Woodring Highline Bilingual Teaching Fellows Program

What

The Woodring Highline Bilingual Teaching Fellows Program supports paraprofessionals with bilingual skills in Highline Public Schools to become certificated teachers with an elementary education endorsement.

Who

Bilingual Teaching Fellows are paraprofessionals in Highline Public Schools. The program is available to current employees and new applicants. The fellows hold a minimum of:

• demonstrate a high level of language skills in English and an additional language
• a transferable Associate of Arts (AA) degree or higher
• passing WEST-B scores

Where

Bilingual teaching fellows are placed in schools throughout Highline Public Schools in Southwest King County.

When

Our second cohort of fellows began in summer 2018. Our first cohort began in Summer 2016. Bilingual teaching fellows will work and study over two years, and graduate with a teaching certificate and bachelor’s degree.

Why

Highline Public Schools has a bold goal that all students will graduate bilingual and biliterate, and seeks to recruit bilingual teachers from our community.

How

Bilingual teaching fellows work full time in paraprofessional roles, maintaining regular salary and benefits. Through their work as paraprofessionals, they practice and deepen their study with Western Washington University’s Woodring College of Education. Courses are held locally and online.

Cost

An $8,000/year conditional scholarship covers most of the tuition, leaving participants with about $3,000/year to pay in remaining tuition and other fees. Students may be considered for additional financial aid opportunities through Western Washington University.