The Bilingual Teacher Shortage in One Texas School District: Practitioner Perspectives

ABSTRACT

This article explores how stakeholders in one Texas school district perceive, experience, and respond to the Spanish bilingual teacher shortage. Interview data from a qualitative case study contributes to the article’s vivid portrayal of the teacher shortage and its impact on the elementary education of bilingual Latino school children in Texas. Examples are shared that illustrate the realities of the bilingual teacher shortage and how it plays out at the district, school, and classroom levels. The article concludes with policy recommendations and implications for future research in the areas of bilingual teacher preparation and certification in Texas and nationally.

KEYWORDS:

• Bilingual education
• qualitative research
• teacher preparation
• Spanish
• dual language
• elementary

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.