Multilingual Literacy for All? Aligning Clinical Practice of Bilingual Teacher Candidates in California

Literacy is at the core of teaching. Teacher candidates in California need to complete a minimum of 400 hours of clinical practice, the key component for their training. The Teacher Performance Expectations (TPE) standards that guided the evaluation of bilingual teacher candidates have added TPE7 specifically on Literacy. The state evaluation tools for clinical practice—the California Teacher Performance Assessment (CALTPA), the edTPA, and the Fresno Assessment of Student Teachers (FAST)—are aligned with these TPEs. This ecosystem creates a series of challenges for bilingual candidates who complete their student teaching practices in dual language instruction and/or bilingual classrooms since the Teacher Performance Expectations (BTPEs) are the standards applied to coursework, but not necessarily to Clinical Practice. In this article, we critically analyze these chal-lenges to promote multiliteracy for all, not only from an English Only perspective. In this article, we aim to offer recommendations to a) prepare bilingual teacher candidates, b) scaffold their development as educators, and c) assess their work through student teaching. We also provide support systems to be set in place for to Teacher Preparation Programs (TPPs) to ensure multiliteracy in an equitable, and inclusive framework that should guide the training of bilingual teacher candidates.