‘Not for the fainthearted’: Highline schools held up as model for training bilingual teachers

“Washington really is a leader in this type of work,” Garcia said. “It’s very proactive in its approach to the (teacher) shortage and opening as many routes to the profession as possible.”

In 2015, the state Legislature encouraged school districts and universities to work together to create new pathways to teacher certification, and provided competitive grants to help.

Highline Public Schools teamed up with the Woodring College of Education at Western Washington University and started the first batch of classes in the summer of 2016.