Hire peer family care navigators and build county-level coordinated care systems for English Learner families¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The brief recommends investing in formal English Learner family care navigators who are peers who have lived in the community and speak its languages, to help families navigate education and community supports and advocate for their children. It further recommends designing coordinated care systems linking education, health, social, and neighborhood domains at the county level, and piloting a block grant combining state funding streams for community needs outside of school. The brief states such collaboration with families "is a necessary first step toward a successful transition to multilingual instructional programs."

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Formal navigator roles, cross-agency coordination at the county level, and combined funding mechanisms

Constraints¶

• The brief positions these recommendations as building on existing initiatives such as community schools and the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative

Target Learners¶

• English Learner students and their families/caregivers in California

Target Learning Goals¶

• Family access to program information and noneducational services supporting students' education

Related Strategies¶

• Develop data-sharing memoranda of understanding and shared evaluation across child- and family-serving agencies
• Invest in program coordination, instructional coaching, and bilingual paraprofessional career pathways to improve English Learner program design
• Advocate for state-level actions integrating score reports into trusted-voice family engagement
• Invest in additional whole-child supports for LTEL7 students, such as those provided by community schools
• Assign a compensated navigator to each family to connect English learner households with learning and support services

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Jacobson, A., Porter, L., Hadley, L., Alcalá, L., & Willis, J. (2025). Strategic and economic analysis of English Learner programs in California: Project brief. WestEd. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED673563