Bilingual Authorization in Spanish
Summer Term Priority Deadline: March 1st, 2025*
Applications received after the deadline will be evaluated on a space-available basis.
*For HNU Students: Contact our admissions team at ksoe@stmarys-ca.edu to learn more about transfer assistance*
Program Duration
- 1-year track; designed to help you grow and succeed
Online Learning Environment
- BILA courses are taught online and primarily in Spanish.
- Synchronous sessions on Zoom in the afternoon/evenings with some asynchronous activities between sessions that you complete at your convenience.
Small Class Sizes
- 15-18 learners per cohort
- Cohort members in the program form a learning community
The Bilingual Authorization in Spanish (BILA) is an added authorization that prepares you to teach in bilingual, dual-immersion, and dual language classrooms from TK–12th grade. It can be added onto a preliminary or clear Multiple Subject, Single Subject, or Education Specialist teaching credential. It can also be combined with an MA in Teaching.
In our Bilingual Authorization program, you will develop the capacity to teach in a way that honors and builds onto the linguistic resources that bilingual students bring to the classroom to enhance their language, literacy, and content learning in Spanish and English.
Guiding Principles:
● Honoring and supporting students’ bilingualism and multilingualism to create inclusive and socially just classrooms
● Centering the experiences of students and families who have historically been marginalized in the education system
● Understanding language and literacy development as sociocultural processes
● Creating rigorous learning experiences with responsive and differentiated support for students
● Developing an inquiry stance to create innovative and responsive pedagogy
Nearly 1 in 5 of our California public school students are English learners, and over 42 percent speak languages other than English at home. Our students bring rich multilingual resources to school! Earning a Bilingual Authorization will prepare you to build on students’ linguistic resources to support their learning in two languages.
California needs bilingual teachers! Districts statewide are now expanding their bilingual, dual language, and dual-immersion programs in elementary, middle, and high schools. Bilingual programs enhance students’ learning across the content areas and graduate students who are bilingual and biliterate and have the cultural competency to engage across differences. By 2030, California has set a goal that half of our K–12 students will participate in programs leading to proficiency in two or more languages. Because bilingual teachers are in high demand, many districts offer additional stipends to teachers with Bilingual Authorizations.
- A program designed for busy teachers. All classes are taught online in the late afternoons and evenings or during the summer
- Learning with a cohort of fellow students
- Personal attention from responsive and supportive faculty who are experienced teachers
- Intentionally small class sizes
- Student-centered curriculum that focuses on applying what you learn in your classroom context
Those who complete the Bilingual Authorization in Spanish (BILA) program have the opportunity to teach in a bilingual, dual language, or dual immersion program at the elementary or secondary level in a public, charter, private, or parochial school.
Program Details
Learn about admissions, costs, the Bilingual Authorization in Spanish curriculum, and more.
School and Department Information
We believe that education can transform lives and make a positive impact on our future and in our communities — particularly those that are underserved. Our curriculum prepares leaders who understand the causes of inequities within society and how these affect our communities, including students, parents and teachers.