the BCS/FSC community. 

  1. Breaking the pattern with parents, more staff have a clearer understanding of the differences between the programs, and recognize that the goal of each is inclusion and pride. Also, staff recognize the necessary conditions and commitments - and related challenges - of the programs (versus the potential for success for the programs). 

Additionally, 

Some parents were concerned that the two programs are being pitted against each other 

Some parents questioned whether or not a hybrid program could offer a win-win solution. 

 

Their recommendations are included in the Executive Summary. 

 

 

 

  1. Research on Filipino Language and Programs 

 

Currently, there are no other Filipino language programs offered outside of San Francisco in the United States. As mentioned in the background, the program offered at Bessie has changed through the years from Newcomer to Biliteracy to FLES models. 

 

Filipino Language Programs in the Philippines

 

Filipino is a “standardized variety of the Tagalog Language,” according to Richard Ma Nolasco, PhD, and other linguistics, and it is the official language of the Philippines, however, there are about 185 dialects in the country. 

 

The graph below shows the percent distribution of the top 20 languages in the Philippines: 

 

The education system in the Philippines provides opportunities to develop multilingualism during the elementary school years according to our findings. The schools provide instruction in the mother tongue, English and Filipino. 

 

From the same article, Mr. Nolasco writes that “People however ignore the fact that most Filipinos speak Filipino or Tagalog as a second tongue. Only 22 million speak it as their first language. Twice this figure or around 43 million speak it as their second language.” 

 

Schools in the Philippines use a model for multilingualism because of these reasons. The image below is an explanation of how students are instructed during the elementary grades. Mother Tongue is what we label in the US as the first language.

 

 

 

Here is a link to the Philippine’s Department of Education

 

 

 

  1. Curriculum Resources 

 

During the launching of the FLES program, Multilingual Pathways hired consultants to develop the Cultural and Language Curriculum. The lessons were created to cover an instructional period between 30-45 minutes. Some of the lessons are culture-specific, and designed to be delivered in English. Multilingual Pathways has worked in the past to include more language learning in the lessons.  These instructional resources are limited and need thorough revision by a team of practitioners and/with a consultant with expertise in Filipino language and culture. They also need to be aligned with the new CA World Language Standards, which were adopted by the state in 2019.

 

The hyperlink to materials and resources and the table below give a general description of what has been developed so far:

 

*Please note that High School Lessons are included on this table too. 



 

Resource

Description

Literature-based Lesson

Plans

A grade by grade description of skills for literacy instruction, with vocabulary and activities for reading and writing.

Kilusan Units

From 2nd to 5th grade only. A sequence of lessons for grade bands 2nd/3rd and 4th/5th grade. They include language and Filipino culture with 4 Units with 5 lessons and activities for each band. Other activities and resources are in the folders too.  

Mentor Texts for Kilusan Units

A matrix for each grade level that outlines the objectives, mentor text titles, cultural connection, language objectives, and other resources.

Reading Lesson Plans

Reading lessons that accompany the themes. Folders have a variety number of lessons from 0-4.

Language Lesson Plans

Include lesson on vocabulary and sentences frames to use with read alouds

Filipino World Language

Syllabus and scope and sequence for HS 

Filipino Assessment Instruments

A quick assessment (similar to ELD Express) to determine students’ proficiency. A more robust assessment needs to be developed for placement.



 

In the Philippines 

The Department of Education in the Philippines has the following website for instructional materials:

https://www.depedresources.com/downloadable-k-12-instructional-materials/

 

They include a mix of Filipino and English resources. There are daily logs and outcomes for each grade level. However, when trying to access the resources for language arts instructions, the website includes only English resources and a correlation to the CA Common Core Standards. We need to explore what other resources are available and how they can be used in the United States. 

 

Usually, materials developed in other countries can present a challenge to students and teachers in the United States as they used more advanced vocabulary per grade level and cultural aspects such as the depiction of women or ethnic minorities that would not be appropriate in the US. 

 

In the United States

Since there are no other Filipino programs in the US, publishers do not prioritize the development and publication of instructional materials. A Google search shows only World Language instructional materials and literary books in Filipino are available in the US. 

 

For a DLI program, we would need to develop and/or translate instructional materials in order to provide teachers with resources to cover 50% of the instructional time. 

 

In order to do this we will need to explore the following: 

Subject

Current Situation 

Needs

Phonics Instruction 

  • Not in the US. Possibly, looking at materials from the Philippines or create them all
  • Create a scope and sequence
  • Purchase materials
  • Revise materials with teachers and/or consultant 

Language Arts 

  • Not in the US. Possibly, looking at materials from the Philippines
  • Create a scope and sequence
  • Purchase robust classroom libraries
  • Purchase Read-alouds and/or shared reading titles
  • Writing Instructional materials
  • Revise materials with teachers and/or consultant 

Math

  • There are not Filipino curriculum materials aligned to CA Math Standards in the US
  • Create a scope and sequence
  • Needs to be aligned to SFUSD Math Curriculum
  • Needs translation of the students’ workbooks and, tasks
  • Teachers guides are only in English
  • Needs translation of the Glossary
  • Revise materials with teachers and/or consultant 

Science

  • Amplify is only in English (with some resources as vocabulary and students books in Spanish only)
  • Need a translation of vocabulary and glossary
  • Students books in Filipino

Social Studies

  • In the process for new adoption
  • Only in English and Spanish
  • Cantonese and Mandarin pathways translated some of the resources, with the new adoption, we will need to consider in what language of instruction it needs to happen
  • If possible, ask the publisher for translations in all languages offered in SFUSD
  • We need to wait to see what is going to be adopted before making any decisions



 

Findings and Costs

The final cost would be calculated after determining the percentages in each language at each grade level. If we start with an 80/20 instructional model, 80% in Filipino and 20% in English the cost would be different than if we choose a 50/50 model from K-5.  

 

The main challenge with the creation of materials is that they would need to be aligned to the California Common Core (Language Arts, Math, Social Studies) and New Generation Science Standards. 

 

Standard Aligned

Estimated Costs

Phonics

  • Not applicable to  phonics; we would need to develop or adapt the CC Standards and a Scope and Sequence
  • $15,000 (materials from the Philippines for K-5)
  • $5,000 to create a scope and sequence and adapt lessons

Language Arts 

  • We would need to develop or adapt the CC Standards and a Scope and Sequence
  • Translate Teaching points for reading and writing 
  • $10,000 for each classroom to include classrooms libraries, mentor text, etc.
  • $5,000 for teachers to create lessons align with the standards 
  • Translation

Math

  • Translating at least glossaries and vocabularies
  • Translating student workbooks
  • $5000-10,000 depending on the number of translations needed

Science

  • Amplify materials would need key vocabulary translations and supplemental books 
  • $3000 per grade level

Social Studies 

  • We would need to develop or adapt the CC Standards and a Scope and Sequence
  • This is a hard subject to translate, and we are in the process of adopting new resources for Socials Studies in the next few years

Consultants

  • We would need Filipino consultants to support translating materials, creating a scope and sequence for language, reading, writing, and other content areas
  • $ 15,000-20,000 per year

Translation is about 20 cents a word ($0.20) (estimate a math workbook and reading lessons) 

Professional Development (PD)

  • New DLI teachers would need PD to learn language acquisition, how to teach content in Filipino

Approximate $2000 per year.



 

Curriculum, Scope and Sequence, Standards Alignment, and Filipino Instructional Resources

We would have to start by creating a scope and sequence to align the CA Standards, in all content areas that would be instructed in Filipino. 

 

As an example, in the Korean Immersion Programs, teachers have translated the math glossary themselves, but they don’t have all the other content materials such as students’ math workbooks, new science materials curriculum or social studies. They used the International Korean Educators Network (IKEN) materials for language arts instruction. Other pathways have expressed the need for quality instructional materials (Spanish and Cantonese). Here is a list of resources provided to other programs (add to the appendix too). Principals and teachers in those pathways have expressed their concern about the materials and teachers’ language proficiency to use them. 

 

 

 

 

  1. Teachers 

 

Dual Language Immersion programs require that teachers hold an authorized BCLAD Filipino credential. FLES programs do not require BLCAD credentials. Currently, there are only 5 teachers in SFUSD that hold a BCLAD Filipino (Pilipino) credential. 

 

Information from Synergy:

Filipino BCLAD Teachers at Bessie

Filipino BCLAD Teachers in SFUSD

  • 4 BCLAD Teachers 
  • One BCLAD in a middle school 

 

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing provides the following report for both Filipino and Tagalog number of credentials in the past 10 years:

Here is the CTC website for more information. 

There are no programs in SFUSD, besides the World Language in High Schools that are required at Filipino Credential authorization, therefore, many Filipino teachers may not see the need to get one. Principal Lagdamen suggested that several Filipino native speakers teachers at Bessie, two teachers, may be interested in taking the BCLAD test to get the authorization. 

 

Interested SFUSD Employees 

In February 2020, we sent a form to all Filipino teachers, paras, substitute teachers or other SFUSD workers to gauge interest and language proficiency. We got 23 responses, one person responded twice, so the real total is 22.  2 already have a Filipino BCLAD. The results should account for 19 interested teachers. Here are the results

 

What is your current position in SFUSD

 

Classroom Teacher

10

Health Worker

2

Itinerant Music Teacher

1

Para Educator

5

School District Nurse

1

Substitute Teacher

4

Grand Total

23



 

Forms response chart. Question title: Do you have a Filipino BCLAD Credential?. Number of responses: 22 responses.

          8 already have a CLAD Credentials, only 2 have Filipino BCLAD



 

Forms response chart. Question title: How certain are you pass the BCLAD test in the first try? . Number of responses: 20 responses.

5 are unsure I will pass and 9 feel somewhat confident. For those that answered number 4 for certainly will pass, one already has the BCLAD credential.  

Forms response chart. Question title: If you were to take the test today, in what are would you need support? . Number of responses: 20 responses.

Choices from top to bottom were: 

  • Language and Communication: Oral Expression
  • Language and Communication: Listening Comprehension
  • Language and Communication: Reading Comprehension
  • Language and Communication: Written Expression
  • Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (Intercultural Communication Instruction and Assessment)
  • Geographic and Historical Contexts/ Sociopolitical and Sociocultural Contexts
  • Other

 

Hiring a Filipino Teacher in Special Assignment (TSA) for the School year 2020-2021

We were unable to hire a qualified TSA for this year after posting the position for several months. We have budgeted for Filipino TSA for the next school, and hope to find a qualified teacher that has the capacity to support the Filipino teachers and continue to revise and create lessons. 



 

  1. Potential Impact at Bessie Carmichael 

 

Here are some of the potential impacts for consideration if the FLES program transitions to DLI:

Potential Impact

Description

Students in DLI would be self contained

Students would be with the same cohort all grade levels. In a FLES program, students can be added anytime into the classroom regardless of any level of language proficiency. 

 

For DLI, students need to demonstrate proficiency in grades 2-5 to enter the program in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. 

Enrollment 

A new district student assignment policy is developing now. We do not know the impact of these changes until the policy has been finalized. Considerations would need to be made in this case. 

Space

Students in 4th and 5th are grouped together from both programs,  FLES and GE. DLI classrooms will need separate classrooms as instruction should be 50% of the time in Filipino. 

Staff

Currently, there are four teachers with BCLADs, we would need to ensure that all the teachers are BCLAD K-5 for a total of 6 teachers. 

 

Some teachers at the site may be consolidated if they could not meet the requirements. If the program expands to two classes per grade level, major changes in staffing would have to take place. 

Funding for 4th and 5th Grades

If there is only one classroom for DLI, class size for 4th and 5th grade is 33 per class. Seats in the upper grades would only be filled with students that are Filipino speakers or bilingual students that are literate in Filipino. Funding would need to be available to cover the gaps in class size change from 3rd to the 4th and 5th grade level and/or a combo class would need to be formed and students would have to be exited from the program. 

School Community 

Lesson learned from other sites when having one strand of Biliteracy or DLI could create a division on the school community as students can not easily be moved from one program to the other one. 

Teacher Collaboration

SFUSD encourages grade level teacher collaboration to align instruction and expectations. When adding one cohort of Biliteracy or DLI, collaboration becomes a challenge especially in the lower grades when most of the instruction is in the primary language and there is not a variety of resources to use. 

 

 

 

  1. Fiscal Impact

 

Materials, Resources, Teachers 

Estimate First Year

Estimate over 6 year

Instructional materials

This amount could increase yearly as more grade levels are included

$10,000

 

$60,000

Teachers

  • BCLAD Filipino Teachers

None, current teachers can cover this cost

Underenrollement and upper grade cost, see below

Enrollment 

  • One cohort creates a gap in the upper grades 4th and 5th grades to consider in the future

$80,000 

for 4th and 5th grade gap

 

11 students or ⅓ of teachers needs to be allocated in the upper grades. $40,000

Under enrollment, 4tht and 5th grades

 cost approximate

 

 $100,000

Additional costs

  • Professional Development days
  • Extended calendar hours 
  • Vetting materials
  • 2 Central Filipino TSAs to coordinate program

$305,000

This amount could increase yearly as more grade levels are included

$1,830,000

Consultants

  • Support in vetting materials, creating scope and sequence, providing PD and other needs as they will arise 

$50,000

A consult is usually between $1000-$1500 a day

$300,000

Translations

  • Translating concepts (science, math,etc.)
  • Translating teaching points (reading and writing units, etc) 

$20,000

This amount could increase yearly as more grade levels are included

$100,000

Testing: Any student applying to DLL needs a language assessment. 

$3000

$18,000

Para Educators

  • Filipino Para speakers for students with IEPs 

$70,000

Possible for 2nd year of implementation

$140, 000

For 2 paras

Approximate Totals

The amount will increase yearly as more materials need to be created along with consultants and teachers

$538,000

First year without paras


 

$2,548,000

 

  1. Final Considerations



 

Tagalog (Filipino) is Certified as the Third Language in San Francisco

The city of San Francisco has certified Tagalog as a third additional language, besides English (Chinese and Spanish the others), that must be used in communicating essential city services since 2014. 

 

Students Demographics and Eligibility 

The numbers currently enrolled in the FLES programs could work in a DLI model. Ideally, we could have a balance of at least one half of Filipino native speakers and one-half of English speakers only. 

 

However, for a DLI program, students need eligibility to enroll. In other DLI programs, the applicants have two options when applying, a native speaker seat or English only seat. A budget for testing needs to be created as well as an exam to determine the proficiency for native speakers’ seats. If students leave the program or the site from 2nd grade and up, new applicants need to be proficient in Filipino in order to get those seats. Insufficient native speakers could be detrimental to the outcomes of a DLI program. 

 

FLES seats are available to all students regardless of their Filipino language proficiency. 

 

Possible Implementation Roll Out

The first possible year to start implementing a new DLI program would be 2021-2022 at the earliest. This is in consideration of the enrollment process from printing enrollment guides and the enrollment fair that goes on one year in advance. If we could start in 2021-2022, only the Kindergarten class would start in a DLI program and we would open one grade level at a time to the DLI program until it reached 5th grade. The reason to do it increasingly year by year, are: (a) students are not prepared to get instructed in Filipino for 50% or more of the time without starting in Kindergarten and (b) there are not currently sufficient content instructional materials ( math, science, social studies, etc.) or enough time to prepare them. 

 

One cohort for DLI 

Having only one class or cohort for Filipino DLI would need constant funding needs in the upper grades. Other DLI and bilingual schools with one cohort combine 4th and 5th grade classes or rely on other funds (PEEF, Title 1, etc) to cover the covering cost for upper-grade teachers.  Others have created large classes of 40 plus students, which has been problematic. 

 

If two DLI classes were to be created,  the other General Education (GE) strand would be significantly impacted by GE teachers’ consolidation and materials. Additionally, the same funding issue for the upper grades in GE would then occur for students, not in DLI. 

 

Qualified Credential Bilingual Teachers

Further outreach would need to be done to find more qualified Filipino bilingual teachers. In other pathways, we are experiencing a shortage of Vietnamese, Arabic, Spanish, Cantonese, and Mandarin teachers. Many of the native speakers are not able to pass the required English exams (CBEST: California Basic English Skill Test or MSAT: Multiple Subject Assessment Test) to obtain a credential. San Francisco State University is no longer offering other language credential programs besides Spanish. The demand to create a new program needs to be higher than only one site in order for a university partner to open a program. 

 

New Student Assignment Policy

The Board of Education has passed a resolution to develop a new policy for elementary students assignments. This needs to have consideration for future approval of any language program in SFUSD.

 

Public Educational Enrichment Funds (PEEF) 

For the past years, Multilingual Pathways has allocated PEEF funds for a Filipino TSA, instructional resources, professional development to support the Filipino FLES program. PEEF funds are San Francisco City allocated. 

 

SoMa Stabilization Fund

Advocates for the program indicated that SoMa Stabilization Funds may be available to support the DLI program. 

https://sfmohcd.org/soma-community-stabilization-fund



 

Appendix A

SF-CESS Report Focus Groups in Affinity 








 

This page was last updated on June 30, 2022