Every school community carries a profound mission: to see and honor every student entrusted to our care.
Rooted in the Catholic tradition of educating the whole person—cura personalis—schools are called to nurture students’ minds and their hearts, cultures and identities.
Today, as we welcome a beautifully diverse generation of learners, many of whom grow up navigating two or more languages, we are called to celebrate their full selves.
Embracing biliteracy is not simply best practice; it is an act of equity, justice and love, ensuring that every voice is valued.
Biliteracy trajectories offer a powerful new way to understand and support our students.
Rather than judging bilingual learners through a monolingual lens, biliteracy trajectories trace how students develop reading and language skills across two interconnected languages over time.
As Dr. François Grosjean proposed, “a bilingual is not two monolinguals in one person.” His groundbreaking research helped reframe how educators and researchers understand bilingual learners, not as divided between two languages, but as integrated individuals with unique linguistic repertoires.
Building on this foundational understanding, Dr. Kathy Escamilla and the Literacy Squared team at the University of Colorado Boulder developed an asset-based model of biliteracy instruction. Their pioneering work offered educators practical strategies to support students’ literacy growth across two languages in a holistic and dynamic way.
Today, through collaboration with Renaissance Learning, this vision has expanded and been validated nationally, providing powerful tools to support and celebrate our students’ biliteracy journeys.
With biliteracy trajectories, we can honor both Spanish and English as complementary strengths and guide every child toward their fullest academic and linguistic potential.
At a time when nearly 30 percent of U.S. children live in homes where a language other than English is spoken, Catholic schools have a historic opportunity.
They can lead by embracing biliteracy as a pillar of academic excellence, belonging and faith-filled inclusion.
Yet too often, bilingual children are assessed using standards that fail to recognize—and celebrate—their full abilities.
When measured only against monolingual norms, their rich linguistic strengths are overlooked.
Renaissance Biliteracy Trajectories research offers clear and powerful guidance:
There is no single bilingual path. Students’ biliteracy journeys are diverse, shaped by their home languages, educational programs and lived experiences.
Dual language programs lead to long-term success. Over time, bilingual students in these programs often outperform their monolingual peers.
Biliteracy requires time, commitment and faith. True academic growth emerges over several years of sustained, loving support.
Education at its best is a patient, hopeful investment in young people’s full potential. Biliteracy reminds us the path to success is not a race, but a journey, one that honors the richness of multiple languages and identities.
Imagine Catholic schools becoming champions of biliteracy, where every child’s bilingualism is seen as a gift, not a gap.
Imagine educators shifting from asking, “How does this student compare to a monolingual standard?” to asking, “How is this student flourishing across two languages?”
Biliteracy trajectories offer a practical, research-grounded framework to transform teaching, assessment and leadership.
They empower Catholic schools to set realistic goals for students’ biliteracy development—and to design programs that build on students’ strengths.
Ultimately, biliteracy is about belonging.
It is about ensuring that every child knows their voice matters—every word they speak, every language they live and learn.
It is about building a future in which multilingualism is seen not as an obstacle but as a profound advantage.
Biliteracy is equity. Biliteracy is justice. Biliteracy is love in action.
Catholic schools, with their tradition of educating the whole person, have a historic opportunity to lead.
By championing biliteracy, they can become places where every language, every culture and every learner is truly celebrated—and where every child’s voice is honored fully.
For more information about how Renaissance approaches our work for multilingual learners, please visit https://www.renaissance.com/solutions/inspiring-emergent-bilinguals/
Doris Chávez-Linvilleis the senior director of linguistic and culturally diverse innovation at Renaissance.Doris.Chavez-Linville@renaissance.com