College of Education > Faculty & Staff > Faculty A-Z > Sonia Soltero

Sonia Soltero

Sonia W. Soltero is professor and chair of the Department of Leadership, Language, and Curriculum and former director of the Bilingual-Bicultural Education Graduate Program at DePaul University in Chicago, as well as a former bilingual education teacher and dual language coordinator.

Soltero's scholarly work on bilingual/dual language education, developing bilinguals, Latino education has been published in English, Spanish, and French, and includes three books: Dual Language Education: Program Design and Implementation, School-Wide Approaches to Educating English Language Learners, and Dual Language: Teaching and Learning in Two Languages.

She has been involved in dual language and bilingual education for more than thirty years as a dual language teacher, university professor, researcher, professional developer, and advocate. In addition, she has served on numerous national, state and city education commissions/committees, including the National Committee on Effective Literacy, the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) Executive Board of Directors, and the Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative. She is also the co-founder and current co-chair of the English Learners Advocacy Council in Higher Education (ELACHE).​

Education
  • PhD, Bilingual Education and Literacy, University of Arizona
Courses Taught
  • BBE 402 Designing Language Programs
  • BBE 406/316 Sociopolitical & Historical Perspectives in Bilingual Education
  • BBE 425/325 Biliteracy Practices in Bilingual Education and ESL
  • BBE 466/366 First and Second Language Acquisition
  • BBE 524/324 Methods of Teaching ESL
  • BBE 530/330 Latinos and Education
  • BBE 404 Child Rearing Across Cultures
  • T&L 412 Emergent Reading and Language Arts
  • T&L 413 Reading and Language Arts in the Middle Grades
  • LSE 258 Education and Social Justice

Research Interests
Dual language and bilingual education; Latino education; Language policy

Selected Publications

  • Soltero, S. (2023). A framework for success: Dual language education building blocks. In J.A. Freire, C. Alfaro, & E.J. de Jong (Eds.) The handbook of dual language bilingual education. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
  • Herrera, S., Martinez, M., Olsen, L., & Soltero, S. (2022). Early literacy development and instruction for dual language learners in early childhood education. National Committee for Effective Literacy for Emergent Bilingual Students.
  • Soltero, S. (2018). Enseignement supérieur réciproque: Immersion bilingual basée sur le contenu au niveau post-secondaire. Dans H. Knoerr, A. Weinberg & C. Buchanan (Dir.) Enjeux actuels de l’immersion universitaire. Presses de l’Un​iversité d’Ottawa.
  • Soltero, S. W. (2016). Dual language education: Program design and implementation. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.​
  • Soltero, S. & Soltero, J. (2014). Deserción escolar y apoyo a la educación bilingüe entre los mexicanos de Chicago. In C. Leco, M. A. Beltrán-Vocal, T. Martínez Ruiz, and J. Lazú (Eds.) Latin@/American images: Transnational identities. Imágines Latinas y Latinoamericanas: Identidades transnacionales. Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo y Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.​
  • Soltero, S. W., & Soltero, J. (2017). Citizenship, language, education and poverty among Mexican migrants in Chicago. Ciudadanía, idioma, educación y pobreza entre los migrantes mexicanos en Chicago. CIMEXUS: Revista de Investigaciones.
  • Soltero, S. (2018). Dual language higher education: Post-secondary discipline-based bilingual immersion. In H. Knoerr, A. Weinberg & C. Buchanan (Eds.) Current issues in University-level immersion. University of Ottawa Press.
  • Soltero, S. W., Garibay-Mulattieri, K. & Vonderlack-Navarro, R. (2019). What every school leader needs to know about English Learners. Illinois School Board Journal.

Professional Organizations

  • Board Member - National Association for Bilingual Education Executive Board of Directors
  • Board Member - Advance Illinois
  • Co-Founder and Co-Chair - English Language Advocacy Council in Higher Education (ELACHE)
  • Member - Illinois Early Learning Council, Committee on Linguistic and Cultural Diversity
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