The State of Illinois is hoping to further advance bilingual education under a law signed by Gov. Pat Quinn Thursday.
"We do not want to be tongue-tied Americans," said Quinn "We want to make sure that we understand language as much as we can"
House Bill 3819 calls for the Advisory Council on Bilingual Education to submit a report to the State Superintendent of Education, the General Assembly, and the governor's office. Some of the issues to be covered in the report include how to better involve parents in their children's education.
The legislation also calls for the establishment of parent advisory committees composed mostly of parents of children in transitional bilingual education programs.
Another idea to be considered is parent academies, which are workshops for parents who do not speak English to get those parents more involved in their children's education.
Around 10 percent of Illinois students, an estimated 180,000 are not native English speakers.
