Tag Archives: ELL

Webinar: How can Common Core help ELL’s?

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allianceforexcellenteducationFree Webinar from All4Ed: Building on the Common Core State Standards to Improve Learning for English Language Learners

Please join the Alliance for Excellent Education on Tuesday, February 26, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (ET), for a webinar on how the transition to Common Core State Standards and Next-Generation Science Standards presents both opportunities and challenges for the growing number of English language learners. A number of initiatives are underway to help English learners access grade-level content while building their language proficiency. Stanford University launched a two-year initiative—Understanding Language—to look at the language demands contained in the new standards. The Council of Chief State School Officers recently developed the Framework for English Language Proficiency Development Standards to help states understand the sophisticated language competencies English language learners will need to perform in an academic area.

Kenji Hakuta and Maria Santos, cochairs of the Understanding Language initiative, and Susan Pimentel and Carrie Heath Phillips, developers of the Framework for English Language Proficiency Development Standards, will discuss these efforts and their respective accomplishments to date along with state and district actions needed to support English learners’ language and content learning. Mariana Haynes, senior fellow at the Alliance, will moderate the discussion. Panelists will also address questions submitted by webinar viewers from across the country.

Date and Time: Tuesday, February 26, 2013; 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. (ET)

Panelists
Kenji Hakuta, Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education, Stanford University
Mariana Haynes, Senior Fellow, Alliance for Excellent Education
Carrie Heath Phillips, Program Director, Common Core State Standards Implementation, Council of Chief State School Officers
Susan Pimentel, Education Analyst and Standards and Curriculum Specialist
Maria Santos, Deputy Superintendent for Instruction, Leadership and Equity-in-Action, Oakland Unified School District (California)

Register and submit questions for the February 26 webinar online at http://media.all4ed.org/registration-feb-26-2013.

Update: Access the recorded webinar here: http://media.all4ed.org/webinar-feb-26-2013

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Preparing Teachers to Meet the Needs of ELLs

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As states begin to implement the Common Core, there has been an increased focus on English Language Learners, or ELLs, in the classroom.  An estimated 25% of children in America live in households where a language other than English is spoken.  How can “regular” classroom teachers support the needs of these students?  A new report by the Center for American Progress tries to answer this question.

The report leaves aside the argument over pedagogical aspects of teaching ELLs (immersion versus native language instruction, etc.), and focuses on the “foundational knowledge about ELLs that might serve general education teachers…these include the importance of attending to oral language development, supporting academic language, and encouraging teachers’ cultural sensitivity to the backgrounds of their students.”  The authors argue that these areas should be “purposefully and explicitly integrated” into teacher preparation, certification, evaluation, and development to improve ELL outcomes.

The report also summarizes key findings drawn from other literature on promising practices that all teachers can use when working with ELLs, and examines gaps in policy and practice.  They compare five key states (California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, and Texas) to help identify essential knowledge and skills that can be used to address these gaps.  Specifically, the authors recommend that consistent, specific guidelines on the oral language, academic language, and cultural needs of ELLs be addressed in:

  • Reauthorization of ESEA
  • Revisions to NCATE standards
  • State regulations
  • Teacher preparation programs
  • State certification programs
  • Teacher-observation rubrics
  • PD linked to teacher evaluation

 

In a related piece of news, the U.S. Department of Education announced last week the award of nearly $24.4 million for 73 grants to improve instruction for English learners. Located in 28 states and the District of Columbia, the grants support a variety of professional development activities for teachers and other educational personnel who work in in elementary and secondary school classrooms with English learners.

The grants are awarded to higher education institutions that partner with local school districts or state education agencies, and are dispersed over five years.  The majority of the grants include PD for science and math teachers of ELLs.  “These funds will help upgrade the content and instructional skills of new and veteran teachers working with English learners, as well [as] provide career ladder programs for paraprofessionals,” said Rosalinda Barrera, assistant deputy secretary and Director of the Office of English Language Acquisition.

To read the report from the Center for American Progress, please visit http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/04/teachers_ell.html

For more information on the DOE grants, please visit http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/education-department-awards-244-million-73-grants-promising-teacher-training-pro

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