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• By Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D. • IDRA Newsletter • September 2026 •

Texas is a leader in elementary bilingual education, but most programs do not extend into middle and high school. New research highlights how Texas can build pre-K-12 bilingual pathways through strong policies, school and community partnerships, workforce pipelines and expanded recognition of biliteracy.

Texas is one of only five states that require school districts to provide bilingual education. Proven to be the most effective way for students to learn English while also learning school content like history, science and math, schools must provide bilingual education when at least 20 students in the same grade speak the same home language other than English (Kim et al., 2026).

However, as with most states, only Texas elementary schools offer bilingual education programs with instruction in both English and the student’s home language. Some school districts offer dual language programs through middle and high school, but less information exists on best practices and helpful policies to make that happen.

To resolve this issue that limits accessible instruction for older students, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) released a report on strong bilingual pathways in middle and high schools. The report, Paving the Way for Secondary Bilingual Education Programs: An Analysis of Policy and Practice, contains findings based on interviews with secondary-level school leaders about how they have built effective bilingual education pathways in their school settings across four states: California, Illinois, New Mexico and New York (Kim et al., 2026).

The findings highlight the need for school districts to build streamlined pathways for emergent bilingual students to access quality bilingual education from pre-kindergarten through 12^th grade and how to articulate those pathways into workforce pipelines, including for future bilingual teachers. According to the report, strong pathways require three core components:

1. Policy, capacity and perseverance,
2. Effective planning and partnerships, and
3. Robust pathways and pipelines.

Policy, capacity and perseverance require “clear, actionable policies” and “experienced leaders with expertise” who can strategically leverage funding streams and bilingual design programs integrated with grade-appropriate courses and curriculum (Kim et al., 2026).

In other words, experienced school leaders need the funding, trained educators and staff and flexibility to develop and sustain bilingual programs that extend across the pre-kindergarten to 12^th grade pipeline.

One school leader interviewed for the report suggested integrating dual language courses into extracurricular offerings and career and technical education courses to ensure students could access bilingual courses across academic and elective classes. This supports pipeline development, such as in career and technical education courses that offer bilingual instruction and focus on early teacher preparation and education.

School leaders who plan effectively and build partnerships can bridge logistical gaps and transitions in students’ schooling, such as the transition from elementary to middle school, where bilingual education often drops off. This can happen through strong partnerships among schools, districts, colleges and families.

And robust pathways for bilingual education help strengthen the bilingual workforce and enable quality bilingual education through school districts and colleges to meet critical workforce needs in education, healthcare, research, business and other areas.

These robust pathways require quality bilingual instructional materials, synchronized master schedules, supportive school leadership and professional development, and teacher preparation opportunities.

The Seal of Biliteracy recognizes students’ achievement in becoming bilingual, biliterate and bicultural. Schools typically offer the seal only as a high school graduation recognition, but they can confer it throughout a student’s pre-K through 12^th-grade experience to celebrate learning progress.

Texas Can Expand Its Seal of Biliteracy

Specific policies can recognize the value of bilingualism and biliteracy in schools to aid strong bilingual education pipelines. One such policy is the Seal of Biliteracy. The Seal of Biliteracy recognizes students’ achievement in becoming bilingual, biliterate and bicultural. Schools typically offer the seal only as a graduation recognition, but they can confer it throughout a student’s pre-K through 12^th-grade experience to celebrate learning progress.

This is one strategy to acknowledge the value of bilingual pathways that extend from elementary to secondary grades. And it requires middle and high schools to offer strong bilingual education, including dual language immersion programs, to develop students’ academic skills in more than one language.

Texas schools confer the Seal of Biliteracy as a performance acknowledgment for graduating high school students who have demonstrated bilingual skills through coursework and exam achievements.

But unlike many other states, the rules for the Texas Seal of Biliteracy exclude students who are classified as emergent bilingual students at the time of graduation. The rules do not recognize dual language program completion as a pathway to earn the seal. They also do not allow students to demonstrate their full bilingual skills through portfolios, oral presentations or other means. (Latham Sikes & Piñón, 2025)

The Texas Association for Bilingual Education (TABE) cultivated Seal of Biliteracy Trajectories and custom awards that schools can order to honor their bilingual graduates at every grade level (2026). This enables school districts to build bilingual education pathways that support students’ linguistic and academic progress at each grade level.

For instance, last year, Southwest ISD in San Antonio conferred 120 TABE Seal of Biliteracy awards to its pre-kindergarten graduates, 90 awards to its fifth graders, 26 awards to its eighth graders, and 41 to its graduating seniors (TABE correspondence).

Such awards signify to colleges and employers that graduates are skilled in bilingualism, biliteracy and biculturalism, all of which are invaluable assets to key workforce fields and a changing economy.

The MPI report does not feature Texas because the state laws for bilingual education do not extend to secondary schools. This is despite Texas schools serving the second greatest number of emergent bilingual students in the nation at nearly 1.3 million students. Of those, 44% are in grades of six through 12 (TEA, 2026).

Just as IDRA helped write Texas’ first bilingual education law that is still on the books today, we urge Texas policymakers and school districts to consider the MPI report’s recommendations to:

invest in strong secondary bilingual pathways that build upon elementary bilingual programs,

weave bilingual instruction into college and career readiness courses and electives, and

graduate students with recognition through a more expansive Seal of Biliteracy that is connected to partnerships in higher education and industry fields.

In 2025, the Texas House of Representatives passed legislation that would provide more technical assistance and teacher training in pre-kindergarten through 12^th grade bilingual education programs (House Bill 1581, 89R) and make the current Seal of Biliteracy more inclusive and comprehensive (HB 1579, 89R). But the measure did not make it past the legislative finish line.

In 2027, lawmakers can take up these proposals again. Doing so could position Texas as a national leader in building bilingual pathways.

Resources

Kim, V., Mancilla, L., & Choi, G. (2026). Paving the Way for Secondary Bilingual Education Programs: An Analysis of Policy and Practice. Migration Policy Institute.

Latham Sikes, C., & Piñón, L. (2025). The Path to a Stronger State Seal of Biliteracy – Advancing Texas Student Success through Bilingualism and Biliteracy – IDRA Policy Brief.

TABE. (2026). Seal of Biliteracy Trajectories. Texas Association for Bilingual Education.

TEA. (2026). Emergent Bilingual Student Reports by Category and Grade School Year 2025-2026, PEIMS Data. Texas Education Agency.

Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., is IDRA’s deputy director of policy (chloe.sikes@idra.org).

FAQs

Does Texas require bilingual education in middle and high school?

Texas requires qualifying school districts to offer bilingual programs for emergent bilingual students in the elementary grades. Current state rules define those grades as pre-K through fifth grade, with sixth grade included when it is clustered with elementary grades.

How can schools build bilingual education programs in middle and high school?

The article highlights three ingredients identified in the Migration Policy Institute report: policy, capacity and perseverance; effective planning and partnerships; and robust bilingual pathways and pipelines. Schools also need bilingual instructional materials, coordinated schedules, supportive leadership, professional development and teacher preparation opportunities.

How can bilingual education connect to college and career preparation?

Schools can integrate bilingual instruction into electives and career and technical education courses. Those programs can help students develop bilingual skills relevant to careers in education, healthcare, research, business and other fields.

What is the Seal of Biliteracy in Texas?

Texas provides a performance acknowledgment for graduating students who demonstrate bilingual skills through specified coursework and assessments. The article calls for making that recognition more inclusive and connecting it to broader bilingual pathways beginning before high school.

Why does the article recommend expanding bilingual education in Texas?

Texas serves nearly 1.3 million emergent bilingual students, according to the data cited in the article, with 44% in grades six through 12. The article argues that extending strong bilingual pathways into those grades would build on Texas’ existing elementary bilingual education framework while supporting students’ academic development and future workforce opportunities.

[© 2026, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the September edition of the IDRA Newsletter. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]