AAQEP Accreditation 2022
Standard 4 Aspect F
The program is committed to and invests in strengthening and improving the education profession and the P-20 education system. Each program’s context (or multiple contexts) provides particular opportunities to engage the field’s shared challenges and to foster and support innovation. Engagement with critical issues is essential and must be contextualized. Sharing results of contextualized engagement and innovation supports the field’s collective effort to address education’s most pressing challenges through improvement and innovation.
Mission:
The Fresno State Bilingual Authorization Program (BAP)’s mission is to prepare highly
competent bilingual/dual immersion teachers that validate, celebrate, and uphold the
rich cultural and linguistic diversity of the region and state. This mission is accomplished
via the pursuit of theory and practice that promotes cutting-edge research on bilingual/dual
immersion education and enables BAP candidates to fulfill regional needs and remain
current in their field.*
*This working draft of a program mission will be workshopped in the program advisory committee meetings during the 2021-2022 academic year.
- The BAP has three (3) future plans to collect and analyze data pertaining to how it
aligns with institutional and school missions:
The first includes remaining current on theories and practices in bilingual/dual immersion education. Prior to the new leadership, the BAP coursework was not abiding by state standards and was teaching antiquated perspectives and practices that the California Department of Education no longer practices or adopts. Data for this goal will be collected via the BAP completer survey, alumni survey, and employer survey. - A second plan that aligns with Fresno State’s mission and vision to boldly empower and prepare the next generation of leaders as well as Kremen’s commitment to producing agents of change is the vital and much needed critical discussion of the raciolinguistic history and current contexts that perpetuate language hierarchies and the continued marginalization and erasure of languages/dialects spoken primarily by people of color. This discussion is essential as the internalization of these thoughts by students has been observed by program faculty and discussed in the advisory committees. It is essential that candidates study and examine language and its development critically because although there is generally support for bilingual/dual immersion programs in our region and state, there continues to be staunch opposition to these programs due to racist, nativist, deficit perspectives of languages other than English, that falsely argue that such programs are ineffective and further prevent children from acquiring English proficiency. Candidates must be well informed about the research and practice to ensure they can advocate for the maintenance and growth of programs with families, colleagues, and other individuals they may encounter. Data for this will be collected via a course evaluation survey that will be created in the advisory committee.
- The last goal to remain aligned with institutional and school missions and visions is the emphasis on celebrating and centering diversity, collaboration, and community building within and beyond bilingual communities. The BAP encourages collegiality, engagement, and immersion with local families and communities as well as professional communities that allows them to remain grounded in the day-to-day realities of the children and families they serve.