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This document developed by the Center on Instruction addresses questions about how best to assist students who face the significant dual challenge of acquiring the content knowledge necessary for academic success and simultaneously developing their English language competency. Looking at key practices in schools with high populations of non-native speakers of English that have achieved exemplary academic success in their second, acquired language, this document details findings from 49 school principals on nine factors, including school and student characteristics, instructional supports and strategies for ELLs, and barriers to effective instruction for ELLs. |
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This publication from the Center on Instruction offers educators and policy-makers guidance on research-based strategies that have been effective in instructing English Language learners (ELLs). Regardless of the model that school districts select, teachers--especially those who have not been trained to work with ELLs--need help to determine the most effective strategies to accelerate student learning and maximize instructional time. This document outlines key contextual factors that decision-makers should take into account when making instructional choices for ELLs, provides a brief overview of bilingual and English-only instructional models, and considers the influence of the language of instruction on academic outcomes for ELLs. The Center on Instruction held a webinar July 28, 2010, as an orientation to this document. The archived WebEx file and the PowerPoint presentation can be accessed here. |
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| As you apply for ARRA funds and implement your plan, COI's resources can help you identify reforms that work and how to implement them. As you advance reforms in the area of "data systems to support instruction", consider that COI's resources cover the use of data to inform instructional practices and decision making; inform professional development for teachers and administrators; and improve teacher and principal effectiveness. | ||||||
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| As you apply for ARRA funds and implement your plan for "turning around lowest-performing schools", COI's resources can help you understand research-based practices to provide high-quality instruction and effective intervention to reach struggling students. Our resources can also help principals understand how to plan initiatives to improve the instructional programs for students and how to serve as an instructional leader at their school. | ||||||
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| As you apply for ARRA funds and implement your plan, COI's resources can help you identify reforms that work and how to implement them. As you advance reforms in "effective leaders and teachers", consider that COI's resources cover the research on high-quality instruction and interventions; using data to inform instruction; high-quality coaching and professional development for your teachers; and how to improve teacher and principal effectiveness. | ||||||
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| As you apply for ARRA funds and implement your plan, COI's resources can guide you in your decision-making about what reforms work and how to implement them most effectively in the area of "standards and assessments". COI's resources can help you implement high-quality assessments and use information from assessments to guide classroom instruction. | ||||||
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This report from the Center on Instruction presents information about assessment, instructional interventions, and professional development with a particular focus on ELL students who have been identified with a language and/or learning disability or who are at risk for reading difficulties. The focus of the intervention section is on those that have demonstrated success at remediating reading for ELLs who have either identified language impairment, reading and/or learning disabilities, or those who are performing significantly below their peers in reading achievement. The report also offers recommendations followed by discussion and empirical evidence for the types of instructional interventions that best serve ELLs who are at risk for reading difficulties who may or may not have an identified language and/or learning disability. |
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| Intended for state and district leaders, this professional development module developed by the Center on Instruction provides background knowledge on language development, language assessment of English Language Learners, academic language instruction and vocabulary K-12. It is designed to be used as a four-hour train-the-trainer session. Other options include using the materials in the Facilitator's Guide as a study group tool with other ELL professionals or using the information and completing the activities as a self-study guide. | ||||||||||
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This book, released in October 2006, is the first in a series of three Practical Guidelines for the Education of English Language Learners from the Center on Instruction. It provides evidence-based recommendations for policymakers, administrators, and teachers in K-12 settings who seek to make informed decisions about instruction and academic interventions for ELLs. The domains of focus include reading and mathematics, and the recommendations apply to both a class-wide instructional format and individualized, targeted interventions, depending on the population and the goals of the instruction. A PowerPoint presentation overview of the series is available below for downloading. A Professional Development PowerPoint is also available to supplement the content of this book. The detailed slides and speaker notes summarize and augment the information contained in the book and may be used to provide professional development during inservice training to educators teaching in grades K-12. David Francis presented an overview of the series at the LEP Partnership meeting in October 2006. The PowerPoint presentation is available here. A podcast of the presentation is available here. |
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This book, released in October 2006, is the second in a series of three Practical Guidelines for the Education of English Language Learners from the Center on Instruction. This document was written primarily for the group of ELLs who are adolescent newcomers to the United States and who have a relatively short period of time in which to simultaneously develop academic language skills and master grade-level content. It provides evidence-based recommendations for policymakers, administrators, and teachers in middle and high schools who seek to make informed decisions about effectively serving adolescent newcomers. A PowerPoint overview is available below for downloading. A Professional Development PowerPoint is also available to supplement the content of this book. The detailed slides and speaker notes summarize and augment the information contained in the book and may be used to provide professional development during inservice training to educators teaching in middle and secondary grades. David Francis presented an overview of the series at the LEP Partnership meeting in October 2006. The PowerPoint presentation is available here. A podcast of the presentation is available here. |
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This book, released in October 2006, is the third in a series of three Practical Guidelines for the Education of English Language Learners from the Center on Instruction. NCLB has increased awareness of the academic needs and achievement of ELLs as schools, districts, and states are held accountable for teaching English and content knowledge to ELLs. ELLs present a unique set of challenges to educators because of the central role played by academic language proficiency in the acquisition and assessment of content-area knowledge. This document focuses particularly on research-based recommendations on the use of accommodations to increase the valid participation of ELLs in large-scale assessments. A PowerPoint overview is available below for downloading. A Professional Development PowerPoint is also available to supplement the content of this book. The detailed slides and speaker notes summarize and augment the information contained in the book and may be used to provide professional development during inservice training to educators teaching in the elementary, middle, and secondary grades. David Francis presented an overview of the series at the LEP Partnership meeting in October 2006. The PowerPoint presentation is available here. A podcast of the presentation is available here. |
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This document developed by the Center on Instruction's Reading, Special Education and ELL Strands makes recommendations for improving literacy-related instruction in the content areas or across the entire school day, interventions for students reading below grade level, and recommendations for supporting literacy development in adolescent English language learners. Also included are comments from experts in response to questions about methods for improving academic literacy in adolescents and examples of state activities in support of improved adolescent literacy in California, Florida, Rhode Island, and Washington. A video of Joe Torgesen providing an overview of this document is available here. |
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| This document from the National Reading Technical Assistance Center highlights a case study that compares two approaches for teaching ELLs to read: (1) in their primary language (Spanish) and then transitioning to English, and (2) in English only. This descriptive study examines what works, what doesn't work, and what is challenging in addressing the ELL issue in grades two and three. It is intended for individual readers, study groups, or school-site teams interested in reading instruction for ELLs. The appendix includes guiding discussion questions that can help to define their school's language reading program. | ||||||
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| Current emphasis on teacher effectiveness in educational policy poses a challenge for the evaluation of special education teachers and ELL specialists. This brief from the TQ Center offers policy and practice recommendations for regions, states, and districts to help them create evaluation systems that reflect the measurement of academic achievement growth for their students and how to connect that growth to teacher effects. To access this document, click here. | ||||
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This free online library provides local educators with easy access to over 700 professional development resources that can be customized to meet their needs. Such groups as AFT, NEA, federally funded TA centers, the IRIS Center, COI, and various states, have contributed resources to bring together research, policy and practice. The site can be searched by keyword or by an alphabetical list of resources, topics, or organizations providing the resource. It also has "featured resources", an opportunity to add a resource, and a signup to receive email updates. The database can be accessed here. |
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| This 2010 study by REL West on middle school math assessment accommodations found that simplifying the language--or linguistic modification--on standardized math test items made it easier for English Language learners to focus on and grasp math concepts, and thus was a more accurate assessment of their math skills. The 204-page final report is available for download here. | ||||
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This brief from the Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE), outlines the tiered structure of RTI and how it can be implemented as an effective technique for teaching English learners who are having difficulty making academic progress. |
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Doing What Works (DWW) is a website dedicated to assisting teachers in the implementation of effective educational practices. It contains practice guides developed by IES that evaluate research on the effectiveness of teaching practices described in the guides and examples of possible ways this research may be used. To access this website, visit http://dww.ed.gov/. DWW also provides tables describing the DWW tabs that address literacy and provides a quick reminder about the content to enhance presentations, professional development and general usage of the materials. The "Roadmaps" to Early Childhood Language and Literacy and Adolescent Literacy provide a quick overview and are available for download below, along with the more detailed inventories of the DWW website by topic. |
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This report presents results of the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading at grades 4 and 8. Results show that the overall average score for fourth-graders in 2009 was unchanged from the score in 2007 but was higher than the scores in other earlier assessment years from 1992 to 2005. The average score for eighth-graders in 2009 was one point higher than in 2009 and four points higher than 1992 but was not consistently higher than in all the assessment years in between. There were no significant changes from 2007 to 2009 in the score gaps between White and Black students or between White and Hispanic students at eighter grade 4 or grade 8. To access this report, click here.
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This handbook, edited by the Center on Innovation and Improvement, was developed by the five national content centers (Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center, Center on Innovation & Improvement, Center on Instruction, National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, and National High School Center). The purpose of the Handbook is to bolster the effective implementation of the intervention models and strategies outlined in the 2009 School Improvement Grant (SIG) program in order to achieve the program’s clear goal—rapid improvement of persistently low-achieving schools. In particular, this Handbook offers practical explanations of the SIG’s required and recommended models and strategies, references to the underlying research, and connections to useful resources. The intended audience includes state education agencies (SEAs), local education agencies (LEAs), charter management organizations (CMOs), education management organizations (EMOs), organizational partners engaged in school improvement, and schools engaged in rapid improvement. To download the entire 210-page document, each chapter individually, or chapters by topic, click here. |
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| This series of modules from the National Center on Response to Intervention provides information about how student progress monitoring, specifically Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM), can be used to determine a student's response to an intervention. The six modules include an introduction to CBM, using CBM in reading, math, written expression and spelling, other ways to use CBM data, and using CBM to determine RTI. These modules are designed for conducting professional development, course offerings, or individual study. Each module includes a PowerPoint presentation with notes, a manual, and handouts. While they are intended to be used as a series, each module can stand on its own. To access the CBM Modules, visit http://www.rti4success.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1172&Itemid=150. | ||||
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| This suite of materials from the Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center includes the full Framework, a Framwork Brief, an Overview of Framework Criteria, and References for the Framework Brief. The idea was conceived as a tool to help states and districts develop and implement high-quality standards and assessments that are valid and that reliably measure ELLs' language development. All of the materials can be downloaded at the AACC website at http://www.aacompcenter.org/cs/aacc/print/htdocs/aacc/resources_sp.htm | ||||
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| This practitioner brief from NCCRESt discusses four key elements of culturally and linguistically responsive prereferral intervention for culturally and linguistically diverse students: 1) preventing school underachievement and failure, 2) early intervention for struggling learners, 3) diagnostic/prescriptive teaching, and 4) availability of general education problem-solving support systems. | ||||||
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| Alfred Artiles presented this keynote address at the 31st annual conference of the New York State Association for Bilingual Education in March 2008. This PowerPoint presentation focuses on 1) trends in ELL placement in Special Education, 2) RTI as a viable option for ELLs, and 3) reflections on potential future directions for ELLs. | ||||||
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This practice guide, from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, formulates evidence-based recommendations for teaching literacy to English Language Leaners (ELLs) in the elementary grades based on the current body of studies for each area. The authors evaluated the effect sizes of interventions to measure their impact on programs and practices. The recommendations involve areas such as curriculum selection, sensible assessments for monitoring progress, and reasonable expectations for student achievement and growth, which would be helpful for curriculum directors at the time they make decisions about policy related to literacy instruction for ELLs in elementary grades. The practice guide is available for downloading at http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practiceguides/20074011.pdf. |
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| This Executive Summary provides a thorough overview of the major findings analyzed in the report by the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. The panel of major scholars in second language learning and literacy analyzed existing evidence on teaching reading and writing to language minority students and identified gaps in this area of research. Professinal Development staff and educators may use the findings described in this summary to support research-based initiatives and instruction for language-minority students. The Executive Summary is available for downloading at the Center for Applied Linguistics website at http://www.cal.org/projects/archive/nlpreports/Executive_Summary.pdf. | ||||
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