Texas officials are making progress toward creating a new bilingual special education teacher certification, which advocates hope will set a national example for states serving students dually identified as English learners and students with disabilities.
In 2021, the Texas legislature passed House Bill 2256, mandating the creation of a bilingual special education teacher certificate. After years of development, the state board of education formally adopted the standards for the new certification in September 2025. The exam for the certification is expected to be in practice in 2028.
“I think the certification represents a very historic shift in how we prepare teachers to serve emergent bilingual students, especially those kids with disabilities, because it’s not as if it’s two separate populations. It’s the whole child whose language, culture, and learning differences intersect,” said Lizdelia Piñón, an emergent bilingual education associate for the Texas-based advocacy nonprofit Intercultural Development Research Association. Piñón helped develop the certificate’s standards.
While some universities in Texas and elsewhere already offer bilingual special education certifications, and states including Texas already offer bilingual teaching certifications, the new certificate would fill a persistent gap in both English-learner and special education services, Piñón said.
The goal of the certificate, Piñón said, is to ensure educators can distinguish between language differences and disabilities; design dual-language, individualized education programs grounded in students’ cultural and linguistic strengths; foster collaboration between language-acquisition educators and special education teams; and implement asset-based, inclusive, and research-aligned practices in every classroom.
“It’s a landmark approval for the dual needs of these students,” Piñón said.
EducationWeek (10/30/25) By Ileana Najarro