Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced over $11 million in grants to support the recruitment and retention of bilingual and multilingual educators and provide high-quality programming to Native students to strengthen and revitalize Native American languages.
“Being multilingual is a superpower—a powerful asset that can connect students to their identity and culture, and gives those who speak more than one language cognitive, social, and economic benefits,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “The investments we’re announcing today advance our goal of providing every student in America with a pathway to multilingualism by supporting the recruitment, preparation, and retention of amazing bilingual and multilingual educators—some of the best teachers in our nation, period. They also support the revitalization of Native American languages, a reflection of this Administration’s commitment to Tribal sovereignty and consultation in education.”
This announcement coincides with Secretary Cardona's 2024 Back to School Bus Tour with stops in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. This year’s theme, “Fighting for Public Education,” highlights how school communities are using the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic investments in public education to implement evidence-based strategies, accelerate academic success, and support student well-being.
National Professional Development Program Grants
The announcements include $7.5 million in 13 new awards under the National Professional Development program (NPD) to support educators of English learners. The NPD program provides grants to eligible institutions of higher education and public or private entities, in consortia with states or local educational agencies, to implement professional development activities that will improve language instruction for English learners. The program currently serves 94 entities nationwide. This 2024 cohort represents the first set of grantees under a new absolute priority to increase the number of bilingual or multilingual teachers through a Grow-Your-Own (GYO) pre-service program that recruits teacher candidates who are bilingual or multilingual.
Of the 13 entities funded, there are two Hispanic Serving Institutions, one Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution, and one Native American-Serving Nontribal Institution. All entities have indicated their commitment to serving first-generation students and/or students from low-income backgrounds.
The Department projects that these grantees will serve approximately 3,700 participants across nine states in four languages: Navajo, Sm'álgyax, Spanish, and Ute.
For more information on the National Professional Development Program visit here.
A list of FY24 grantees:
State | National Professional Development Program | Funding
CA | Alder Graduate School of Education | $633,914
CA | Cal Poly Corporation | $600,719
CA | The Regents of the University of California, Santa Barbara | $360,506
CO | Fort Lewis College | $699,298
CO | University of Colorado Denver | $576,000
GA | Gwinnett County Public Schools | $640,693
GA | Kennesaw State University Research and Service Foundation | $558,575
MA | University of Massachusetts Lowell | $661,598
NM | Dual Language Education of New Mexico | $670,397
OR | Chemeketa Community College | $699,641
TN | The University of Memphis | $503,580
TX | Texas A&M University-Commerce | $476822
WA| Washington State University|$383282
Total: $7 465025
Native American Language Grants
The Department also announced $3.7 million in grant funding for Native American Language (NAL@ED) projects. This program emphasizes funding partial and full immersion programs as well as developing new or expanding existing language programs. There are over 200 tribal communities without living speakers making this critical funding essential for revitalizing Native American languages.
In 2020 Oneida Immersion School received a NAL@ED award as part their Language Nest Expansion Project (LNEP).
Twelve NAL@ED grants will serve students across seven states supporting language revitalization including Lakota Tlingit Numu Cherokee Yup’ik Maskoke Seminole Diné Bizaad (central western eastern dialects) Unangam Tunuu Northern Paiute Western Shoshoni Grantees will engage various projects native language revitalization including developing proficiency benchmarks hosting virtual cultural language summits summer immersion institutes More information about NAL@ED program available here
A list FY24 projects funded:
State|Native American Languages Program|Award Amount
AK|Aleut Community St Paul Island Tribal Government|$186608
AK|Anchorage School District|$376272
AK|Douglas Indian Association|$400000
AZ|STAR School|$358451
NM Dzilth Na O Dith Hle Community School|$260827 NM Navajo Preparatory School|$284063 NV Shoshone Paiute Tribes Duck Valley Indian Reservation Washoe County School District OK Cherokee Nation Epic Charter Schools SD Wounded Knee District WI Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Schools Total: $3724852
