IMMOKALEE, Fla. — It’s almost noon, and after playing on the playground, working with clay and washing their hands, the 2-year-olds are ready for lunch.
The eight children and their Head Start teachers pray in English, thanking God for the meal. Then, the adults bring over several bowls.
“Hoy tenemos arroz. Eduardo, ¿puedes servir tu arroz, por favor?” In Spanish, the teacher announces the children are having rice, asking Eduardo to start serving. The little boy grabs a ladle and scoops rice onto his plate.
Both English and Spanish are core to daily life in this Head Start preschool in Immokalee, Florida — an agricultural area about 120 miles northwest of Miami. The center serves more than 50 children from mostly Guatemalan families, ages six months to 5 years. Most students arrive speaking little or no English.
Children who speak a language other than English at home account for at least a third of the enrollment in Head Start, a federally funded early childhood program serving roughly 700,000 low-income children and their parents. For decades, Head Start has supported these kids by hiring multilingual teachers to teach them English, while using their home languages as a foundation.
But an overhaul of Head Start’s standards proposed by President Donald Trump’s administration would amend that approach.
If finalized, the proposal would require Head Start programs to conduct all education in English, though programs could seek waivers, and certain Tribal-language instruction would be exempt. The administration argues emphasizing English will expand children’s future economic opportunities and their ability to participate in American communities.
“A firm foundation in the English language” is critical to preparing kids for school, said the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Head Start, in response to questions from The Associated Press.
The administration says the change would allow programs to reduce multilingual services and redirect resources toward English-language education and “assimilation.” But it also estimates tens of millions of dollars in one-time costs to make the switch to English instruction, including nearly $47 million to replace curricula, books, and other classroom materials containing other languages.
How Head Start teaches in multiple languages
Toys line shelves in the Immokalee classrooms, labeled in English and Spanish — helicopters, airplanes, tower builders. Bilingual signs show shapes in different colors and list children’s birthdays.
Every day, teachers sing and read in both languages, with offerings like “La Vaca Lola” (Lola the Cow), “The Wheels on the Bus,” “El Camioncito Azul” (Little Blue Truck) and “Pete the Cat.”
One afternoon, a group of children is eating muffins when it suddenly grows dark outside and thunder rolls. Noticing the preschoolers look worried, a teacher explains in English, “When you see it, it’s lightning. When you hear it, it’s thunder. What was it?”
“Thunder,” a boy responds. Another answers the question in Spanish, noting the danger: “Es muy peligroso.”
“Si te cae un rayo muy fuerte, te puedes lastimar,” the teacher responds. (If a very strong bolt of lightning hits you, you could get hurt.) Then she adds in English: “So we don’t go outside.”
The children cover their ears. “¡Lo escuché!” one shouts. (I heard it!)
Speaking in English, the teacher tries to calm them down. Everything is fine, she explains. They are safe inside the classroom.
This is part of Head Start’s Planned Language Approach in action. Educators help children learn English while also using the language they speak at home — not simply as an accommodation, but as a teaching strategy. Research shows skills and knowledge developed in a child’s home language can provide a foundation for learning English.
If a child already knows the word for “yellow” in Spanish, she doesn’t have to completely rediscover the concept behind the color when learning the word in English. Rather, Spanish becomes a bridge to English.
Asked for research supporting the proposed English-only requirement, the Department of Health and Human Services pointed to a section of the proposal that cites Trump’s executive order designating English as the country’s official language. “The changes set forth in the proposed Head Start rule help achieve these goals by exposing children to English earlier, during a critical time in children’s development,” a department spokeswoman said.
But education studies don’t back up the administration’s claim, said Michael López, a child psychologist who has spent more than three decades researching early learning and leading Head Start studies for the federal government and non-governmental organizations.
“There’s really not any credible research basis that suggests that English-only instruction will produce stronger English academic outcomes,” López said. “It’s a mistake. It’s really going back 30 years.”
Dual-language instruction produces better academic outcomes, he said, including in subjects like mathematics. And, he said, studies suggest instruction in both languages can produce better Spanish skills without sacrificing English-language development.
Francisco Rodriguez, who attended Head Start in Florida as a child, said he spoke English at home with his mother, but often couldn’t communicate with his father, who speaks only Spanish. Head Start helped him build a foundation in Spanish to deepen his relationship with his dad. Today, he is fluent in both languages.
“Knowing how to read or write in English, it was easy for me to pick up Spanish words,” said Rodríguez, now 32, who holds a master’s degree in architecture and creates interactive experiences in museums. “And because I’ve heard them at home, I can easily put two and two together.”
In the 1970s, Head Start began requiring centers with significant numbers of non-native English speakers to hire at least one staff member fluent in their home language — a regulation still in place today.
The Trump administration wants to drop that requirement, saying it could help centers more easily staff classrooms.
The language changes are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to eliminate or rewrite many federal Head Start requirements for classroom conditions, curriculum and safety. Instead, state and local regulations — which are often more lenient — would apply. The administration says the change would give Head Start centers more flexibility over how they operate.
The proposed changes do not require a vote in Congress, but the administration is required to seek and consider feedback from the public. Comments are due Oct. 6.
Thus far, most comments related to the English-only proposal oppose that approach.
Multilingual approach allows parents to participate in learning
At Immokalee, teachers give daily notes to parents when they pick up their children, writing in both English and Spanish. A recent note to the family of a girl named Deleiza, for example, said she’d eaten almost all her breakfast and lunch. “Hoy estuve sonriente,” it said. (Today I was smiling.)
Beyond these simple reports are monthly parent meetings on campus to discuss topics like security, plus four in-person parent-teacher conferences every year — two at the children’s homes and two at school. (Those conferences would become optional under the Trump administration proposal.)
In all of these interactions, parents and staff currently speak in Spanish with each other.
The executive director overseeing the Immokalee center said she is unsure what the English-only proposal would mean in practice, particularly for parents’ involvement.
“I don’t know how you’re going to keep people from … speaking Spanish, because it is the home language,” said Isabel Garcia, who, as executive director of the Redlands Christian Migrant Association, supervises 26 Head Start and Early Head Start locations. “It is important that (family members) feel comfortable understanding what is happening with their child.”
HHS told the AP the English-language requirement would apply only to instruction. Head Start teachers could continue using kids’ home languages in non-instructional contexts — explaining safety rules or providing comfort, for example — and when communicating and engaging with families, the department said. In fact, the law requires Head Start centers to communicate with parents in a language they understand, “to the extent practicable,” which wouldn’t change.
But communicating thoroughly may be more difficult without a staff member who speaks the language. The department acknowledged that eliminating requirements for bilingual staffers “may negatively affect communication with non-English-speaking families and weaken family engagement.”
“Technology-based translation tools may help mitigate some of these impacts,” the department said.
López, the researcher, noted parents help advance their children’s learning by being teachers at home, even when they’re using a language other than English. They help kids by counting, referencing different colors, and repeating stories and songs.
“We are going to lose that bridge,” López said.
During naptime at the Immokalee center, a mother opens the door to pick up a sick child. The teacher greets her in Spanish, reporting her daughter didn’t want to sleep or eat.
“No quiso dormir. No quiso comer,” the teacher says.
The mother lifts her daughter from the mat, rests her little head on one of her shoulders, and says to her: “It is OK, bebé.”
“Hasta mañana,” the teacher whispers. “Hope you feel better.”
