This article contains recommendations for district leaders to create schools that support success for English learners. The article contains evidence-based advice in key improvement areas. This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
A practice guide, from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, which presents recommendations for teaching literacy to English Language Leaners (ELLs) in the elementary grades. Recommendations, which are grounded in empirical research, focus on the following topical areas: curriculum selection, assessments for monitoring progress, and expectations for student achievement and growth.
This resource contains effective, high-leverage learning and teaching principles for English learners that can be incorporated into daily instructional plans and routines.
This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
First in a series of three books, this document presents recommendations grounded in empirical research regarding instruction and instruction in the areas of reading and math for ELLs
(Under cooperative agreement grant S283B050034 for U.S. Department of Education). Portsmouth, NH: RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction
This rubric was designed to help districts assess/optimize their English learner (EL) services at the district level. The rubric does not address the day-to-day choices teachers make in preparing lessons or delivering instruction to English Learners.
This research-based tool contains 70 items organized into eight sections that address key components of a district’s program for English learners.
Rubric Uses:
-Benchmark progress over time
-Identify areas in which the district is doing well and areas in which the district needs to improve its program for ELs
-Inform discussion of priorities for action
-Inform development of finer grained assessments of strengths and weaknesses
-Structure discussion of EL programs with the school board, state education agencies, ESDs, and other districts
-Inform communication to the community about district EL programs
The rubric can be completed by either group consensus or individual review by district-level staff members with responsibility for the English language learner program.
The five, research-based principles in this resource are “big ideas” or concepts about the acquisition of a second-language and the academic challenges English learners face. These principles apply to all teachers (regardless of grade or subject area) and can help teachers adapt their instruction and better support academic success for the English learner students in their classrooms.
This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
Based on research, Education Northwest identified key principles that language arts teachers with English learner students in their classrooms should know. These principles represent "big ideas” or concepts regarding second language acquisition and the academic challenges English learners face.
This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
Based on research, Education Northwest identified key principles that math teachers with English learner students in their classrooms should know. These principles represent "big ideas” or concepts regarding second language acquisition and the academic challenges English learners face.
This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
Based on research, Education Northwest identified key principles that science teachers with English learner students in their classrooms should know. These principles represent "big ideas” or concepts regarding second language acquisition and the academic challenges English learners face.
This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
Based on research, Education Northwest identified key principles that social studies teachers with English learner students in their classrooms should know. These principles represent "big ideas” or concepts regarding second language acquisition and the academic challenges English learners face.
This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
A research brief discussing instructional implications a systematic school-wide intervention that was designed to integrate content knowledge and language and literacy in content area curricula.
More information can be found here - http://www.cal.org/create/publications/briefs/comprehensive-model-for-instruction-of-academic-language-and-literacy-in-the-content-areas.html
Many teachers are inadequately prepared with the relevant content knowledge, experience, and training to address the unique needs of students from diverse backgrounds. This can create a cultural gap between teachers and students; limiting the ability of educators to choose effective instructional practices and curricular materials.
This guide provides a wide range of research supported practices that can aid educators in becoming more culturally responsive in their approach to teaching. This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
A research brief describing the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) model used by 2 schools to improve achievement of ELLs.
Provides a brief overview regarding the research on effective science instruction for ELLs.
More information can be found here - http://www.cal.org/create/publications/briefs/improving-science-and-vocabulary-learning-of-english-language-learners.html
"The Parent Guide for English Learners" gives you basic information about how children are identified as English learners, taught English and other subjects, tested, and designated as proficient in academic English and moved out of English learner services.
This document will help you talk with your child’s school, ask the right questions, and support your child on their journey as an English learner. English and Spanish versions are available. This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
"The Parent Guide for English Learners" gives you basic information about how children are identified as English learners, taught English and other subjects, tested, and designated as proficient in academic English and moved out of English learner services.
This document will help you talk with your child’s school, ask the right questions, and support your child on their journey as an English learner. English and Spanish versions are available. This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
Discusses the tiered format of an RtI process and how it can be used to address the needs of ELLs who are struggling academically.
More information can be found here - http://www.cal.org/create/publications/briefs/response-to-intervention-and-english-learners.html
The authors have designed this brief for educators who are interested in RtI, specifically how RtI can meet the needs of LEP/EL Learners. The authors emphasize the importance of having an ESL teacher involved in the RtI data-based decision making process. After giving a description of the tiers in an RtI model and the use of assessments in RtI, the brief discusses considerations for English Learners and effective teaching practices to consider with this population.
This brief provides a framework for using RtI with students who are ELLs from Hispanic backgrounds. The authors provide characteristics of Hispanic ELLs, what teachers should know about ELLs, and the stages of second language proficiency. The following sections provide an example RtI framework for Spanish-speaking students suggesting the framework can be used with all ELLs when considering culture-specific factors. Screening and progress monitoring procedures for students who are ELLs are recommended and depicted within a case study provided at the end of the brief.
This practice guide includes recommendations addressing reading and content area instruction for English learners.
Each recommendation includes extensive sample activities that can be used to support students in building language and literacy skills. The recommendations also summarize and rate supporting evidence.
This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
Ensuring a comprehensive and coherent instructional program is essential for student success. RtI provides a framework for ensuring that students receive the level and type of instruction they need for academic success. However, to ensure that English language learners will benefit from instruction in an RtI framework, assessment and instruction practices must respond to both their academic and language needs. This session will present effective instructional strategies for ELLs in Tiers 1, 2 and 3 and factors to consider when interpreting assessments. Lecture, case studies, and interactive activities will be used.
Ensuring a comprehensive and coherent instructional program is essential for student success. RtI provides a framework for ensuring that students receive the level and type of instruction they need for academic success. However, to ensure that English language learners will benefit from instruction in an RtI framework assessment and instruction practices must respond to both their academic and language needs. This session will present effective instruction strategies for ELLs in Tiers 1, 2 and 3 and factors to consider when interpreting assessments. Lecture, case studies, and interactive activities will be used.
This breakout strand presented at the 2009 Center on Teaching and Learning Conference focused on key questions: What language should we assess in? How do I integrate RtI and the identification of ELs? What indicator is a good predictor of EL students? Dr. Linan-Thompson concludes by recommending partner learning to structure the instruction.
Presented by Dr. Leonard Baca (University of Colorado at Boulder) in April 2009 at the Buffalo State College’s Annual Exceptional Education Graduate Research Symposium. Presentation summarizes the current state of research as it related to best practice instruction for ELLs. Outline the factors from an ecological model that need to be taken into consideration when implementing the RtI process with ELLs.
This powerpoint was originally presented at NASP in Colorado. The presentation focuses on how core concepts of RtI build capacity of schools to support ELLs. Learn how evidence based core instructional practices and a variety of assessments can support ELLs. Current challenges when applying RtI practices with ELLs as well as some of the complexities of RtI for ELLs are also covered.
A March 2009 presentation by Dr. Shernaz Garcia at the New York State Association for Bilingual Education Conference. The presentation outlines key issues relative to RtI and students who are bilingual and learning English as a second language. Presents a framework to help schools conceptualize an RtI model/process that is responsive to the cultural and language needs of students whose native language is not English.
RtI models that involve English Language Learners require a comprehensive, collaborative approach in which educators have a common understanding of second language acquisition, cultural influences on teaching and learning, and effective instructional practices. This all day workshop provides a brief overview of RtI and focuses on the relevant instructional and assessment factors schools need to consider when implementing the RtI process with English Language Learners. Participants will explore the essential features of RtI models with a focus on quality core instruction to ELLs, using data to identify struggling students, factors to consider when selecting "research-based interventions," aligning interventions with linguistic and cultural characteristics, the role of the problem-solving team, and evaluating student response.
While RtI holds great promise for preventing substandard academic achievement through universal screening, providing appropriate instruction and support in general education prior to academic failure, and monitoring progress, schools will need to consider additional socio-cultural, linguistic, and assessment factors when applying this model to English language learners (ELLs). This workshop provides a case study illustration of how these factors guide instruction and intervention within the multi-tiered RtI process. Although the case study is based on an elementary ELL student from a Spanish-speaking home, the same framework and factors may be applied with all ELLs.
Powerpoint presentation that outlines the challenges of implementing RtI relative to students who are linguistically diverse and suggestions for addressing those challenges. Drs. Klinger and Lesaux stress the importance of using scientifically based instruction and programs that have been empirically validated for use with students who are learning English as a second language. Provides a series of guiding questions RtI teams should consider when dealing with linguistically diverse students who are struggling in the area of literacy.
This webinar, presented during the 2011 NYS RtI TAC Summer Institute, will address how to improve educational outcomes for ELLs through culturally and linguistically responsive implementation of an RtI framework in the area of elementary reading. Specifically, it will discuss critical considerations to appropriately utilize screening and progress monitoring data with ELL students to improve reading outcomes by addressing the factors that influence ELL students' academic success.
The webinar PowerPoint can be accessed here - https://nysrti.org/files/webinars/strand_11/nyc_2.pdf
The Webinar PowerPoint can be accessed here - https://nysrti.org/files/webinars/strand_11/nyc3_slides_updated.pdf
This webinar will provide action research-based models of culturally responsive mathematics instruction proven to be effective in improving student learning and achievement. Practitioners will learn how other schools in the Pacific Northwest use data to identify and address challenges around student mastery of mathematics concepts. Participants will be able to use this information to move beyond their own data to determine and implement action steps to address opportunity gaps and close achievement gaps. (PDF of PPT slides) This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
The webinar PowerPoint can be accessed here - https://nysrti.org/files/webinars/strand_11/thompson_1.pdf
This webinar, hosted by the National Center on Response to Intervention, focused on improving educational outcomes for ELLs through culturally and linguistically responsive implementation of an RTI framework in the area of elementary reading. Specifically, it discussed critical considerations to appropriately utilize screening and progress monitoring data with ELL students to improve reading outcomes by addressing the factors that influence ELL students' academic success. Recommendations were provided for the appropriate selection and use of screening and progress monitoring data based on students' unique backgrounds and needs. A case study was provided to illustrate these recommendations with a first grade ELL student.
As teachers increase the complexity of texts and academic vocabulary, they must also ensure the texts, lessons and instructional strategies are relevant to our students of all races, ethnicities, languages and abilities. In this webinar, Erin Lolich explores practical ideas for getting to know the cultures of elementary students and using this information to differentiate and scaffold rigorous literacy tasks. (PDF of PPT slides) This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
Students are being asked to read carefully and respond with evidence from the text that informs or persuades the audience. This requires careful text selection driven by the interests and needs of the students. Modeling, practice, and feedback should be gradually released so that eventually cooperative student groups make sense of the text, find evidence and develop responses collectively. (PDF of PPT slides) This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
Informational text is a vehicle to build strong general knowledge and vocabulary—assets in college, career, and life. The K–5 standards call for a 50–50 balance between informational and literary reading. Informational reading includes content-rich nonfiction across subject areas. This webinar will explore how to select texts and teach students to select texts that systematically develop their knowledge about the world. Lolitch also discusses culturally-responsive approaches to non-fiction reading and writing tasks across subject areas. This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
Pre-reading tasks provide scaffolded supports for English learner students to negotiate the content, analytical practices, and language demands of their discipline. Pre-reading tasks create the space for students to dig into their prior knowledge and bridge their personal experience and language to build new understandings. The act of bridging helps our students to create the context for new information, while also providing the imagery to anchor new language.
The purpose of this webinar is to describe and discuss strategies for supporting English learner students before they read grade-appropriate texts. In the webinar, Blackburn explores effective practices that scaffold students’ development and autonomy as learners. PDF of Webinar Slides
This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
How do we support our English Learners as they negotiate complex text? Which scaffolds support our students as they read? During-reading strategies help coach analytical reading and provide scaffolded support in grade-appropriate texts. Through these activities, students practice analysis as they read with purpose—exercising the myriad skills associated with close reading. These scaffolds are especially helpful for providing evidence for writing tasks. Additionally, during-reading tasks provide formative evidence for teachers to understand how well their students are accessing their text.
In this webinar, Blackburn describes how teachers can build student autonomy in reading complex texts and will present a variety of flexible class structures and scaffolds designed to support English learners as they make meaning of complex text. (PDF of Webinar Slides)
This resource comes from the Education Northwest website. For more information, please visit: http://educationnorthwest.org
How do we create opportunities for students to discuss and make sense of what they read? How do we craft opportunities for students to purposefully re-engage their texts? Once students have read a text once, it’s good practice to offer students another opportunity to approach the same text with a particular analytical purpose. Post-reading scaffolds provide a frame for re-engaging text while simultaneously building student autonomy in analytical practices, content, and language of the discipline. This step is critical as these opportunities reveal much about the kinds of future supports our students might require down the road. Post-reading tasks push students to synthesize their understanding of language, analytical practices, and class content.
In this webinar, Blackburn describes how teachers can create invitations for students to re-engage their texts with purpose. Post-reading tasks support students as they apprentice in disciplinary language, literacy, and content. We will model high-leverage post-read tasks that create the space for re-engaging their texts with purpose, while simultaneously scaffolding the productive language your students need to express what they know.
Discussed the advantages of using CBM to monitor the progress of students who are considered English language learners within an RtI model or process.
An archived website that provides information and resources specific to educating English Language Learners (ELLs) in the middle grades.
The Center on Instruction provides informational materials and resources on NCLB and evidence-based practices in reading, math, science, Special Education and English Language Learning instruction.
A division of the New York State Education Department, OBE provides technical assistance and support to districts in developing and implementing educational programs for limited English proficient (LEP) students. Website includes information on legislative requirements involving the education of LEP students. Also includes resource materials to assist schools in meeting the linguistic needs of students from diverse culturally backgrounds.
The presenter shares what it means to be culturally responsive in today's classrooms. The segments answer questions on suggested group size and self-confidence levels. Several strategies for recognizing patterns of interaction and the invisible culture in your classroom are given.