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ACT NOW – WLARA Funds at Risk

The World Language Advancement and Readiness Act (WLARA) program supports multi-year grants for innovative world language programs at military-connected and Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) schools—representing $79 million in funding over the past 5 years, awarded to schools across 18 states.

 

Despite the significant impact of the program, WLARA grants are in jeopardy for FY26. While included in the House-approved Department of Defense funding bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee’s version includes no funding for it, which could mean the end of this vital initiative.

Visit the Legislative Action Center (JNCL-NCLIS) and let your voice be heard.  Your support is needed.  WLARA funds must be included in the final FY26 Budget.

 

 

IMPORTANT SURVEY – WE NEED YOUR VOICE!

World Languages As a Graduation Requirement 

DESE is seeking input for future graduation requirements in our state. This is a critical opportunity to make World Languages a graduation requirement! 

Take a moment to complete the Statewide Graduation Council Survey and advocate for World Languages to be recognized as an essential in a well-rounded education. 

It’s time to advocate for World Languages.

The louder our voices are, the bigger the impact! 

Click here for survey

Tips for Grassroots Advocacy

Empowering Local Changemakers!

As a language educator, you share important resources with your students, their families, your colleagues, and the greater community every day. Beyond providing language instruction, you help individuals to connect more profoundly with others, celebrate varied perspectives, develop problem-solving skills, and take advantage of new opportunities—whether they are academic or professional, in town or half a world away!

Learn more here!

JNCL-NCLIS News

This month, the Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) announced 14 FY24 World Language Advancement and Readiness Program (WLARP) grant awards totaling more than $18.6 million. This amount is far above the $10 million in appropriated funds from FY24, thanks to supplemental DODEA support. In this round, districts in 11 different states received three-year WLARP awards that ranged between $500,000 and $2 million. They will be able to use these funds to establish or expand existing innovative world language programs in a variety of languages, including German, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish.

With this fourth round of annual grants, WLARP has now provided more than $68 million in funding to 31 different school districts spread across 18 states. Amanda Seewald, JNCL-NCLIS Executive Director shared, “JNCL celebrates the continued growth of programs funded by WLARP. We are thrilled that every applicant received funding in this round despite the limited appropriations of $10million for FY24. JNCL advocates continue to work to restore $15million in appropriations for FY25 and beyond.”

LEARN MORE HERE!

Implementing AI

Saw this post on Facebook from Joe Dale. I know what many schools are working with integrating AI.  Here is something that might help.
 Thanks Joe
I’ve been receiving regular requests from schools around the world to design professional development sessions on integrating AI and accessibility tools into their teaching. To make it easier for them, I’ve put together two comprehensive “menus” of resources: one specifically for language teachers and one for any secondary teacher.
These resources are designed to help schools pick out the tools and techniques that suit their needs, with a view to booking a tailored professional development session. If you’re looking for ideas on how to incorporate AI and accessibility tools into your classroom, feel free to explore these menus and see what might work best for your school. Once you’ve identified the areas that interest you, I’d be happy to work with you to create a customised session that meets your specific goals. Let’s work together to empower both you and your students with some of the best AI and accessibility tools available!
Summary of Accessibility and AI Tools for Language Learning
Cross-Curricular Summary of Accessibility and AI Tools

FC 189 Grant: Proficiency-Based Outcomes in Languages Other Than English

Greetings Multilingual Learner Program Leaders,

DESE’s Office of Language Acquisition is inviting you to a brief webinar to discuss new grant funding opportunities in the FY2025 FC189 grant for Proficiency-based Outcomes in Languages Other than English. The webinar will be held on Tuesday, September 10th, 2024 from 2:00-2:30 PM. Registration for the webinar is available here. Recordings will be made available to all participants who register for the webinar. Applications for FC189 will be due to the Department by 5:00 PM on September 27th, 2024.
Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you at the webinar.

Sincerely,
Andy McDonie
Office of Language Acquisition
Sincerely,
The OLA Team

JNCL-NCLIS ACTION ALERT

 

ACTION ALERT

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have now approved separate versions of Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) education and defense funding, and they remain very far apart on spending levels. With a simple click of a button, you can tell your Members of Congress to protect language education program funding in the final FY25 Labor HHS Education and Defense Appropriations bills.

If enacted, the House bill’s proposed elimination of Title II-A and Title III would remove all specially directed funding for the more than 5 million English Learners in this country and delete the federal government’s largest investment in professional development for K-12 teachers and school leaders. Similarly, the Senate’s proposed $5 million cut to WLARA would significantly pare back federal investments in innovative world language programs at military-connected public schools.

The good news is that we have time to push back on these devastating budget cuts. Congress is likely to push off final spending decisions until after the November elections.

Let’s use this time to educate Congress on the value and importance of these critical language education programs!

Good News – Credits for Seal of Biliteracy

Beginning Fall 2024, UMass Amherst will award 12 credits for the Massachusetts Seal of Biliteracy and 15 credits for the Seal of Biliteracy with Distinction.

More Info here – https://www.umass.edu/registrar/students/transfer-information/massachusetts-state-seal-biliteracy