Arlene Kramer devoted her career as an educator as a pioneer and champion of bilingual education. Photo Credit: Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame

There are many educators who achieve monumental contributions to their profession. One of these was Arlene Vigil Kramer, a pioneer educator. She devoted her career to championing bilingual education for non-English speaking students.

Arlene was born April 1, 1938, in Colorado. As a young woman, she attended the University of Colorado, where she earned both her Master’s and PhD degrees. In fact, she was the first Latina to earn a PhD degree in Education.

After completing her education, Arlene inaugurated her career in public schools in 1959 when she accepted a position as a second grade teacher at Spann Elementary School in Pueblo, Colorado. At the time, 80% of her students had limited mastery of the English language. To help meet the needs of bilingual students, Arlene designed the first bilingual instruction curriculum used in the state of Colorado. Her efforts ultimately led to landmark legislation in 1975 that mandated bilingual education programs for all Colorado children who were learning English is a second language. Later Arlene expanded her work in to include high school and college-age students.

But Arlene’s contributions to the contributions did not end there. She was a founding member and the first Vice President of the Colorado Association for Bilingual and Bi-Cultural Education (CABBE). She was also a member of the National Head Start Bilingual Programs Overview Board, the Child Welfare League of America, and the National Council de La Raza. In 1979, she was a co-founder of Adelante Mujer, an organization that works to prepare high school and college Latinas for their future careers. She also served as a Dean of the School of Professional Studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

For her body of work, Arlene was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 2016. That same year, she was named an inductee into the Latina Legacy Circle.