bilingual Teaching Fellows Program

What

The Bilingual Teaching Fellows Program supports paraprofessionals with bilingual skills in Highline Public Schools and leads to a Bachelor of Arts in Education (BAE), English Language Learners & Bilingual Education from Western Washington University, with a Washington State Residency Teaching Certificate with endorsements in Elementary Education (K-8), English Language Learners (ELL) (P-12) and/or Bilingual Education (BE) (P-12).

Who

Current employees and new applicants are encouraged to apply. In order to apply, you must:

• Demonstrate a high level of language skills in English and Spanish, Vietnamese or Somali
• Possess or close to completing a Direct Transfer Agreement Associate Degree (DTA-AA) degree or higher
• WEST-B scores (We can help you complete this assessment!)

Where

Fellows are placed in dual language elementary schools throughout Highline Public Schools.

When

The fifth cohort of fellows began summer of 2023. Fellows will work and study over two years, and graduate with a teaching certificate and bachelor’s degree. Our next cohort is scheduled to start in summer 2024. The application will open this fall.

Why

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

How

Fellows work full time as Paraeducators, maintaining regular salary and benefits. Through this work, they practice and deepen their study with Western Washington University’s Woodring College of Education. Academic courses will be offered at the Puget Sound Education Service District in Renton, WA.

Cost

Tuition and fees are approximately $20,500 for 8 quarters, a savings of about $4,500, when compared to the cost to attend 8 quarters on the Bellingham campus. Financial aid advising and resources will be available to students through Western Washington University.