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NCDPI ML/Title III Collaborative Conversations Playbook

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Check out this design designed by Susan Walz.

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Webinar on Bullying Prevention for Refugee Students

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Webinar on Bullying Prevention for Refugee Students

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Bullying Prevention & Response When Supporting Refugee Students - Switchboard

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Hosted on March 20, 2024 the training was delivered by Madina Masumi, Switchboard Training Officer. Refugee and newcomer students are more likely to be bullied and may not understand how to effectively manage these situations, which could lead to further feelings of social isolation and stress.

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GALAX, Va. - The 2023 Trophy Tour made a special stop in Galax to present a special award to a freshman kicker that pulled off an amazing feat.

Yandel Vera kicked the game-winning field goal in the VHSL Class 1 state championship game for Galax--giving the Maroon Tide the 7-6 victory over Essex. The field goal came with some anxiety as the ball "doinked" off the crossbar on its way in.

For his display of courage to step up in that moment and his season-long commitment to his craft, Vera was awarded the Josh Leonard Character, Courage and Commitment award.

The award is named after Josh Leonard, a young man with autism who successfully went out for high school football a decade ago at Lord Botetourt. Josh taught us all a lesson or two about those three words!"

Vera grew up playing soccer, and only started kicking in the summer before the season. He credits Galax assistant coach Eddie Ayers with teaching him how to kick a football.

"So I've just been working since since summer workouts and stuff like that and just a lot of progress when I first started, I couldn't even kick it or properly properly kick it or nothing like that --so I mean yeah great work and stuff with Coach Ayers, Coach (Eddie) Ayers right here. He's a good coach!

Galax coach Shane Allen explained how he came to the decision in state finals game pressure to go with the freshman kicker to try and win the title.

"We struggled to move the ball offensively you know, He put his time in just like every other player and we tell our kids all the time about you know everybody has a role from starters on the offense,defense, special teams to the scout team guys, everybody plays in a important role and everybody's gonna get an opportunity. He had his opportunity and he earned it, and successful things come to people who work hard so," Allen explained.

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josh leoard character courage commitment award

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1st and 10 Trophy Tour: Galax's Yandel Vera

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The Maroon Tide freshman kicker was presented with the Josh Leonard Character, Courage and Commitment award.

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New York City Department of Education:  Evaluating Foreign Transcripts - The A - Z Manual

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New York City Department of Education:  Evaluating Foreign Transcripts - The A - Z Manual

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Larry Ferlazzo:  Resources for Helping K-12 Schools Evaluate International Transcripts

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Larry Ferlazzo:  Resources for Helping K-12 Schools Evaluate International Transcripts

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Evaluating student transcripts of students who come from different countries, when they have them, can be a bit tricky.

Here are a few resources that might help schools:
Guest Post: Evaluating Transcripts: Getting it right, one student at a time
A Guide for the Placement and Transcript Evaluation of Foreign-Born Students is from The Broward County School District.

Evaluating Foreign Transcripts:The A-Z Manual is from The New York City Department of Public Education.

The Institute of Education Sciences has two good resources, though their site is off-line as I publish this post. This has happened a few times recently, but I assume they'll be back up soon:
Making The Grade Finding the Right Starting Point: Obtaining, Interpreting, and Evaluating International Transcripts
Let me know what I'm missing!

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Resources For Helping K-12 Schools Evaluate International Transcripts

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Evaluating student transcripts of students who come from different countries, when they have them, can be a bit tricky. Here are a few resources that might help schools: Guest Post: Evaluati...

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The Leadership Conference Education Fund:  Civil Rights Principals for Multilingual Learner Education

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The Leadership Conference Education Fund:  Civil Rights Principals for Multilingual Learner Education

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The Leadership Conference Education Fund

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The Civil Rights Principles for Multilingual Learner Education details how decision makers at all levels can ensure an equitable education system that offers meaningful equal opportunity and success for all children, including children whose first language is a language other than English. We are all fortunate that there are so many children in the United States who are learning more than one language between their homes and their schools. This powerful asset enriches their own lives and education, and it sets them up to be builders of our multiracial, multicultural, and multilingual democracy. In order to ensure that children who speak more than one language have access to and are included in comprehensive, diverse, and high-quality education settings, we seek policy that reflects the following principles. The civil rights community calls on decision makers at all levels to create and maintain an equitable education system for children by incorporating these principles into all relevant policies.

Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes ofwebsite accessibility

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Civil Rights Principles for Multilingual Learner Education

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The Civil Rights Principles for Multilingual Learner Education details how decision makers at all levels can ensure an equitable education system that offers meaningful equal opportunity and success for all children, including children whose first language is a language other than English.

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Immigrant Connections:  Leadership Coaching Webinar FACE

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Immigrant Connections:  Leadership Coaching Webinar FACE

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Join Kelly each month for an open conversation about leading for English learner success. Gain tips for things to consider in your school and leadership goals while building a community of support!

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Leadership for Welcoming Newcomer Students:  6 Steps to Take

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Leadership for Welcoming Newcomer Students:  6 Steps to Take

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Newcomer Welcome Kit by School Leaders for School Leaders

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Newcomer Welcome Kit by School Leaders for School Leaders

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WestEd:  Justice and Prevention Research Center

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WestEd:  Justice and Prevention Research Center

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Through our collaboration with a broad, intersystem network of partners, we promote evidence-informed decision-making and center equity, inclusivity, and cultural responsiveness in all our work. With nationwide reach, we help implement and evaluate efforts to promote positive youth development, physical health, and well-being.

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Elevating SLIFE Success webinar from SupportED and Carol Salva 10/2/23

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Elevating SLIFE Success webinar from SupportED and Carol Salva 10/2/23

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Guided Learning Toolkit:  Engaging and Partnering with Families of Multilingual Learners

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Guided Learning Toolkit:  Engaging and Partnering with Families of Multilingual Learners

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Ellevation: ML Program Management Tools for K-12

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Families are the greatest stakeholder in the education of multilingual learners, and with the right practices in place, they are indispensable partners for educators. In this toolkit you will find a variety of content and resources about successful family engagement strategies from school districts and experts across the country.

This toolkit is intended as a guide which can be worked through in any order and pace. Every piece does not need to be completed - choose the content that makes the most sense to you.

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Engaging and partnering with families of multilingual learners

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Families are the greatest stakeholder in the education of multilingual learners, and with the right practices in place, they are indispensable partners for educators. In this toolkit you will find a variety of content and resources about successful family engagement strategies from school districts and experts across the country.

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Promoting Collaboration to Better Support ELs in Content Classes by Kent Dwyer and Gina Lappe

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Promoting Collaboration to Better Support ELs in Content Classes by Kent Dwyer and Gina Lappe

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Ellevation: ML Program Management Tools for K-12

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Effective collaboration strategies can have transformative effects on school culture and student outcomes, especially for multilingual learners. Every educator in a school has different strengths, areas of expertise, or resources to share. But what are some effective ways of capitalizing on collaboration and how might we implement systems to support it?

We were recently joined on Highest Aspirations by educators Gina Lappe and Kent Dwyer, who worked together at an international school in South Korea. As the EL Specialist, Kent worked closely with Gina, a science teacher, to implement strategies to support acquisition of academic vocabulary. They discovered that as Gina found success using these scaffolds in her classroom, other content teachers quickly took notice.

In this two-part interview, we hear how Gina and Kent used their partnership to create a school-wide culture of collaboration and build a system to ensure consistency across classrooms and staff. Listen to the full episodes here or wherever you get your podcasts.

If you're interested in increasing collaboration at your school or even within your own classroom, here are a few initial questions that Gina and Kent address in our conversation.

How can strategic partnerships build eagerness for collaboration at a school?
"In a really content-dense class like science, that isn't always seen as a space where these (scaffolds) fit because there's so much content to cover...but I was finding that content is irrelevant if I wasn't meeting my students' langauge needs." -Gina Lappe

Sometimes, it's not what you hear but who you hear it from. Content teachers (who have plenty on their plates) may feel resistant when a specialist who works with one population asks them to add new scaffolds to their instruction. However, when a content teacher sees another general education teacher using those in practice, they can see how it works in the context of the whole group and may be more motivated to try it.

Kent found that when teachers observed ELL strategies being used in Gina's classroom, they were excited to try them out on their own. Their strategic partnership soon generated a school-wide culture of eagerness for collaboration.

After generating interest, how can you keep momentum going?

Once teachers are interested in implementing the scaffolding techniques they've observed, it's important to make any tools or additional resources they will need readily available and easily accessible. Kent shares how they created a Google folder with templates of research-based approaches, lesson plans and work samples, and instructional videos - all searchable within a drive folder by tags and hashtags. Many districts leverage Ellevation Strategies to provide content teachers with research-based, best practice strategies to help them differentiate instruction for multilingual learners.

"After a teacher accesses the materials for a technique, they might decide they're comfortable with trying it independently, or they may want to see it modeled in their classroom to observe it in action. It's a way to provide multiple entry points for teachers the same way we differentiate for our kids." - Kent Dwyer

The practice of housing resources that all teachers can access is especially important in cases of high teacher turnover to support alignment and stability across the school's teaching practices. Once teachers experience the impact of reduced teacher talk and increased student ownership of the language and routines of the classroom, they are much more likely to continue collaborating to support this model.

How can collaboration between students better support multilingual learners and improve classroom culture?

Scaffolding for multilingual learners in instruction is a key point of entry; but creating an atmosphere where learning can happen also stems from positive peer interactions. Gina and Kent emphasize the role of collaborative speech as a focal point in student-to-student talk. Students should be regularly partnering up to discuss concepts, improve interpersonal skills and practice building on each other's ideas.

We can help students support one another through creating opportunities to practice mindfulness in the classroom. We discuss the idea of group accountability: if enough students are willing to do what the teacher is asking, this helps with momentum and keeps the class engaged.

During the episode we mention the following resources:
Gina Lappe is heading into her 10th year teaching inquiry-based science. She started teaching in Great Smoky Mountains National Park before heading into the classroom at an Expeditionary Learning Charter School in North Carolina. She currently teaches middle school science at an international school in South Korea. She is passionate about using science as a pathway to get students curious about and connected with the world around them. Please feel free to reach out to Gina via email at ginalappe@gmail.com and Instagram @Lappe_labs. Kent Dwyer has been an educator for 17 years, focusing primarily on language acquisition. He taught Spanish in Pennsylvania for 11 years, serving as a demonstration teacher at Julia Reynolds Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School and then as a master teacher at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School. From 2016 to 2021, Kent worked in international education to support English language acquisition, first in Qatar and then in South Korea. Kent has facilitated professional development sessions on topics including digital storytelling for language acquisition, tiered units of instruction, differentiated instruction, interpersonal language use within the classroom, data-driven decision making, integrated performance assessments, and the use of technology to promote communication. He can be reached through his professional instagram at kent.dwyer or via email at kentdwyer13@gmail.com.

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Promoting Collaboration to Better Support ELs in Content Classes with Kent Dwyer and Gina Lappe

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Effective collaboration strategies can have transformative effects on school culture and student outcomes, especially for multilingual learners. Every educator in a school has different strengths, areas of expertise, or resources to share. But what are some effective ways of capitalizing on collaboration and how might we implement systems to support it?

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Collaborating Across Departments to Serve Multilingual Learners by Valentina Gonzalez

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Collaborating Across Departments to Serve Multilingual Learners by Valentina Gonzalez

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by Valentina Gonzalez

I dare to say that working alongside colleagues had and still has the greatest effect on my professional growth and, therefore, my multilingual learners' success.

What Is collaboration?

Collaboration can be defined as working together toward a common, overarching goal. When staff collaborates to serve multilingual learners intentionally, they come together to form a vision for success and devise daily actions for reinforcement. They understand what learners need and find ways to achieve those goals. However, collaboration does not have to take place in the same room or at the same time. It also does not mean that staff must do the same things.

Teachers who collaborate across departments to serve MLs understand that the responsibility of educating MLs is shared. One third-grade teacher remembers a new student from Korea who joined her class mid-year. The teacher was mindful of introducing the new student to each stakeholder who would interact with this child, the front office, the cafeteria, the nurse, the counselor, and all the specials teachers (art, music, physical education). This was important because the staff needed to know that a) we have a new student who needs to feel welcomed and b) this new student is acquiring English and speaks Korean.

While this may seem like a simple way to collaborate, it is important. Without this collaboration, new multilingual learners can be left feeling scared and confused. Raising the affective filter with feelings of fear and anxiety decreases the chances that learning will occur. On the contrary, when the affective filter is low, the ability to acquire language and learn content increases.

A high school teacher describes how, after noticing that several multilingual learners in his history class were struggling with the concepts, he asked to meet with the ESL teacher on his campus. The history teacher inquired about the students' language proficiency levels and their backgrounds and asked questions about instructional practices for multilingual learners. This initial meeting led to future meetings (some face-to-face and others online and through emails). The two formed a mentorship and even began observing one another. They became comfortable enough that the history teacher observed the ESL teacher to gather new techniques he could incorporate into his own classroom, and the ESL teacher observed the history teacher to provide feedback on his implementation and instruction through the lens of multilingual learners and language acquisition techniques. Collaboration such as this comes at little to no cost, and it is a job-embedded method of personal development that reaps a myriad of benefits.

Collaboration Is Not Only Co-Teaching.

There are many ways to collaborate, especially in the interest of multilingual learners.

Coaching: Instructional coaching of peers is a powerful way to increase teacher capacity for serving multilingual learners. Educators with special training in language acquisition can work side-by-side with general education teachers as they plan instruction. The guidance that coaches offer can contribute to a teacher's instructional toolbox.

Mentoring: Teachers who pair up and offer support to one another reap many benefits. A mentor teacher, who has more experience and knows the way, can be a GPS for newer teachers. Mentors can answer questions, offer suggestions, and help their partners when they need a "reroute," all through the lens of a colleague who has traveled the same journey.

Planning: When grade-level teachers plan together with language specialists (or ESL teachers), content and language goals can be met and lessons are more likely to be accessible to a greater range of learners. This type of planning also builds teacher capacity. As teachers gather in a common area and bring their knowledge together, each benefits from the others. Dr. Katie Toppel, an ELD specialist in Oregon, writes about collaborating with multiple teams in chapter 5 of the book Portraits of Collaboration: Educators Working Together to Support Multilingual Learners.

Sharing: Sharing ideas and strategies with colleagues is a simple way to collaborate. When something works, share it! Creating a community of sharing with colleagues may increase the likelihood that they, too, will share.

Possible Collaboration Partnerships

Language specialists and:

mainstream teachers

special education teachers

GT teachers

art teachers

music teachers

P. E. teachers

librarians

counselors

instructional coaches

administrators

families

front office staff

nurses

cafeteria staff

bus drivers

Altagracia H. Delgado, executive director of multilingual services at Aldine ISD, says, "Equity for multilingual learners asks if we are really collaborating in synergy to ensure that all students thrive." It takes deliberately opening our minds, our classroom doors, and our lesson plans, but mostly our hearts, to share students, workload, responsibilities, successes, and all that comes between to serve multilingual learners on their paths toward greatness.

Published

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Collaborating Across Departments to Serve Multilingual Learners

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by Valentina Gonzalez I dare to say that working alongside colleagues had and still has the greatest effect on my professional growth and, therefore, my multilingual learners' success. What Is collaboration? Collaboration can be defined as working together toward a common, overarching goal. When staff collaborates to serve multilingual learners intentionally, they come together to...

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OELA Recorded webinar:  RAISE THE BAR: Create Pathways for Global Engagement and Multilingualism for ALL!

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OELA Recorded webinar:  RAISE THE BAR: Create Pathways for Global Engagement and Multilingualism for ALL!

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"Raise the Bar: Lead the World" is the U.S. Department of Education's call to action to transform education and unite around what works-based on decades of experience and research-to advance educational equity and excellence. As part of ED's Raise the Bar efforts to create pathways for global engagement, the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) hosted a webinar to introduce and discuss the Raise the Bar Initiative in the context of English and multilingual learner education. During this event, panelists reflected on the importance of early learning, dual language, the seal of biliteracy, and parent engagement as levers for multilingualism and multiliteracy in today's global society and economy; and discussed ways to elevate multilingualism among English learners and all students.

Panelists included:

Montserrat Garibay, Assistant Deputy Secretary & Director, OELA

Melissa Castillo, Senior Advisor, OELA

Dr. Jasmine Brann, Principal, Tyler Elementary School

Robert Medina, Director, English Learner Program Sobrato Philanthropies

Tamara Nogueira-Ramirez,Seal of Biliteracy Graduate

Julissa Esquivel, Principal, Lorenzo G. Loya Primary

Dr. Amy J. Heineke, Professor of Education, Loyola University Chicago

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RAISE THE BAR: Create Pathways for Global Engagement and Multilingualism for ALL!

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"Raise the Bar: Lead the World" is the U.S. Department of Education's call to action to transform education and unite around what works-based on decades of experience and research-to advance educational equity and excellence.

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Recorded Sessions from NCELA National Convening on English Learners' Civil Rights

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Recorded Sessions from NCELA National Convening on English Learners' Civil Rights

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The U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) hosted a virtual convening on Thursday, June 22, and Friday, June 23, 2023. The event focused on statutes, regulations, and case law relevant to the civil rights of English learners and highlighted guidance and resources to ensure that state and local education agencies are equipped with tools to meet their obligations to English learner students and families.

Meeting Materials:

Recordings:

Thursday, June 22, 2023
Introduction of Secretary Miguel A. Cardona

Montserrat Garibay, Office of English Language Acquisition
Opening - Secretary Miguel A. Cardona Introduction

Melissa Castillo, Office of English Language Acquisition
Identifying All English Learner Students (Chapter 1 & Resources)

Leticia Braga, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education

State/District Representatives:

Fran Herbert, RISE PD & ASHA (CO)

Mary Martinez-Wenzl, Oregon Department of Education (OR)

Sandra Moran, Wauconda CUSD #118 (IL)

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Providing English Learners with a Language Assistance Program (Chapter 2 & Resources) Serving English Learners Who Opt Out of EL Programs (Chapter 7 & Resources) Providing English Learners Meaningful Access to Core Curricular and Extracurricular Programs (Chapter 4 & Resources) Creating an Inclusive Environment for and Avoiding the Unnecessary Segregation of English Learners (Chapter 5 & Resources)

Jessica Swan, Office of English Language Acquisition

State/District Representatives:

Ester de Jong, University of Colorado (CO)

Patricia Rice Doran, Towson University (MD)

Friday, June 23, 2023
Opening

Montserrat Garibay, Office of English Language Acquisition
Ensuring Meaningful Communication with Limited English Proficient Parents (Chapter 10 & Resources) Introduction

Melissa Castillo, Office of English Language Acquisition
Staffing and Supporting an English Learner Program (Chapter 3 & Resources) Addressing English Learners with Disabilities (Chapter 6 & Resources)

Amy Bae, Office of Special Education Programs

State/District Representatives:

Laurene Christensen, University of Madison-Wisconsin (WI)

Fran Herbert, RISE PD & ASHA (CO)

Caroline Torres, Hawaii University (HI)

Monitoring and Exiting English Learners from EL Programs and Services (Chapter 8 & Resources) Evaluating the Effectiveness of a District's EL Program (Chapter 9 & Resources)

Celeste McLaughlin, Office of English Language Acquisition

State/District Representatives:

Sibel Hughes, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MA)

Nicole Knight, Oakland Unified School District (CA)

Annela Teemant, Indiana University (IN)

Closing

Cindy Marten, Deputy Secretary, Office of the Secretary

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National Convening on English Learners' Civil Rights

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The U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) hosted a virtual convening on Thursday, June 22, and Friday, June 23, 2023.

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Archived Webinar: Accessing Federal Student Aid for Newcomer Youth and Adults: The Latest Guidance from the U.S. Department of Education

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Archived Webinar: Accessing Federal Student Aid for Newcomer Youth and Adults: The Latest Guidance from the U.S. Department of Education

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Accessing Federal Student Aid for Newcomer Youth and Adults: The Latest Guidance from the U.S. Department of Education

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This webinar is presented by Switchboard, a one-stop shop for refugee service providers in the United States. Learn more about Switchboard at www.SwitchboardTA.org. Hosted on March 22, 2023, the training was delivered by Lindsay Dusard, PhD student at the Graduate School of Education at the Universi…

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Switchboard Blog:  How Schools Can Support Newcomer Youth: Ten Innovative Practices

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Switchboard Blog:  How Schools Can Support Newcomer Youth: Ten Innovative Practices

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How Schools Can Support Newcomer Youth: Ten Innovative Practices

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This is the second part of a series on school integration for refugee youth and their families. While most students in the U.S. start the school year thinking about their locker decor, who their favorite teacher might be, and whether they'll get to sit next to their crush in math class, most newcomer youth arrive ...

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Switchboard Blog:  Job Corps Provides Opportunities for Refugee Young Adults

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Switchboard Blog:  Job Corps Provides Opportunities for Refugee Young Adults

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Job Corps Provides Opportunities for Refugee Young Adults

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This blog post was written by Higher Employment Services Technical Assistance and is included as an archived post on the Switchboard blog. Refugee young adults in the U.S. between the ages of 16 and 24 may have narrow educational and career training options due to low English language proficiency and a lack of formal education.

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FREE E-learning Course:  Refugee and Immigrant Family and Community Engagement in the Schools

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FREE E-learning Course:  Refugee and Immigrant Family and Community Engagement in the Schools

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Intended for schools and refugee services staff, this course reviews the Parent-Teacher Association's (PTA) six National Standards for Family-School Partnerships and provides recommendations on implementing each of the standards with refugee and immigrant students and their families. It discusses promising practices for each of the standards and provides additional resources. This course is available on the BRYCS website.
After completing this 78-minute module, you will have received:

Information on standards of family, school, and community engagement as they pertain to refugees and immigrants; and

Resources that can be used directly with refugee and immigrant families to facilitate family, school, and community engagement.

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Refugee and Immigrant Family and Community Engagement in the Schools

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Created by Bridging Refugee Youth and Children's Services (BRYCS) Intended for schools and refugee services staff, this course reviews the Parent-Teacher Association's (PTA) six National Standards for Family-School Partnerships and provides recommendations on implementing each of the standards with refugee and immigrant students and their families.

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Guide: Resilience among Refugee Youth and Families

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Guide: Resilience among Refugee Youth and Families

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Guide: Resilience among Refugee Youth and Families

This guide reviews protective factors impacting the mental well-being of refugee youth and families, provides recommendations to school administrators and teachers working to support refugee students, and outlines core strategies and attitudes for mental health service providers working with refugee youth.

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Resilience among Refugee Youth and Families

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This guide reviews protective factors impacting the mental well-being of refugee youth and families, provides recommendations to school administrators and teachers working to support refugee students, and outlines core strategies and attitudes for mental health service providers working with refugee youth.

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Evidence Summary: What works to help students in immigrant and refugee families complete secondary education?

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Evidence Summary: What works to help students in immigrant and refugee families complete secondary education?

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Evidence Database | Advanced Evidence Search | Evidence Summaries
Evidence Summary
July 2023
There is some moderate evidence that trusted adult support increases academic achievement.

- Three articles highlight the importance of support from a trusted adult on academic achievement. Two suggestive studies focus on parental support, while another impact evaluation focuses on trusted adults. Students who had the support of their parents or trusted adults were more academically successful than peers without those support systems.

Suggestive studies demonstrate that culturally and linguistically appropriate after-school and extracurricular activities yield positive outcomes for youth.

- Some studies indicate that after-school and extracurricular activities increase academic achievement among certain populations, such as first-generation immigrants. However, another article concludes that Latin American and other immigrant children do not receive academic benefit from extracurricular activities. This may be due to the fact that many after-school programs and extracurricular activities do not address the specific linguistic and cultural needs of immigrant populations.

More rigorous research is needed on interventions for high school students.

- Most of the identified studies looked at the academic achievements of younger children, and all but one of the studies were suggestive. This indicates that more research is needed on the high school population and that such research should be more rigorous.

Expand list of all included studies

Log in to download full summary as a PDF

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There is some moderate evidence that trusted adult support increases academic achievement. - Three articles highlight the importance of support from a trusted adult on academic achievement. Two suggestive studies focus on parental support, while another impact evaluation focuses on trusted adults.

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Switchboard Toolkit:  Supporting Afghan Students in Schools and Youth Programs in the United States

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Switchboard Toolkit:  Supporting Afghan Students in Schools and Youth Programs in the United States

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Supporting Afghan Students in Schools & Youth Programs in the United States

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In the 2021-22 school year and beyond, schools across the United States will enroll significant numbers of children and youth from Afghanistan. These students fled the country after the withdrawal of American military troops and the subsequent fall of the Afghan government on August 15, 2021. While…

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Switchboard Guide:  School Enrollment for Students in Temporary Housing

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Switchboard Guide:  School Enrollment for Students in Temporary Housing

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School Enrollment for Students in Temporary Housing

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Ensuring access to education is an essential element of resettlement. Finding affordable housing is a significant challenge in most communities in the U.S., and at times, clients may be unhoused or in temporary housing. This guide discusses school enrollment for children and youth who are facing thi…

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Article by Tan Huynh "Making Assessments more Equitable for Multilingual Learners"

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Article by Tan Huynh "Making Assessments more Equitable for Multilingual Learners"

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English Language Learners

Teachers can take steps to make sure that tests only measure students' content knowledge rather than their reading comprehension.

Two assessments used widely by educators are final exams and reports. When these assessment types are scaffolded so that they are accessible, they become equitable tools for evaluation of learning. However, when the appropriate scaffolds are missing, these assessments can become confusing reading comprehension tests and frustrating writing tests, particularly for multilingual learners. Through engineering assessments, teachers can design exams and reports to assess only content by incorporating various linguistic scaffolds.

Engineering Exams

Scaffolding an exam does not reduce the academic standards. It simply makes the instructions more comprehensible and helps students produce more accurate responses. For example, teachers can write synonyms behind academic words that might be unfamiliar to students to make the question more accessible.

A hypothetical engineered sentence could be "Identify (list) all the adaptations of the walrus (see image) to survive (live) in an aquatic (water) habitat." Adding a picture of a walrus below the exam question helps support comprehension. Providing synonyms for the words that might be unfamiliar also provides an important scaffold.

Adaptations and habitat do not need a synonym behind them because they were taught in the unit, so students had multiple opportunities to learn them. Without adding synonyms to the unfamiliar words, the question could be incomprehensible to multilingual students who fully understand the concept of adaptations and habitat.

When asking for a short response on an exam, teachers can provide a sentence starter or a sentence frame. The sentence starter simply supports students with starting their response, while the sentence frame prompts students to provide specific information at specific points in the sentence. Sentence starters and sentence frames help multilingual students produce more content-based responses without providing students with the answers.

For example, this sentence starter can prompt students to think of an appropriate answer: The most important symbol in this piece of art is... A sentence frame might sound like this: The artist, [name of the artist], chose to symbolize [a concept] with the [the object from the painting] because... Engineering an exam this way helps multilingual students communicate as mathematicians, architects, biologists, historians, etc.

Engineering Reports

Reports can also be engineered to be more equitable for multilingual learners without watering down the academic expectations.

If a report asks students to analyze a revolution, the instructions can be engineered to be comprehensible and to structure the output. The first step to engineering a report is to create a template that provides instructions and a place for students to write their ideas. In the template, teachers can clearly identify all of the required parts (e.g., introduction of revolution, power of the main leader, demands by the people, fight for power, effect).

After identifying all the required elements for the report, the teacher can sequence the parts logically, as the order of ideas makes students' communication clearer.

How did the leader make decisions?

What did the leader not allow citizens to do?

What systems did the leader use to control people?

What did the leader do when he faced criticism by others?

For example, students have to write an introduction first because it provides the date that the revolution started, the place it occurred, and the groups involved. Then, they end with a thesis statement that explains what governments can learn from this revolution. This introduction is required before writing about the systems and policies that the leader put in place to maintain complete control.

For each part of the report, teachers can write guiding questions and prompts to help multilingual students know what content they have to communicate. In the section about the power of the leader, for example, the guiding questions and prompt might appear like these:

These prompts help make communicating ideas about the leader's power more concrete and specific. With these prompts, multilingual students will more likely provide the appropriate details and stay focused on a specific topic instead of writing just to fit the word count.

Multilingual students who are developing their proficiency in English can first produce the answers in another language that they are more academically fluent in. They can then move these ideas into English once they have them established in another language.

To support multilingual students with developing English proficiency, teachers can also mirror the sentence starter and sentence frame strategy and apply it to engineering reports. Teachers can offer a template with sentence starters and frames to respond to each prompt. For example, they can engineer the report to have this sentence frame embedded in the instructions: The [#] ways that the leader maintained (kept) absolute (complete) power were to...

Creating Equity

Assessments do not need to be less rigorous for multilingual students. Actually, doing so would make learning inequitable. Being held to significantly lower standards would not develop grade-level skills or build content-based knowledge.

Instead, let's continue to keep the standards high but change the appearance and formatting of exams and the instructions in reports. Assessments should not privilege those who understand more English. Assessments should be engineered to preemptively support multilingual students in successfully engaging with them. When this happens, assessment becomes an equitable, more reliable tool for learning and evaluation.

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Making Assessments More Equitable for Multilingual Learners

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Teachers can take steps to make sure that tests only measure students' content knowledge rather than their reading comprehension.

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News Article:  "All of us are products of stories" :  Columbia bilingual literacy program eyes expansion

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News Article:  "All of us are products of stories" :  Columbia bilingual literacy program eyes expansion

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COLUMBIA - On a summer night at a Richland County library outside Columbia, Kira Flores' family was focused on stories, as is often the case at a library.

But the story that Flores and her daughters were telling, writing and drawing wasn't on any of the library's shelves. It was their family's story, recorded in booklets by crayon, about the importance of their Mexican and African-American heritage and their move four years ago to Columbia from El Paso, Texas.

Their storytelling, and that of the other half-dozen families gathered at the library, was at the center of one of the Greater Columbia Community Relations Council's latest efforts, a family-oriented program focused on building the bilingual literacy skills of local Latino families.

After a six-week initial run in May and June, the nonprofit is looking to expand the program, which it calls Bilingual Family Reading Circles, at the start of the new school year in the fall.

The idea, according to Eurydice Bauer, an education professor at the University of South Carolina who sits on the council's board of directors, is to help children and their parents build a "habit of literacy," rather than just teaching them how to read.

Building those habits means reaching the emotional and personal sides of reading, Bauer said, whether it's the relationships created when parents and children read together or the importance that stories play in people's lives.

"All of us are products of stories: What happened to you yesterday, over the weekend, how you experience life with your family, the story your grandmother always told," she said, adding, "One of the things we can do is preserve some of those stories by writing them down."

Over the course of the initial six-week program, the parents and their children did just that, putting together storybooks about their families. Such practice doesn't just help the students work on the writing side of their literacy, according to Celina-Maria Espinosa, a USC doctoral student who helps lead the literacy program, but also lets the kids see their families' stories in a new light.

"These kids are able to see mom's stories in a formalized way," she said.

Flores said the program helped her kids better understand their family's past while also giving them more chances to read together.

"That's why I think a lot of this is important, too, so they can learn where they come from, where I come from," she said.

Alongside the writing, the families also read and listened to books and stories together, flowing between languages as they worked, played and were occasionally reminded by their parents to draw with their crayons, not throw them.

In one session, two mothers read aloud to the families from the same picture book, one reading a page in English and the other reading the same one in Spanish, a bilingual context which Bauer said helps families gain literacy skills in both languages.

"Often, we kind of intuitively believe that if we have a student who is in an all monolingual context, they will get to English faster and be stronger in English," Bauer said.

"When in actuality, some of our research actually shows that the kids who are in a dual context, where they are going back and forth between those two languages and developing both ... tend to be actually stronger in English at the end of the day."

After each session, the families each got a copy to keep of the books they read or listened to during the class, intended to help them build a home library encompassing both languages and practice reading beyond the library's meeting room.

The hope, Bauer said, is for the program's leaders to gradually turn the initiative over to parents, which should be more feasible as the Community Relations Council looks to start a new, expanded session.

"Eventually, our goal would be that it's not us doing the reading aloud, that over time the parents take it over, but they're modeling some of the things that we've been modeling for them," she said.

While the exact contours of that expansion are not yet finalized, the nonprofit's Executive Director Larry Salley said one hope is to be able to serve as many as 50 children in about 20 families through a nine-month program, and to maybe expand out to other subjects such as math, while keeping the "intergenerational aspect" in place.

"We really want to try to identify some of the other needs that the children have," he said, but added that language skills are "certainly the focus."

An expanded program will require additional funding to cover costs like the books and meals provided as a part of each session. The original May-June program was partly funded through grant money from Richland County, which Salley said is one possibility for the next iteration, though the council is also looking around for private funding as another option.

Gretchen Barron, who represents part of northeast Richland on the County Council and serves as its liaison with the Community Relations Council, said she was "intrigued" by the nonprofit's bilingual literacy program.

"I'm an educator by trade, so to be able to see families (for whom) English is their second language really being immersed into two languages ... was simply amazing," she said.

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'All of us are products of stories': Columbia bilingual literacy program eyes expansion

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A local nonprofit is drawing on family stories to help parents and their children build English and Spanish reading habits, in a program they hope to expand around the start

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Blog Post:  Adopting a Family Engagement Model is a Game-changer

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Blog Post:  Adopting a Family Engagement Model is a Game-changer

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Adopting a Family Engagement Model is a Game-Changer

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After the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, more than 5,000 Afghan newcomers were welcomed to Houston, Texas. For Rupani Foundation, an ethnic community-based organization (ECBO) in Houston, the evacuation posed many challenges but also presented an opportunity to engage with the families we serve in a more meaningful way.

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Colorin Colorado:  Making co-teaching partnerships work:  Tips for ELL educators

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Colorin Colorado:  Making co-teaching partnerships work:  Tips for ELL educators

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VIDEO:  Best Practices for Evaluating ELL Educators:  Colorin Colorado

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VIDEO:  Best Practices for Evaluating ELL Educators:  Colorin Colorado

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Best Practices for Evaluating ELL Educators: Lessons Learned in Syracuse, NY

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Welcoming Week September 8-17, 2023 Resource website

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Welcoming Week September 8-17, 2023 Resource website

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Welcoming Week is September 8-17, 2023 Through Welcoming Week, organizations and communities bring together neighbors of all backgrounds to build strong connections and affirm the importance of welcoming and inclusive places in achieving collective prosperity. Sign up to receive multilingual Welcomi…

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Bilingual Students do better on tests than native English speakers.  Why>  Free edsource.org article

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Bilingual Students do better on tests than native English speakers.  Why>  Free edsource.org article

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Bilingual students do better on tests than native English speakers. Why?

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Some researchers say the bar to be considered proficient in English is so high that only students who perform well can be reclassified.

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Making Space for Native Languages in Newcomer Classrooms

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Making Space for Native Languages in Newcomer Classrooms

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At Abraham Lincoln Middle School, in Selma, California, English language development teacher Efraín Tovar creates a vibrant classroom community for newcomers, immigrant students who have limited English proficiency. In Tovar's class, students come from a wide range of countries-Mexico, Yemen, India, Egypt, Guatemala, and beyond-and he uses this diversity not only to create a safe and welcoming space for learning, but also to further develop and personalize each student's English language learning curriculum. Tovar is an advocate for translanguaging, the practice of encouraging students to use all their linguistic resources to learn academic content and ultimately to be able to move fluently between two or more languages.

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Making Space for Native Languages in Newcomer Classrooms

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When English language learners are given consistent opportunities to practice their home languages in class, their English proficiency flourishes-along with their sense of belonging and identity.

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Boston Public Schools:  MyCAP My Career and Academic Plan (College and Career Advising)

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Boston Public Schools:  MyCAP My Career and Academic Plan (College and Career Advising)

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MyCAP: My Career & Academic Plan College & Career Advising

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Latinos In Action – Empowering Latino youth to lead and strengthen their communities through college and career readiness.

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”Our students’ growth from the beginning of the year to the end of the year was the second highest in the school district, and we attribute a huge portion of that to the Latinos In Action students helping these elementary students.”

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Paths to Success:  How to Help Your Child Jumpstart Their Future Bealearninghero.org

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Paths to Success:  How to Help Your Child Jumpstart Their Future Bealearninghero.org

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Paths to Success

How to Help Your Child Jumpstart Their Future

You want to help your child be ready and excited for high school and beyond. The good news is, success and happiness are a journey with different paths and opportunities, whether it includes a four-year college or a technical program.

Did you Know?

According to research, being on track in 9th grade is the greatest predictor of high school graduation.

To get a gut check on your middle schooler's math and reading skills, have them take the Readiness Check. As part of the results, you get videos and activities to support learning at home!

Get the Readiness Check here "

Learning Tools

Find helpful resources to support academic, social, and emotional learning.

We want to hear from you!

Share with us how you and your family are using our resources! Your feedback will help us continue to develop relevant and helpful tools for parents and families like yours.

Feedback Form "

*CARAVAN survey conducted by Big Village, March 2023
**NAEP 8th grade math, Nation's Report Card, 2022

Do you know if your child is on grade level?

According to a national survey, 9 in 10 parents believe their child is at or above grade level.*

Yet, what percentage of 8th graders nationally are at a proficient level in math**

Learn more "

Be a Learning Hero!

Get monthly tips and information to help your child succeed in school.

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Paths to Success: How to Help Your Child Jumpstart Their Future

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You want to help your child be ready and excited for high school and beyond. But getting there can be overwhelming, especially given all the changes this school year. The good news is, success is not a destination-it's a journey with multiple paths!

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Family Engagement Webinar Series: FREE from Carnegie Corporation of New York

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Family Engagement Webinar Series: FREE from Carnegie Corporation of New York

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Carnegie Corporation of New York is America's oldest grant making foundation. Established in 1911 by Andrew Carnegie to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. In keeping with this mandate, the Corporation's work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge, and the strength of our democracy.

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OELA Infographic: Educators of English Learners - Availability, Projected Need, and Teacher Preparation

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OELA Infographic: Educators of English Learners - Availability, Projected Need, and Teacher Preparation

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CAL Webinar replay and Resources:  Breaking Down Barriers for Multilingual Learners with Disabilities

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CAL Webinar replay and Resources:  Breaking Down Barriers for Multilingual Learners with Disabilities

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Breaking Down Borders for Multilingual Learners with Disabilities - Center for Applied Linguistics

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This webinar is part of the Center for Applied Linguistics' Research to Policy webinar series.

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NCFL:  Webinar series replays and resources

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NCFL:  Webinar series replays and resources

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NCFL webinar series run from the fall to the summer, packed with resources educators and families can use in their family learning journeys. Presented by expert practitioners and active parent leaders, topics are carefully curated to pique curiosity and encourage professional growth.

Have you missed a webinar in our 2022-2023 series? Keep reading to peruse the resources provided in each webinar and watch the recordings!
October: Activating Family Leadership and Advocating for Equity in Early Childhood Systems

Discover how BIPOC parenting adults and early childhood practitioners come together to reimagine and reform equitable and inclusive systems for families through collaborative partnerships, social media campaigns, narrative changes, transparent conversations, and so much more!
November: Centering Family Voice to Create Strong Partnerships and Equitable Learning Spaces
Resources:

January: Nurturing Heart Languages in the Home
In this session, we explore NCFL's Equity in Family Engagement Toolkit modules and discuss strategies on how to add equitable family engagement to classrooms. The toolkit has family voices interwoven throughout each of the seven modules, demonstrating ongoing commitment to family partnerships and equitable learning spaces.

Resources:

Linguistically diverse families are often equipped with extraordinary language skills that allow them to navigate multiple spaces, code-switch based on their environments, and access wealth-building opportunities. Language diversity and bilingualism are assets. Many immigrant and refugee families face the challenge of learning English while maintaining and passing down their heart and heritage languages to their children. In efforts to assimilate, families will choose to center English as their home language or allow their children to use their heritage language very sporadically and informally. Despite these challenges, families can raise bilingual and bicultural children
February: Family Leadership: Building a Parent Nation

The 90-minute training includes the following:

A data overview of heritage language retention among immigrant and refugee families

Challenges immigrant and refugee families face in preserving heart and heritage languages in the home and the benefits of raising bilingual children.

Tools and practices to support parents and caretakers in fostering heart and heritage languages in the home.

Resources:

April: Self-Reflective Practice for Adult Education Teachers
Throughout our history, NCFL's Family Learning programs have provided fertile soil for parenting adults and students to develop literacy and leadership skills. Out of our legacy work, we've developed Family Leadership initiatives and partnerships that are designed to support families in becoming better-engaged advocates for themselves, their children, their families, and their communities. In this webinar, we share how we've teamed up with Parent Nation to deliver a family leadership curriculum for parents to come together and push for positive change in their communities.

Resources:
May: Award-Winning Strategies for Family Engagement

How do parents view the educator/student relationship? What do they consider to be gaps in strengthening relationships with their children's teachers? This webinar discusses the recent findings of a national poll conducted by Search Institute that shares new insights around parents' perceptions of the role of relationships between young people and their teachers. The presentation also discusses how schools and other youth-serving organizations can reframe family engagement and offer strategies to strengthen relationships with families.

Resources:
June: The Power of Co-Design and Virtual Reality: Improving Family Engagement in Science Classrooms

Adult Education is a critical component of Family Literacy programming at NCFL. In many cases, the need for adult learning brings parenting adults to our programs. In this webinar, we highlight Adult Educator best practices and share NCFL's Adult Educator Self-Reflection Tool.

Resources:

Strong family engagement efforts serve as a bridge to connect families, schools, and communities, creating an ecosystem for equitable learning opportunities. Because of family engagement's well-publicized efficacy, educators, administrators, and family-facing professionals are looking for ways to authentically engage families; particularly those experiencing poverty or whose voices and ideas have traditionally been underrepresented or left out of conversations.

Hear from two award-winning educators who serve parents, caregivers, and children using a strong multi-generational approach to learning. Learn how Ivonne Ortiz, 2022 Toyota Family Teacher of the Year, and Leila Kubesch, 2020 Toyota Family Teacher of the Year, focus on building effective family-school partnerships that support student achievement and school improvement.

Resources:

Middle school teachers and parenting adults from Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), in Louisville, Kentucky, join NCFL for a discussion focused on the impact a co-design process made in family engagement during our Carnegie Family Science Project.

Resources:

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NCFL | Blog - NCFL webinar series: A year in review

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NCFL webinar series run from the fall to the summer, packed with resources educators and families can use in their family learning journeys. Presented by expert practitioners and active parent leaders, topics are carefully curated to pique curiosity and encourage professional growth. Have you missed a webinar in our 2022-2023 series?

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Free ML Summit: Past Conference and webinars linked here

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Free ML Summit: Past Conference and webinars linked here

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PRE-CONFERENCE LIVE CHAT MLSummit hosts Tan Huynh, Dr. Carol Salva, and Katie Toppel offer DIYpd ideas for USING the MLSummit! ML Summit founders and facilitators ( and #DIYpd4MLs authors) talking about innovative ways to make the most of the summit! Many ideas were shared including some from

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WIDA -Sample Classroom Walkthrough for Multilingual Learners-1 (1)

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SIOP Lesson Plans and Activities

Our collection of SIOP lesson plans and activities includes exemplary SIOP lesson plans developed by teachers who were involved in the foundational SIOP research study, as well as new updates from our current research and professional development projects. We invite you to read these lesson plans and activities individually or with your colleagues in order to learn more about the SIOP Model. You may want to discuss why these lessons are effective for English learners or how to incorporate the SIOP strategies these teachers used in your own lessons.

All Grade Levels Early Childhood Elementary Middle High GED/Adult
Spotlight

CAL was a partner in the Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE). CREATE researchers developed curriculum to build the language and literacy skills of English learners in the middle grades. Lesson plans and materials were infused with instructional features of the SIOP Model including language objectives, explicit vocabulary instruction, student interaction, building background knowledge, and comprehensible input.
Learn more.

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Our collection of SIOP lesson plans and activities includes exemplary SIOP lesson plans developed by teachers who were involved in the foundational SIOP research study, as well as new updates from our current research and professional development projects. We invite you to read these lesson plans and activities individually or with your colleagues in order to learn more about the SIOP Model.

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SLIFE Summer Series Padlet by Orly Klapholz

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SLIFE Summer Series Padlet by Orly Klapholz

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Document from New Mexico Public Education Department:  Promising Practices to Support English Learner Students

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Document from New Mexico Public Education Department:  Promising Practices to Support English Learner Students

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New Mexico Public Education Department Resource:  Using Promising Practices to Support English Learners

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New Mexico Public Education Department Resource:  Using Promising Practices to Support English Learners

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Office of Bilingual Education and World Language New York

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Office of Bilingual Education and World Language New York

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We strive to ensure that all students' individual educational paths and socio-emotional needs are met in multiple languages leading them to college and career readiness. NYSED believes that all teachers are teachers of ELLs/MLLs. Our goal is to provide guidance, technical assistance, and support to NY State Districts, Charter Schools, Non-public Schools, and other organizations (Universities, State Educational Organizations) in the development of programs for English Language Learners/Multilingual Learners and World Language students. OBEWL serves over 700 Local Education Agencies and over 260,000 ELLs/MLLs from over 200 language backgrounds.

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Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages (OBEWL)

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We strive to ensure that all students' individual educational paths and socio-emotional needs are met in multiple languages leading them to college and career readiness. NYSED believes that all teachers are teachers of ELLs/MLLs.

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Boosting Achievement Podcast:  Co-creating Text to Support Grade-Level Content Learning

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Boosting Achievement Podcast:  Co-creating Text to Support Grade-Level Content Learning

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Want to support grade-level content learning for newcomers? I've got you! The school year may be winding down or over in many places but this is a great time to reflect on how you might use co-created text next year with your emergent bilingual students. Or use it as part of an effective summer school routine.

This show follows Episode 115, where I explained how to use co-created text to teach literacy and accelerate language acquisition. In that show, I promised to do a show about how to use it to support content area learning. You can listen to this show in your favorite podcast app or right here:
Listen to "BAP117 CoCreating Text for Grade-Level Content Learning" on Spreaker.
What is LEA?

I often share about a practice called Language Experience Approach. I try to be clear that I don't do it exactly as it was/is intended. I am not an LEA purist because I adapt this technique based on the kids in front of me and the reason we are doing it. But here is more on what LEA is:

Steps to Language Experience Approach (See photo for more detailed explanation)

Students have a shared experience. (ex: we are looking at a poster with the water cycle)

Students have a discussion about the experience. (ex: "I notice...")

Teacher writes key words and phrases on the board.

Teacher writes sentences from the key words

Teacher reads the constructed writing aloud.

Students use the text in various ways.

The LEA [Language Experience Approach] is as diverse in practice as its practitioners. Nonetheless, some characteristics remain consistent (Hall, 1970): Materials are learner-generated. -All communication skills-reading, writing, listening, and speaking-are integrated. -Difficulty of vocabulary and grammar are determined by the learner's own language use. -Learning and teaching are personalized, communicative, and creative. - Can be found at https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED350887.pdf
I have written about this strategy in Ep 26 and Ep 115. Again, I don't carry out this technique exactly as it is explained by researchers and there are many folks who know more about it than I do. But I DO know that some form of co-creating text *A FTER MY STUDENTS HAVE BEEN ENGAGED IN A CONVERSATION* has really helped accelerate language acquisition.

I am here today to tell you that it can also help you differentiate, it can help you be inclusive in content classrooms, and it can help all the students with grade-level learning.

Why Write?

I mention all the reasons we want writing in content areas for the average learner. You can read about that at this post I wrote for Seidlitz Education's blog:

Some of the research I mention on the show is from John Hattie's Visible Learning work. Writing can help us reflect and Hattie's work suggests that Reflection and Evaluation have a strong effect on learning (.75 effect size).

I always mention Joseph Maurer when I talk about effective content teaching. Joseph was a math teacher when I trained with him and he was also my own son's Algebra teacher. We all marveled at what a skilled math teacher he was with newcomer and low socioeconomic students. But he was also effective with gifted and grade-level learners. In his trainings, Joseph explained that writing in Math (or any content area) is important for learners because it is basic to thinking, it promotes introspection and speculation, and it individualizes instruction (Fulwiler 1979, 1983).

I mention this math lesson where the teacher is using Seidlitz's Seven Steps to a Language Rich, Interactive Classroom. It shows what I mean by writing in Math being effective for thinking:

I also quote Tom Romano from his book Clearing the Way: Working with Teenage Writers. He explains that we are not asking Math teachers to teach writing. We are asking them to USE writing to teach Math. That is key for effective math instruction.

Co-Creating Text Before, During, or After Instruction

This show offers ideas about co-creating text with students prior to teaching, during a lesson or after instruction. Here are a few examples of what co-created content writing can look like:

Don't forget to follow the incredible HS educators, Kim Thyberg (@KimberlyThyberg) for more secondary examples!

Co-created text in a high school SIOP math class with #mll #ell #newcomers #slife. I co-teach with an awesome math teacher! Students acquire language as they learn math content. ⁦@DrCarolSalva⁩ #BoostingAchievement pic.twitter.com/w832yX01rb

- Kim Thyberg (@KimberlyThyberg) February 14, 2023

We write and read about math content with content vocabulary everyday in our math class, grades 9-11 #mll #ell #slife . These examples are from our daily warm-up. #BoostingAchievement @DrCarolSalva pic.twitter.com/31qlSHGFJD

- Kim Thyberg (@KimberlyThyberg) May 1, 2023

I also mentioned the amazing Aly Averitt (@AlyAveritt) as someone to follow. She is a great Elementary teacher sharing a lot on co-creating text.

Another way of using co-created texts powerfully and purposefully. Ss were amazed when they realized that they just needed to change some words to create a new text! Tomorrow, they'll finish this one👇🏽and then, write their own text in their notebooks! Inspired by @DrCarolSalva pic.twitter.com/ZbFbYwFpxN

- A Averitt_ESL (@AlyAveritt) March 13, 2023

Here is the video of Ali I mentioned as a great activity we do at the end of each school year.

Here is how Gisele Belyea (@GiseleBelyea follow her too!) and her students improved on this idea using heritage language:

Also gave Alan November a shout out! He wrote, "Who Owns the Learning." That is a great book that shaped how I partner with students.

Thank you for tuning in or for checking out the show notes on Ep 117. I appreciate you so much!

Hope to see you over on Twitter (@DrCarolSalva) or Facebook ( www.facebook.com/SalvaBlog). I'd love to be connected!

Take good care,

Carol

PS: If you missed this workshop, check out Upcoming Events to see what else we might be offering through Seidlitz Education.

And please email me (Carol@SeidlitzEducation.com) if we can come to your district to help you develop a plan for serving Newcomers! One day of consulting is making a huge difference for our clients! Reach out if you'd like to hear!

"Preparing for Rising #Newcomer Enrollment" in @VancouverSD was a joy with Lucy Estrada-Guzman & the ML Dept! We started with a full day of planning. 💥
I am inspired by their passion to honor their #MLLs & support their teachers. ✨💫⭐️#BoostingAchievement #Seidlitz7Steps pic.twitter.com/OwyCNjud5k

- Dr. Carol Salva (@DrCarolSalva) May 26, 2023

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BAP117 Co-Creating Text to Support Grade-Level Content Learning

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Want to support grade-level content learning for newcomers? I've got you! The school year may be winding down or over in many places but this is a great time to reflect on how you might use co-created text next year with your emergent bilingual students.

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Webinar Replay from English Learner Portal:  Multilingual Language Lerner's with Suspected Disabilities

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Webinar Replay from English Learner Portal:  Multilingual Language Lerner's with Suspected Disabilities

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Webinar: Multilingual Language Learners with Suspected Disabilities

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This engaging webinar will provide practitioners both guidance and support to appropriately identify and serve Multilingual Language Learners who may have a disability for possible eligibility for additional special education support services.

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Resources from CAL Webinar:  ELL Segregation and Integration:  Beyond the Classroom

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Resources from CAL Webinar:  ELL Segregation and Integration:  Beyond the Classroom

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Center for Applied Linguistics Webinar:  ELL Segregation and Integration:  Beyond the Classroom

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Center for Applied Linguistics Webinar:  ELL Segregation and Integration:  Beyond the Classroom

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ELL Segregation and Integration: Beyond the Classroom

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Terminology to Describe Multilingual Learners:  Labels and their Implications

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Terminology to Describe Multilingual Learners:  Labels and their Implications

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The Evolution of Terms Describing English Learners:  An ELL Glossary (edweek.org)

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The Evolution of Terms Describing English Learners:  An ELL Glossary (edweek.org)

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Students acquiring the English language are one of the fastest growing populations of K-12 public school students in the country. Legally, districts are required to provide them with adequate English-language support, while also teaching them grade level academic content.

But historically, these students have faced challenges in accessing quality education, whether due to funding limitations; state policies falling behind on best practices; or a lack of specialized instructors and insufficient training among general classroom teachers.

Educators, researchers, advocates, and policymakers continue to push for a better, more culturally inclusive future for these students. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has-in multiple public appearances this year, for instance-promoted bilingual and multilingual education as priorities for his agency.

One way to track the evolution of how the U.S. public education system has treated students acquiring English is by looking at the terms used to classify them, and their evolution over time.

To date, there are numerous terms and variations used by researchers, agencies, and individual school districts, and the evolution hasn't necessarily followed a linear path. For the purposes of this glossary, Education Week focused on the umbrella terms used by state agencies and the Department of Education; the most recent terms present in policy and research; and other prominent terms seen in the field.

To learn more about the implications of these terms on policy and practice, and how Education Week has used them, click here.

For a look at which states use which terms, click here.

Limited English Proficient (LEP)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in the 1974 Lau v. Nichols case that language cannot be a barrier that prevents access to regular school programs offered to every other student and higher academic achievement. In other words, non-English-speaking students, attending schools that received federal funding must be provided English-language acquisition support in school so as not to infringe on their civil right to access to an equal education.

The term non-English proficient (NEP) came out of this case, and out of that also came the term limited-English proficient (LEP) to acknowledge that students knew some English but still needed English-language services, said Sam Aguirre, director of the WIDA Español program out of WIDA, an agency that provides multilingual learner services, including managing language proficiency assessments.

Limited-English proficient became the preferred term used by state agencies and later was also used in policy communications by the U.S. Department of Education to identify students legally eligible for English-language support. It remained the preferred term among state agencies for decades.

Even so, advocates and researchers early on noted how LEP connoted a view of students as having a deficit.

"The emphasis is on the limitations of the students," Aguirre said. "So instead of valuing the students for their linguistic assets ... we're focusing on the need, the area that they need to grow."

At one point bilingual educators in Illinois pushed back by using PEP, or potentially English proficient, instead, said Diep Nguyen, director of WIDA educator learning, research, and practice.

Advocates sought terminology that didn't view the ability to speak more than one language as a detriment to learning. And even though researchers and educators adopted and coined more asset-minded terms for students receiving English-language support in the intervening years, policymakers didn't start to shift gears until the 2000s.

LEP is still used today in particular by researchers citing federal data sets such as U.S. Census data, said Leslie Villegas, a senior policy analyst with the left-leaning think tank New America.

English Learner (EL)

When the Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition was created in 2002 as part of the No Child Left Behind legislation, the agency's original guidance was to use "English-language learner" to classify students who needed English-language instruction based on an assessment that determined their level of English-language proficiency, said Kathleen Leos, former assistant deputy secretary and director of OELA who was there for the agency's start.

Similarly to LEP, the term is specifically used to identify those students who are legally eligible for English-language acquisition support in public schools.

The term English learner became the official label at the federal level under the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act and remains the preferred term used in the Department of Education's policy communications.

But some agencies and organizations, including WIDA, use the variation of EL: English-language learner (ELL). WIDA includes the word "language" in the label because it conveys that these students are not just learning English, but they are understanding a second or third language, said Mariana Castro, deputy director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After all, technically, every student in the United States is an English learner in the sense that they all take grammar, reading, and writing classes.

Compared to LEP, EL does a better job of portraying students in an asset-minded way, researchers said. It emphasizes how they are acquiring English to add to whatever language they speak at home.

However, "English learner as a term doesn't emphasize the diversity and the richness of the language experience that multilingual learners have and bring to their schooling," said Lisa Hsin, senior researcher at the American Institutes for Research.

(AIR's research on students acquiring English in schools is housed in its Center for English Learners. The naming convention is meant to align with federal terminology, just as New America uses EL.)

Attempts to acknowledge those cultural and linguistic assets has led some to use the term culturally linguistically diverse students, Aguirre with WIDA said. That evolved into bilingual learners, with some arguing these students weren't fully bilingual because they still needed to attain English proficiency. There was also the term emergent bilingual, coined back in 2008 by academics. But these conversations eventually led to the newest umbrella term.

Multilingual Learner (MLL)

The term multilingual learner (MLL) is meant to note that students speak many languages. It's one of the newer terms used by researchers and agencies. Cardona, the education secretary, has also used the term multilingual education when speaking of federal priorities for the Education Department.

"Cardona, he's paying attention to the research, he's saying, 'Look, kids out here, it doesn't matter what your first language is,'" said Leos, formerly of OELA. "Everybody here should be learning more than one language, because that's how you're going to get the highest academic achievement for every student."

MLL is a term that acknowledges multiple languages and dialects, including those that are indigenous, and is built around social justice efforts to elevate these methods of cultural communication purposely erased or looked down upon historically, said Castro at Wisconsin-Madison.

It's also the most inclusive term in the sense that a multilingual learner can be a student in a dual-language program who is completely fluent in English and learning a second language. So it doesn't just cover those who, according to a language assessment, require English-language acquisition support.

To that end, some researchers warn that, for legal purposes, there still needs to be a precise designation for those who need specialized services to ensure they acquire English.

It's why the education consulting firm SupportEd has, in a recent report, suggested using multilingual learner as the umbrella term for all multilingual students, while also using emergent multilingual learner for those who still need to learn English.

Many questions also remain around how education practices such as dual-language programs can be expanded and brought to scale nationwide to truly promote multilingual education in a way that allows those legally eligible for English-language support to also develop their home languages. But with such programs currently limited across the country, some researchers also caution that multilingual education must not end up prioritizing access to students with no need for specialized English support because historically, English learners have struggled with access to quality language and academic instruction.

The hope however is that there can be a vision for public education where every student has access to multilingual education as a primary goal for public education, Leos said.

Emergent Bilingual and Programmatic Labels

The academic Ofelia Garcia coined the term "emergent bilingual" in a 2008 paper she co-authored called "From English Language Learners to Emergent Bilinguals." Around the same time, Kathy Escamilla coined "emerging bilinguals" to discuss the dynamic nature of dual language learners from the perspective of early young learners who are learning more than one language in an interconnected way, said Castro at Wisconsin-Madison. Some scholars and advocates still prefer these terms.

But beyond the labels for students acquiring the English language, educators might also come across a variety of programmatic labels that categorize the specific program in which students are participating. For instance, if a school has an English as a second language department, students receiving services there may be ESL students. Those in a transitional bilingual program may be called transitional bilingual students. A student in a dual-language program? Dual-language learner.

However, researchers, especially those in the early education field, might use "dual-language learner" to describe children up to age 8 who are learning English in addition to their home language, said Villegas with New America.

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The Evolution of Terms Describing English Learners: An ELL Glossary

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Students acquiring the English language are one of the fastest growing populations of K-12 public school students in the country. Legally, districts are required to provide them with adequate English-language support, while also teaching them grade level academic content.

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OESE:  Reporting and Performance Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Title III Data

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OESE:  Reporting and Performance Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Title III Data

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Office of Elementary and Secondary Education

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Reporting and Performance - Office of Elementary and Secondary Education

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This program is designed to improve the education of limited English proficient (LEP) children and youths by helping them learn English and meet challenging state academic content and student academic achievement standards. The program provides enhanced instructional opportunities for immigrant chil…

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Foundational Skills Instruction for Multilingual Learners (Padlet)

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Foundational Skills Instruction for Multilingual Learners (Padlet)

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The Multilingual Learning Toolkit is an online hub for research-based key principles, instructional strategies, and associated, free, practical, and easy-to-use resources that are geared towards educators who teach PreK-3rd Multilingual Learners. As the resource library continues to grow, make sure you stay connected for the latest updates by filling out the short sign-up form at the bottom of the page.
Learn about the project >

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To enhance your experience, we recommend you start with learning how to use the Multilingual Learning Toolkit.
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The Multilingual Learning Toolkit is the result of the partnership between a diverse group of stakeholders, maximizing the expertise of local and national practitioners, researchers, and advocates who are champions for Multilingual Learners (MLs). The guide serves as an introduction to supporting young MLs in PreK-3rd Grade, sharing the foundational principles and evidence-based strategies for instruction that are critical for educators to know.
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Key foundational principles for educators working with Multilingual Learners
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Multilingual Learning Toolkit * Dual Language * Multilingualism

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Promoting the benefits of multilingualism and providing resources supporting Pre-K through 3rd grade multilingual children and teachers.

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Internationals Network:  Opening Doors to College:  Immigrant Students' High School Experiences of College Access

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Internationals Network:  Opening Doors to College:  Immigrant Students' High School Experiences of College Access

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Internationals Network:  Immigrants, English Learners and Post-Secondary Pathways:  Framing the Issue

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Internationals Network:  Immigrants, English Learners and Post-Secondary Pathways:  Framing the Issue

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Slides and handouts from Long-term Success for Experienced Multilinguals

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Slides and handouts from Long-term Success for Experienced Multilinguals

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Long term success for Experienced Multilingual learners

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English Learner Portal Webinar:  Long-term Success for Experienced Multilinguals

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English Learner Portal Webinar:  Long-term Success for Experienced Multilinguals

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English Learner Portal Webinar with Tan Huynh and Beth Skelton

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Long-Term Success for Experienced Multilinguals

In this 45-minute interactive webinar, authors Tan Huynh and Beth Skelton will share an instructional framework from their forth-coming book Long-Term Success for Experienced Multilinguals. In the webinar, you will learn four essential actions and practical strategies that create the conditions for success for experienced multilingual students, the assets-based term for students classified as long-term English learners.

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Webinar: Long-Term Success for Experienced Multilinguals

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In this 45-minute interactive webinar, authors Tan Huynh and Beth Skelton will share an instructional framework from their forth-coming book Long-Term Success for Experienced Multilinguals. In the webinar, you will learn four essential actions and practical strategies that create the conditions for success for experienced multilingual students, the assets-based term for students classified as long-term English learners.

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Supporting English Leaners' Equitable Access to Career and Technical Educaiton

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Supporting English Leaners' Equitable Access to Career and Technical Educaiton

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Once considered a less-rigorous high school pathway, career and technical education (CTE) has experienced a renaissance since the 1990s, as more high-skilled and white-collar professions have been included in these elective course options. Research indicates that participation in CTE-especially taking more than one course in a single occupational area-is correlated with benefits in graduation rates and earnings as an adult.

As CTE's scope and audience have grown, educators and advocates have brought attention to the need to ensure equitable access for historically marginalized student groups. For high school English Learners (ELs), who often face challenges to college and career readiness, CTE can play an important role in helping them stay engaged in school, graduate, and get on a path to a career providing a family-sustaining wage.

This report explores policies and practices that can support ELs' participation in CTE courses. It includes an overview of how CTE has changed over time, state-level data on EL participation rates, and a close look at the opportunities and barriers to EL enrollment and participation, drawing in part on interviews with state and district CTE and EL administrators. The report concludes with recommendations for state and local educators seeking to further strengthen policy and practice.

1 Introduction 2 The Evolution of CTE 3 Federal Support through the Perkins Act 4 Participation of ELs in CTE
5 Opportunities and Barriers
A. EL Access to CTE Instruction
B. Fitting CTE into a Course of Study
C. Teachers and Professional Development
D. Student Recruitment
E. Connections across Administrative Offices
F. Challenges Combining Work and School
6 Conclusions and Recommendations

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Unlocking Opportunities: Supporting English Learners' Equitable Access to Career and Technical Education

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Increasing equitable access to educational opportunities is a major focus for U.S. educators and others. For English Learners, the hands-on courses offered through career and technical education (CTE) programs can play an important role in helping them stay engaged in school, graduate, and get on a path to a career providing a family-sustaining wage.

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CTE as a Bridge to High School English Learner Success Webinar

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CTE as a Bridge to High School English Learner Success Webinar

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Career and Technical Education as a Bridge to High School English Learner Success

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Career and technical education (CTE) is frequently touted as an effective strategy to encourage high school students to persist to graduation and set themselves on a path to jobs that pay a family-sustaining wage. For English Learners (ELs), who disproportionately come from low-income families and are less likely than their peers to graduate on time, participating in CTE can be especially rewarding—if they have meaningful access to such classes and support to successfully complete them. Federal rules and state oversight play important roles in ensuring ELs are allowed to enroll in CTE, but challenges to serving them are numerous, from student schedules already packed with required classes to faculty unprepared to meet unique learning needs.

ELs’ meaningful participation in CTE requires a holistic approach to program planning and student recruitment. For example, school counselors—who play a gatekeeping role in determining the courses students can access—can benefit from working closely with EL specialists to understand student and family perspectives. Regular, two-way communication with higher education and industry partners ensures that high school staff understand local opportunities, and that those partners are ready to take advantage of the assets current and former EL students bring with them and to support their continued career growth.

This webinar marks the release of a report from MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy on CTE and ELs that describes federal and state policies that support EL inclusion in CTE, as well as local challenges and opportunities. The conversation will highlight a Texas school district program in which collaborative practices between the CTE and multilingual departments are taking place to ensure ELs are appropriately supported.

Related report available at: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/english-learners-career-technical-education

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How Cross-Departmental Collaboration Helps English Learners Edweek.org

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How Cross-Departmental Collaboration Helps English Learners Edweek.org

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When Brooke Martin got promoted to executive director of career and technical education at Aldine Independent School District in Harris County, Texas, last year, one of the first people she heard from was the district's multilingual services executive director.

The director, Altagracia "Grace" Delgado, had been looking into how the district's English learner students engaged with electives. She had just collaborated with district leaders in the arts and had set her sights on how to ensure English learners at Aldine had equitable access to CTE programs.

Thus began an ongoing collaboration between the two education worlds. This year, the pair worked together to provide professional development for new CTE industry instructors on how to best teach English learners and to better inform English learner families what their students could get out of CTE programs.

Such cross-departmental collaboration is key for English learners' success in CTE and all other aspects of school, according to a new analysis.

Delgado and Martin spoke with Education Week on advice for effective cross-departmental collaboration.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why is it important for departments to collaborate when providing services to ELs?

Martin: My students are her students, her students are mine. And while sometimes our circles of overlay may not be as large in some areas, we're all speaking the same language, and supporting in the same manner. So something that students may see in one class, it'll transfer over to another.

Delgado: Before we put any additional labels, students are students first. So we need to do as much as we can to support them from all angles so they get the benefit of the school district as a whole.

How did you collaborate to ensure emergent bilinguals have access to quality CTE programming?

Delgado: [The Office of English Language Acquisition within the U.S. Department of Education] actually did a report on CTE with ELs last summer, when [Martin] was coming into her position. That was the first email she got from me. I was like "Oh, this report just published." And her response was, "Actually, I've been thinking about some work that we need to do together. So let's go ahead and have lunch."

She had been analyzing the needs of her demographics in her classes and I had been thinking, OK, we really need to address CTE, because that's a massive component of our high schools and we know that kids need access and support in those classrooms.

Martin: Building relationships, it's not mandatory, but let me tell you how much easier and how seamless it becomes. When I first became an executive director, [Delgado] was one of the first ones that texted me and said, "Here's my cellphone number." As you transition from program director to executive director, you have questions.

It was just an olive branch to a new role that I had not experienced. And so that's when we went into collaboration. Outside of just pedagogy and content support, it just became easy. We started talking about ideas, and it's like, "Oh, wait, this will be good for you. That's a great idea. This will work well for us. This is how you marry this."

I think when we're so stuck in our silos and not collaborating together, I become very defensive of the same kids that she's defensive about. And so, if we already have this easy collaboration going on, anything that we're going to do moving forward becomes that much easier. And then our teachers see that we're supporting students from our end and it just kind of brings everything together.

Delgado: We just started trying things with the departments. But the personal part, just having lunch, that "Hey, what are you doing today for lunch," we're talking about the family. Building a personal relationship has helped in work collaboration.

What advice do you have for those facing obstacles to collaboration such as time constraints?

Delgado: Find your allies. It's a phrase that I use a lot, because there's always somebody that is trying to solve the same problem. So it doesn't have to be massive, it can be like, "Oh, can we do something, the two of us for these kids." And maybe it's two classrooms in a school, maybe it's one document that's going to support something, and it's something little. I think just something that's relatable-that we can build together, and solidify-can then become the foundation for more things to come for more people to want to work in collaboration.

Martin: [Delgado] can't speak 100 percent on CTE and I can't speak 100 percent on multilingual. But the fact that we've now built to where we've gone to separate groups, now we're just this one big group where now we can all speak the same in common verbiage.

What other advice do you have in engaging with cross-departmental collaboration?

Delgado: I would just say stay curious. What our kids have access to-it's so different from what we had, for me, years ago. So just stay curious and listen to the kids. They have a lot of interesting ideas that can be integrated [into] a lot of these things.

Martin: The biggest advice that I can say is, it's not personal, it's intentional. It's not about me, it's not about what I want, what I think is going to be best. If I'm implementing something, I need to touch it, feel it, see it in action. And if you're not doing that, and you're not being intentional about the work, and you're just throwing it out there, you're not thinking of students.

So if you're not in it with the work and you're not dealing with the kids, you're not physically there seeing it, then you have no connection. And I don't know how you make real change, if you're not physically doing it.

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How Cross-Departmental Collaboration Helps English Learners

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When Brooke Martin got promoted to executive director of career and technical education at Aldine Independent School District in Harris County, Texas, last year, one of the first people she heard from was the district's multilingual services executive director. The director, Altagracia "Grace" Delgado, had been looking into how the district's English learner students engaged with electives.

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Podcast:  How to teach English Learner to read?  Here's how one school does it Edsource.org

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Podcast:  How to teach English Learner to read?  Here's how one school does it Edsource.org

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PODCAST: How to teach English learners to read? Here’s how one school does it

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Zaidee Stavely visits a school that’s had an uncommonly high degree of success with teaching English learners to read.

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Nine Tips for helping newcomer adjust to American schools

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Nine Tips for helping newcomer adjust to American schools

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Nine tips to welcoming newcomers (who don't speak English)

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How can you make a new non-English speaking student feel welcome in your classroom when you can't communicate verbally? Here are our nine proven tips for making an impact that is inviting and productive to the success of your new student.

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REL West:  Academic Mindsets and Behaviors, Prior Achievement, and Transition to Middle School

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REL West:  Academic Mindsets and Behaviors, Prior Achievement, and Transition to Middle School

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Supporting Students in Effective Transitions:  What students have to say

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Supporting Students in Effective Transitions:  What students have to say

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Observation of ELs from Andrea Honigsfeld 

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Observation of ELs from Andrea Honigsfeld 

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Evidence for Co-teaching by Andrea Honigsfeld starts on page 23

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Evidence for Co-teaching by Andrea Honigsfeld starts on page 23

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InterEd Journal Winter 2020 Pages 1-50 - Flip PDF Download | FlipHTML5

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Check Pages 1-50 of InterEd Journal Winter 2020 in the flip PDF version. InterEd Journal Winter 2020 was published by gerri-ann on 2020-11-11. Find more similar flip PDFs like InterEd Journal Winter 2020. Download InterEd Journal Winter 2020 PDF for free.

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Tools and Resources for Ensuring Meaningful Communication with Limited English Proficient Parents

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Tools and Resources for Evaluating the Effectiveness of a District's EL Program

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Tools and Resources for Monitoring and Exiting English Learners from EL Programs and Services

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Tools and Resources for Serving English Leaners Who Opt Out of EL Programs

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Tool and Resources for Addressing English Learners with Disabilities

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Tools and Resources for Creating an Inclusive Environment for and Avoiding the Unnecessary Segregation of English Learners

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Tools and Resources for Providing English Learners Equal Access to Curricular and Extracurricular Programs

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Tools and Resources for Staffing and Supporting an English Learner Program

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Tools and Resources for Providing English Learners with a Language Assistance Program

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Tools and Resources for Identifying All English Learners

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Internationals Network Learning Brief: Building Postsecondary Opportunity for Immigrant High School Students: Intentional school systems

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Internationals Network Learning Brief: Building Postsecondary Opportunity for Immigrant High School Students: Intentional school systems

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On Jan. 10 2023 Internationals Network held a webinar on postsecondary access. For immigrant high school students, school plays an important role in their postsecondary readiness journey. Schools in the Internationals Network for Public Schools have deep expertise in serving immigrant students. Over the years, our schools have developed intentional strategies and systems to support postsecondary readiness. In this webinar, you will learn about the research on how to foster college readiness among immigrant high school students and how educators in three New York City Internationals Network Schools used collaborative inquiry to strengthen their postsecondary readiness systems.

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On Jan. 10 2023 Internationals Network held a webinar on postsecondary access. For immigrant high school students, school plays an important role in their postsecondary readiness journey. Schools in the Internationals Network for Public Schools have deep expertise in serving immigrant students. Over the years, our schools have developed intentional strategies and systems to support postsecondary readiness.

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Internationals Network:  Post secondary opportunities for immigrant high school students:  Promoting equity through schoolwide structures, programs, and culture 1/10/2023

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Internationals Network:  Post secondary opportunities for immigrant high school students:  Promoting equity through schoolwide structures, programs, and culture 1/10/2023

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Internationals Postsecondary Access Webinar Jan. 10 2023

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Rapid Literacy Training Padlet from Carol Salva

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Rapid Literacy Training Padlet from Carol Salva

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Success for SLIFE Padlet from Carol Salva

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Success for SLIFE Padlet from Carol Salva

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Diane Staehr Fenner Padlets from SETESOL October 2022

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Diane Staehr Fenner Padlets from SETESOL October 2022

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Working with Ukrainian Refugees:  Ukrainian Backgrounder

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Working with Ukrainian Refugees:  Ukrainian Backgrounder

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Language and Identity Considerations

Ukraine is a bilingual country where both Ukrainian and Russian are commonly spoken and widely understood. Ukrainian is the official language, considered the first language by 67% of the population, while 30% of Ukrainians speak Russian as a first language. The use of Ukrainian is most prevalent in Western and Central Ukraine, while Russian is dominant in Eastern and Southern Ukraine. There are many other languages spoken in Ukraine, including but not limited to Romanian, Polish, and Hungarian.

After Ukraine became independent in August 1991, there was an effort to make Ukrainian the national language. In 2019, the State Language Law established Ukrainian as the country's official language in businesses, schools, and media. For many, the Ukrainian language symbolizes Ukraine's national identity and cultural heritage. Russia's military invasion has triggered further politicization of the language. It is important to confirm the language needs of the case and ensure appropriate interpretation while working with Ukrainian refugees coming from different regions.

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Working with Ukrainian Refugees Ukrainian Backgrounder - CORE

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Ukraine is a bilingual country where both Ukrainian and Russian are commonly spoken and widely understood. Ukrainian is the official language, considered the first language by 67% of the population, while 30% of Ukrainians speak Russian as a first language.

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IRIS | Page 2: Second Language Acquisition

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Because English language learners are expected to acquire English proficiency—and simultaneously learn all of the content knowledge required at their respective grade level—it is crucial that teachers understand the basic tenets of second language acquisition. Teachers and administrators who do not understand second language acquisition may have inappropriate expectations that result in:

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AN OVERVIEW OF About CAL SIOP Services Digital Badging Program Evaluations Professional Development CAL SIOP Resources Lesson Plans Handouts What Is CAL SIOP? The original Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model was developed by researchers Jana Echevarria, Mary Ellen Vogt, and Deborah J. Short under the auspices of the CAL and Center for Research on

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BICS vs CALP - Examples of language proficiency of an English Learner

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Integrated Skills: Grammar NOT in Isolation

Join us as we share strategies to teach grammar from an integrated skills approach. Use these activities in your classroom right away to incorporate grammar throughout a lesson. We will focus on grammar at every stage, from introducing the topic to direct vocabulary and grammar instruction as it relates to text work, academic skills, and writing tasks. From an integrated skills approach, grammar can be practiced through reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

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Integrated Skills: Grammar NOT in Isolation Join us as we share strategies to teach grammar from an integrated skills approach. Use these activities in your classroom right away to incorporate grammar throughout a lesson. We will focus on grammar at every stage, from introducing the topic to direct vocabulary and grammar instruction as it relates to text work, academic skills, and writing tasks.

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Co-Teaching ELLs:  8 Strategies for Success

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Co-Teaching ELLs:  8 Strategies for Success

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Co-teaching can be an exciting way to support English language learners' (ELL) success! It can also present many kinds of challenges. Here are some tips for ELL educators and classroom educators on how to make the most of their co-teaching partnerships.

These recommendations are based on our in-depth interviews with Katy Padilla, an ESOL Coach for Virginia's Fairfax County Public Schools district. In her prior roles as a classroom teacher and ESOL specialist, she worked in a number of collaborative settings and co-teaching partnerships, including at an elementary school that was designed as a professional learning community, Mason Crest Elementary. You can see Katy in action in the videos at the end of the interview!

Co-teaching ELLs: Strategies for Success

1. Get to know your partner teacher.

Ms. Padilla recommends that teachers start by spending some time visiting their co-teacher's classroom and getting to know their teaching style:

ELL educators can visit their partner teacher's room and watch how the classroom and teacher work. She says, "It's important not to start by jumping into suggestions. It's seeing where that teacher is coming from in order to understand, 'Where is my place in this room? What could be my place in this room?'"

Classroom teachers can observe the ELL educator co-teaching in another classroom or leading a small group lesson. That can give them some ideas about how the teacher is supporting students and working with other teachers.

2. Get to know each other's strengths.

Ms. Padilla notes that both partners bring different strengths to the partnership. The better acquainted each partner is with the other's strength, the more productive the relationship will be.

The classroom teacher might be managing lots of different student situations, strengths, and needs and extensive experience in classroom management.

ELL educators have deep expertise around supporting students' language development, identifying important language for content lessons, and differentiating instruction. They also have a holistic picture of ELLs' educational and social-emotional backgrounds. ELL teachers bring another lens to what classroom teachers are seeing, Ms. Padilla says, which can stimulate their ideas of how to address an issue.

Ms. Padilla also notes that sharing some positive feedback about some admirable skills or qualities is an effective way to build rapport, especially because establishing this respect and trust is one of the greatest challenges for a co-teaching team. "For example," she recalls, "when I was a classroom teacher, I didn't really understand what the resource teachers did. I thought, 'Oh, it's easy they just come in and help.' I never really had to think through the different dynamics, and because I wasn't going into other teachers' classrooms, I didn't realize that the resource teachers had to work with other teachers differently.

"At the same time, it's also easy for resource teachers to come in and say, 'I know what to do for these kids, and I know how to do it here.' But it's not always the case, and the ELL specialist needs to be looking for ways to provide support that can benefit all students in the room."

3. Develop a shared understanding of the ELL educator's expertise and role.

According to Ms. Padilla, many classroom teachers never have a chance to see what ELL educators do every day. That can lead to some difficult situations in which ELL educators end up in the back of the room or being asked to do menial tasks.

The team can develop that shared understanding by:

Co-planning a lesson together.

Discussing questions related to ELL instruction or support.

Talking about other prior co-teaching experiences.

ELL educators can also hold a professional development session on what the ELL teacher (or team) does and how they can work with colleagues.

Ms. Padilla says that creating a situation where the two teachers work together can help jumpstart the collaboration. "Ultimately, it's important to establish that you are equals in the room," she says, "because then the students start to see the team as equals too. It's not one teacher and an assistant. Both teachers are there to support all students, and everyone is on the same team."

4. Establish clear communication procedures.

Establishing open and clear communication is crucial, according to Ms. Padilla, because it's really hard to make co-teaching work without that consistent, effective communication. It's important to be very intentional and specific, she says, figuring out details such as:

How are we going to communicate?

When are we going to communicate?

When is it OK to make a change?

Are we flexible enough to make a change right before the lesson, or does it need to happen the day before?

For example, she says, with email, "I would send out an email, and not get a reply. Then I wasn't sure if it was not received well, or was it just not received at all. And so it was important to be able to say, 'You know, I really need to have a reply, and it doesn't mean that you have to agree with my idea, but I just need to know that you've gotten it.' That was a huge piece and really helped my teams work together effectively."

Another important piece is follow-through, she says, because it's important to be reliable, which helps establish trust. (This was an area where ELL educators in co-teaching situations have seen a lot of challenges while being pulled so much to cover for other teachers at the last minute during COVID-19.)

5. Be flexible with your co-teaching arrangements.

According to Ms. Padilla, there is a different dynamic in every classroom based on classroom environment, instruction, and personality and her co-teaching situations looked different from room to room.

"In one room," she says, "as the ELL specialist, I didn't lead as much, and I was supporting the students, so that could be me sitting on the carpet with them, making sure that they're following along and that they're getting it, but then I also had the opportunity to speak up and I still had a voice in the room. In another room, I often was in the front; I sometimes took the lead, and the classroom teacher was supporting the students. Other times we broke into small groups, or broke the class in half and we each took a group."

Co-teaching can take on a lot of different forms, she says, but in all of her teams, the teachers worked to establish that they were both there to support all students, which was part of the collaborative culture of this particular school where she worked: "ELLs are everyone's kids, and when we work as a team, I'm supported, she's supported, and we're both supporting the kids."

6. Be ready to try new things - and fail.

Being able to try things and fail is really important, says Ms. Padilla, as is being able to communicate about it afterwards and say, 'I really thought that would work, and it didn't.'" That vulnerability matters, she says, because that starts to open up the trust and both members are ready to take risks and try new things. "We also have to know that we have the safety of, 'I'm not going to judge what you're doing. And we're both here for the kids, and so we're both going to be trying new things. And some will work, and some won't, and that's OK. We'll move forward from that,'" she says. "It's always a work in progress. It's never done. That's kind of the exciting part. It always has the potential to grow and get better over time."

In addition, Ms. Padilla says, be ready to change! Co-teaching changes how teachers work together and sometimes how they work individually as they grow and learn during the year.

7. If co-teaching is new to your team, start small.

For teachers who are just getting started with co-teaching, Ms. Padilla recommends starting small. If your team is trying to figure out how to work together, start with small, short activities and lessons, and check in on what's working.

If you are an ELL educator or classroom teacher who is interested in trying a co-teaching arrangement, she says, "Find one teacher that you already have a relationship with, that you feel comfortable with, and work with that one teacher, and really focus on that is the one collaborative relationship that you're going to build."

She explains, "It can start by the ELL educator saying, 'You know you have these English learners in your room, and I would love to work with them, or see how things are going. Can I come in? I'd like to observe.' Or you can say, 'How do you think your class is going overall? Is there something that you'd like to work on that I can support you with?' That way you can get that feedback from the teacher. And then as you're looking at the data, such as observational data, you can come up with common goal."

For classroom teachers, it can start with a single question about how to address a particular topic or skill, even with a single student. Focusing on a tangible issue to work on together can often help the partnership get going.

8. Share examples of what's working with your colleagues.

Ms. Padilla makes a point to regularly share success stories with groups of colleagues so that people can hear what's working. For example, at the beginning of the school year, her team shares celebrations from the previous year. That could spark some interest from a colleague, she says, who might think, "'Maybe she'd want to try that out in my room. I'd really like for her to come try that because I know I need help in that area.'" And, she notes, that once teachers experience success, they're going to share with other teachers, she says, and a recognition of the benefits of collaboration can spread among the school community organically.

It's also important to share these successes with administrators so that they can provide more official support and resources for collaboration. The more voices that speak up on behalf of the benefits of collaboration, the more compelling the case becomes to make it a structured part of everyone's schedules.

Related Resources

These books offer lots of strategies for collaboration, co-teaching, and planning ELL instruction, assessment, and family outreach. These strategies can be adapted for a wide variety of settings and team structures.

Many of the titles are authored by the foremost experts on this topic, Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld and Dr. Maria Dove.

Co-teaching Best Practices from Drs. Dove and Honigsfeld

These resources on co-teaching were developed for New York State by Dr. Dove and Dr. Honigsfeld.

Dr. Holly Porter shares how her district moved entirely from pull-out to fully co-teaching. This conversation on Tan Huynh's Teaching ELs podcast provides practical advice at the district level and can also be applied to schools that want to move away from pull-out to co-teaching.

ENL Co-Teaching Checklist

For additional ideas, see this ENL Co-Teaching Checklist developed by New York State United Teachers.

Recommended Videos

Video bonus: You can see Katy Padilla in action in these videos, filmed in collaboration with the NEA:

Discussion Questions

What resonates from this article with you?

Can you think of a co-teaching situation you have been in where the dynamics helped or hurt the partnership?

What are some steps you can try to strengthen a co-teaching partnership you have?

What are your big takeaways from this article?

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Co-Teaching ELLs: 8 Strategies for Success

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Co-teaching can be an exciting way to support English language learners' (ELL) success! It can also present many kinds of challenges. Here are some tips for ELL educators and classroom educators on how to make the most of their co-teaching partnerships.

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Recorded Webinar:  When ESL and Content Teachers Collaborate for ELLs:  A Discussion Group

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Recorded Webinar:  When ESL and Content Teachers Collaborate for ELLs:  A Discussion Group

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Attributes English-Language Learners (ELL), Gifted and Talented, Students with Disabilities

This innovative session will feature an interactive discussion on collaborative efforts between ESL and content teachers. This collegial partnership may consist of pulling out English language learners for sheltered language instruction or pushing in to the classroom to support content instruction in a co-teaching model. Participants will watch video clips from a Colorin Colorado interview then break into smaller groups to discuss pertinent questions related to collaboration. An ESL and content teacher co-teaching team will offer their feedback, provide tips from their experiences collaborating with each other and answer questions from participants. Resources from www.colorincolorado.org will be shared

Kristen Buyce, ENL teacher, Albany City Schools

Kristen is an English as a New Language teacher in the City School District of Albany in Albany, NY, and has worked in the teaching field for close to 18 years. She has taught as both a public school teacher, as well as a college instructor. She has taught ENL at all levels K-12 and currently teaches in a sheltered ENL program at the middle school level. As a traveling instructor, she provided workshops on methodologies and strategies of second language acquisition to professors of English as a Foreign Language at their sister colleges abroad. In addition to co-teaching in each of the four core content areas, Kristen is a part-time instructional technology coach in her district, where she creates and delivers professional development on best practices in integrating technology into curriculum to reach all learners throughout the district. Kristen is also a consultant for Clarkson University, presented at 2019 and 2021 NERIC Regional Technology Awareness Day, 2019 NYSAFLT AND COLT Conference, 2020 Clarkson University Winter Retreat, and the 2021 and 2022 Technology Integration Academy in the City School District of Albany.

Matthew Holland, Math teacher, Albany City Schools

Matthew has been a mathematics teacher in New York State for 13 years. His love and passion for teaching blossomed in the Bronx where he began his teaching career. During the last five years, he has taught eighth-grade mathematics at Stephen and Harriett Middle School in the City School District of Albany. He will begin his fourth year co-teaching in a sheltered ENL program this year.

Jessica Lee

Jessica is an ESOL Resource Teacher in the Office of School Support for Fairfax County Public Schools. She graduated from Virginia Tech and received her Masters in Education from George Mason University. She was a first and second grade classroom teacher and an ESOL teacher before transitioning into her current role. She has also served as a mentor teacher for K-12 ESOL teachers who are new to Fairfax County. Her hobbies include reading, pretending she likes to exercise, traveling, hiking, cooking/baking, and listening to podcasts.

Katy Padilla

Katy is Language Acquisition Specialist in the ESOL Office of Fairfax County Public Schools in Fairfax, VA. In her current role, Katy facilitates professional learning and leads a team of EL Instructional Coaches who support K-12 content and classroom teachers with multilingual learners in their class. Katy started her teaching career in Fairfax County Public Schools as an Elementary teacher and then earned her Masters in Education from George Mason University. After spending a year in Jordan teaching English at an all-girls school, Katy came back to Fairfax and worked as an Elementary ESOL teacher for several years. Throughout her career, Katy has collaborated with multiple stakeholders to ensure English learners' success.

Christine Passarelli

Christine earned her BA in elementary Ed and MA in TESOL both from CUNY Hunter College. She has been teaching for 18 years and has been at PS22 for 14 years. She has previously taught kindergarten, and 2nd grade utilizing SIOP methods and has been collaborating with co teachers for eleven years.

Mary Sandoval

Mary is currently an ENL and Literacy Lessons teacher in the Guilderland School District. She has been with Guilderland for nine years, and is approaching her 15th year as an educator. Ms. Sandoval has worked with students in Kindergarten through 12th grade in Integrated classroom settings, sheltered English language development classes, and as a literacy interventionist. Additionally, she serves in the capacity of Elementary ENL Teacher Leader and has mentored new teachers in her school and department. In the summer, Ms. Sandoval has the great honor of teaching as part of Clarkson University's TESOL Department. She is also enrolled in the Leadership Academy at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) and serves as a co-chair on the Capital Region NYS TESOL Leadership Team. In an effort to continue advocating for multilingual students, Ms. Sandoval is co-launching a blog entitled "Away We Go Learning" as a means to promote equitable language and literacy instruction for ALL multilingual students.

Elissa Ventura

Elissa earned both her BA in speech pathology and MA in Elementary Education from St. John's University in Staten Island. She has been teaching at PS 22 for 24 years. She is currently teaching 4th grade ELA and SS. In previous years she has been a literacy coach and third grade teacher.

Be the first to submit a review!

This resource appears in the following places

This innovative session will feature an interactive discussion on collaborative efforts between ESL and content teachers. This collegial partnership may consist of pulling out English language learners for sheltered language instruction or pushing in to the classroom to support content instruction in a co-teaching model. Participants will watch video clips from a Colorin Colorado interview then break into smaller groups to discuss pertinent questions related to collaboration. An ESL and content teacher co-teaching team will offer their feedback, provide tips from their experiences collaborating with each other and answer questions from participants. Resources from www.colorincolorado.org will be shared

Kristen Buyce, ENL teacher, Albany City Schools

Kristen is an English as a New Language teacher in the City School District of Albany in Albany, NY, and has worked in the teaching field for close to 18 years. She has taught as both a public school teacher, as well as a college instructor. She has taught ENL at all levels K-12 and currently teaches in a sheltered ENL program at the middle school level. As a traveling instructor, she provided workshops on methodologies and strategies of second language acquisition to professors of English as a Foreign Language at their sister colleges abroad. In addition to co-teaching in each of the four core content areas, Kristen is a part-time instructional technology coach in her district, where she creates and delivers professional development on best practices in integrating technology into curriculum to reach all learners throughout the district. Kristen is also a consultant for Clarkson University, presented at 2019 and 2021 NERIC Regional Technology Awareness Day, 2019 NYSAFLT AND COLT Conference, 2020 Clarkson University Winter Retreat, and the 2021 and 2022 Technology Integration Academy in the City School District of Albany.

Matthew Holland, Math teacher, Albany City Schools

Matthew has been a mathematics teacher in New York State for 13 years. His love and passion for teaching blossomed in the Bronx where he began his teaching career. During the last five years, he has taught eighth-grade mathematics at Stephen and Harriett Middle School in the City School District of Albany. He will begin his fourth year co-teaching in a sheltered ENL program this year.

Jessica Lee

Jessica is an ESOL Resource Teacher in the Office of School Support for Fairfax County Public Schools. She graduated from Virginia Tech and received her Masters in Education from George Mason University. She was a first and second grade classroom teacher and an ESOL teacher before transitioning into her current role. She has also served as a mentor teacher for K-12 ESOL teachers who are new to Fairfax County. Her hobbies include reading, pretending she likes to exercise, traveling, hiking, cooking/baking, and listening to podcasts.

Katy Padilla

Katy is Language Acquisition Specialist in the ESOL Office of Fairfax County Public Schools in Fairfax, VA. In her current role, Katy facilitates professional learning and leads a team of EL Instructional Coaches who support K-12 content and classroom teachers with multilingual learners in their class. Katy started her teaching career in Fairfax County Public Schools as an Elementary teacher and then earned her Masters in Education from George Mason University. After spending a year in Jordan teaching English at an all-girls school, Katy came back to Fairfax and worked as an Elementary ESOL teacher for several years. Throughout her career, Katy has collaborated with multiple stakeholders to ensure English learners' success.

Christine Passarelli

Christine earned her BA in elementary Ed and MA in TESOL both from CUNY Hunter College. She has been teaching for 18 years and has been at PS22 for 14 years. She has previously taught kindergarten, and 2nd grade utilizing SIOP methods and has been collaborating with co teachers for eleven years.

Mary Sandoval

Mary is currently an ENL and Literacy Lessons teacher in the Guilderland School District. She has been with Guilderland for nine years, and is approaching her 15th year as an educator. Ms. Sandoval has worked with students in Kindergarten through 12th grade in Integrated classroom settings, sheltered English language development classes, and as a literacy interventionist. Additionally, she serves in the capacity of Elementary ENL Teacher Leader and has mentored new teachers in her school and department. In the summer, Ms. Sandoval has the great honor of teaching as part of Clarkson University's TESOL Department. She is also enrolled in the Leadership Academy at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) and serves as a co-chair on the Capital Region NYS TESOL Leadership Team. In an effort to continue advocating for multilingual students, Ms. Sandoval is co-launching a blog entitled "Away We Go Learning" as a means to promote equitable language and literacy instruction for ALL multilingual students.

Elissa Ventura

Elissa earned both her BA in speech pathology and MA in Elementary Education from St. John's University in Staten Island. She has been teaching at PS 22 for 24 years. She is currently teaching 4th grade ELA and SS. In previous years she has been a literacy coach and third grade teacher.

Be the first to submit a review!

This resource appears in the following places

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When ESL and Content Teachers Collaborate for ELLs: A Discussion Group

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This innovative session will feature an interactive discussion on collaborative efforts between ESL and content teachers. This collegial partnership may consist of pulling out English language learners for sheltered language instruction or pushing in to the classroom to support content instruction in a co-teaching model.

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ONA:  Barriers to Integration of Virginia's Immigrants:  Challenges and Opportunities Identified through a Needs Assessment

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ONA:  Barriers to Integration of Virginia's Immigrants:  Challenges and Opportunities Identified through a Needs Assessment

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OELA:  Registering and Enrolling Refugee and Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools 8/12/22

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OELA:  Registering and Enrolling Refugee and Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools 8/12/22

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Registering and Enrolling Refugee and Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools 8_12_22

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OELA:  Registering and Enrolling Refugee and Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools 8/12/22

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OELA:  Registering and Enrolling Refugee and Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools 8/12/22

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Registering and Enrolling Refugee and Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools 8_12_22

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Human Trafficking Webinar Series:  Preventing and Intervening in the Labor Trafficking of Students

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Human Trafficking Webinar Series:  Preventing and Intervening in the Labor Trafficking of Students

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Human Trafficking Webinar Series - Preventing and Intervening in the Labor Trafficking of Students

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Immigrant Learning Center:  5 things teachers can do

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Immigrant Learning Center:  5 things teachers can do

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Educator Webinars from Immigrant Learning Center

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Educator Webinars from Immigrant Learning Center

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Educator Webinars > The Immigrant Learning Center

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The ILC Public Education Institute Educator Webinars give teachers the latest teaching strategies for working with immigrant students and and lesson plans for teaching about immigration in K-12 and adult classrooms. The Institute convenes the best education experts for free, professional development training every July in the two-day Immigrant Student Success online workshop that features many experts and throughout the year for Current Events in the Classroom webinars.

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Enter the English word and get 6 translations instantly.