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The district will provide a stipend who add/or have added their EL endorsement approval to their PEL.

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USA Grant Applications

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Sign up today!

The sad news is most people never apply for any kind of funding because they just don't know "how" or "who" to apply to, not to mention the fact that they think it is too hard. It may be easier than you may think, but you will never know until you try, so what are you waiting for?

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The sad news is most people never apply for any kind of funding because they just don't know "how" or "who" to apply to, not to mention the fact that they think it is too hard. It may be easier than you may think, but you will never know until you try, so what are you waiting for?

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District 201 received a grant- Elevating Educators to pay for certified staff to earn their ESL/Bilingual Endorsement.

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State of Illinois Current Resources for teachers

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State of Illinois Current Resources for teachers

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Current ELL endorsement Requirements Illinois 

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Current ELL endorsement Requirements Illinois 

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Incorporating ELL instruction within SPED teacher preparation

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Incorporating ELL instruction within SPED teacher preparation

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Teaching English Without Teaching English 

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Teaching English Without Teaching English 

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Teaching English without Teaching English | Roberto Guzman | TEDxUPRM

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D. Professional growth and development for teachers

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D. Professional growth and development for teachers

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What is social and emotional learning (SEL)? And how can schools ensure that English language learners (ELLs) are fully included and supported through SEL activities in the school setting?

This article offers an introduction to SEL along with helpful resources from organizations such as the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). In addition, this article also shares ideas on how to ensure that ELLs are able to fully participate in SEL lessons and activities.

To highlight those examples, we have mapped a few ELL considerations and strategies to CASEL's SEL framework. These strategies represent just some of the ideas that educators can try and they also detail important considerations when introducing new initiatives or ideas in a classroom or school community.

You will also find relevant examples and strategies in Teaching and Supporting English Learners: A Guide to Welcoming and Engaging NewcomersbyEugenia Mora-Flores and Stephanie Dewing.

What is SEL?

SEL is a process by which students can develop skills that help them thrive skills such as such as the ability to regulate emotions, form healthy relationships, manage stress, and contribute to a community. While many educators have incorporated SEL into their instruction for a long time, it has gotten more attention in recent years as schools and families continue to navigate the impacts of the long-term disruptions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and also look for ways to help students navigate other changes or challenges in their lives.

CASEL describes the big picture goal of SEL in the following way:
"SEL can help all young people and adults thrive personally and academically, develop and maintain positive relationships, become lifelong learners, and contribute to a more caring, just world."
How does it do that? The CASEL framework focuses on developing the following core competencies, which you can explore via CASEL's interactive SEL wheel:

1. self-awareness

2. self-management

3. social awareness

4. relationship skills

5. responsible decision-making

These are valuable skills that not only can help students today but set the stage for healthy and productive lives in the future.

Is SEL an "extra"?

While many schools may hesitate to "add on" SEL, the renewed focus on SEL offers an opportunity to reframe its role. In fact, schools who regularly incorporate SEL describe it as the foundation from which everything else grows. The more comfortable and secure students feel in the classroom, the more likely they are take risks, try new things, and contribute to the classroom.

For example, Principal Sue Stanley, whose elementary school has long prioritized SEL, writes, "We understand students cannot learn until they feel safe and connected." This is particularly true in schools where large numbers of students have experienced trauma, as in the case of her school where many students have experienced hardship and family separation due to the civil war in Yemen.

In addition, we have heard from multiple educators of ELLs in particular that the investment of time early on building relationships, getting to know students, and creating a welcoming culture and environment in the classroom pays off all year long.

Related resources

Related videos

SEL 101: What are the core competencies and key settings? (CASEL)

Looking at the whole child: Conversations with an award-winning social worker

Principal Sue Stanley: Why creating a calm, safe environment in schools matters

Teacher Christine Price: Showing students you care

SEL and ELLs: The CASEL Framework

What does all of this look like for ELLs? One way to share some concrete examples is by using the CASEL SEL framework. We have shared excerpts of the framework here and encourage you to look at the complete framework on CASEL's website. Please note that under "Examples," we have only highlighted a few skill sets that are particularly relevant for ELLs, but CASEL lists others as well.

You may also find it helpful to pull in free bilingual resources from Feel Your Best Self, a puppet-focused SEL program for children from the University of Connecticut that provides videos and related materials for educators and caregivers in English and Spanish.

Tips for lesson/activity planning

Before jumping in, we'd like to highlight some of the ELL recommendations that you will see throughout the rest of the article:

Look for opportunities to build relationships with students and get to know them.

Learn more about the unique experiences of special populations of students, such as refugees, unaccompanied minors, children in migrant farmworker families, and Indigenous students from Latin America.

Identify the key concepts and vocabulary words that will be the focus of your lesson or activity.

Pre-teach those concepts and vocabulary so that ELLs can engage meaningfully with the content.

Use visuals, hands-on objects, and other tools to make new concepts and words clear.

Look for connections to students' languages. For examples, English and Spanish share words that are similar called cognates. You can use these connections to support student understanding.

You can learn more tips from our article on lesson planning for ELLs.

1. Self-awareness

CASEL definition: "The abilities to understand one's own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts."

Identifying personal, cultural, and linguistic assets

Reflect on the following for your setting:

Welcome students' languages and cultures by:

Do ELLs' regularly hear the message that their languages, cultures, and experiences are assets and strengths?

Do teachers and peers respect ELLs' diverse perspectives and multilingual skills?

Identifying one's emotions

ELLs may still be learning:

Teach ELLs vocabulary words for different emotions. Ask them how to say those words in their language.

Give them lots of practice using emotion words, especially through check-ins like mood meters and feelings charts.

Ask colleagues who share students' cultures if there are cultural nuances you should be aware of.

Give young students or newcomers opportunities to draw pictures about how they are feeling.

Having a growth mindset

ELLs may be so focused on what they haven't learned yet that it can be easy to lose sight of what they have learned. It can be easy to become frustrated and feel behind and left out.

Focus on what students " can do" and also teach students targeted strategies for adopting a growth mindset.

Examining prejudices and biases

This complex topic can go both ways. Students may have experienced discrimination and bias against them based on a number of factors.

Look for ways to create safe spaces for talking about identity in your classroom.

If you note that additional support or communication is needed around these topics for your or your class, look for resources or colleagues that can support you in this work.

At the same time, students will likely have their own biases as well.

Principal Nathaniel Provencio: The gifts ELLs bring to school

CASEL definition: "The abilities to manage one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations."

Managing one's emotions

As noted above, a first step in helping ELLs manage their emotions effectively is identifying and naming emotions.

If you are introducing emotion management strategies, be sure to:

clearly name and identify the target emotions you are addressing

provide students with lots of different hands-on way to show and practice the strategies through puppets, role play, stories, and more

In addition, students will benefit from:

learning how to manage different emotions

practicing new strategies they learn

Identifying and using stress management strategies

Students may have a wide range of stressors during their days, whether at school or at home.

If you are introducing stress management strategies, be sure to:

You may wish to introduce the concept of stress and ask students:

Note: For students who have experienced trauma, these conversations may be triggering. Plan activities with care and stay attuned to the needs of your students. Stay flexible and seek additional support for students if needed.

Setting personal and collective goals

As noted above, ELLs may be overwhelmed by what can feel like mountains to climb in terms of learning a new language, acclimating to a new culture, and keeping up in their classes. Reaching some smaller goals, however, can build confidence over time, as can doing activities related to their strengths.

Help ELLs set small, specific goals that they can reach to build confidence.

Incorporate activities that connect to students' interests.

When talking with the class about goals, offer the options of "collective" goals along with individual goals and encourage creative thinking about how to reach those goals.

Share examples of success stories, such as immigrants, ELLs, or others your students may relate to.

In addition, keep in mind that many ELLs may come from "collectivist" cultures that focus on the well-being of the group over the individual. Use this to your benefit in planning group work and setting goals for the class.

Jorge Bermudez, High School Math Teacher: How advisory periods are helping my students

CASEL definition: "The abilities to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts."

Taking others' perspectives

ELLs bring a rich diversity of perspective to the classroom. The opportunity to learn from those perspectives can be lost if ELLs aren't encouraged to share their ideas as part of a respectful class community.

Give ELLs scaffolds to support their participation in class discussions, such as sentence frames and sentence starters (e.g., "I agree that...because...")

Give ELLs lots of practice discussing informal topics so that they can become comfortable with using these structures.

In addition, ELLs have the opportunity to learn from their peers when classroom communication is working well.

Recognizing strengths in others

ELLs have numerous strengths, interests, and talents that may be overlooked. Provide frequent opportunities for all students, including ELLs, to share their talents and interests with the class and in personal ways.

Ask students to share special talents or interests as part of icebreakers early in the year.

Look for ways to incorporate students' interests in the classroom.

Demonstrating empathy and compassion

There are many ways to develop empathy in the classroom. Keep in mind that some of ELLs' life experiences will be shared, universal experiences; others will be very different from what their peers have gone through.

Introduce the concept of empathy and help students understand it before any empathy-focused activities.

Teacher Paul Barnwell describes an activity in which students write three statements about themselves. The teacher then reads them anonymously to the class and students begin to get an idea of the "range of intense experiences and perspectives (the) classroom community contains."

Regularly using questions such as, "What do you think that was like?" or "How do you think she's feeling right now?" can also help strengthen empathy muscles!

Using culturally responsive materials that reflect students' experiences can also open opportunities for students to share and provide teachable moments that develop empathy in peers. While it's important not to put students on the spot or force a point, being mindful of how your students see themselves in the classroom can open valuable doors.

Understanding and expressing gratitude

There are so many ways to express and lift up gratitude in the classroom. Asking students to reflect on when and why they feel gratitude is a valuable opportunity for growth.

Introduce the concept of gratitude and help students understand it before any gratitude-focused activities.

Invite students to share how they say "Thank you" in their language and make a poster board with signs of all of their translations!

We have lots of other ideas in our article Making Space for Gratitude: 15 Ideas for Schools During Challenging Times, which include appreciation boards, thank you note campaigns, and writing prompts.

You may be surprised at who in the school community or their own life is making a difference!

Identifying diverse social norms, including unjust ones

When it comes to social and cultural norms, there are a few different layers. First and foremost, students' own norms may be different, such as a cultural norm in which looking away from an authority perspective is a sign of respect, rather disrepect.

At the same time, different social norms may come up in classroom discussions. It is essential to create a culture of respect when discussing diverse experiences and perspectives. You may also need additional support if topics that relate to justice or differing expectations around concepts like human rights or women's rights are part of a discussion so that everyone feels safe within the discussion.

Teacher Omar Salem: My students' many talents

You Are Welcome Here: Preview

This preview of our award-winning film You Are Welcome Her e highlights what culturally responsive instruction can look like.

4. Relationship skills

CASEL definition: The abilities to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups.

Communicating effectively

Providing ELLs with lots of opportunities to interact in all kinds of situations and in different settings or group sizes will build their skills and confidence in communication.

Pay attention to whether ELLs are able to communicate their needs and ideas to you and to peers. Give them lots of practice to do so in both informal and formal settings.

When grouping students, you may sometimes wish to put students who speak the same language together so they can have an in-depth conversations and then summarize to the group in English.

Practicing teamwork and collaborative problem-solving

Peer learning is a great opportunity to practice teamwork and problem-solving. Making sure that ELLs understand their role, the purpose of the activity, and the steps they need to complete to make these activities more successful.

You can learn more in our related article 6 Strategies to Help ELLs Succeed in Peer Learning and Collaboration.

Peer learning Problem solving

Encourage students to try lots of hands-on activities and clubs.

Make sure ELLs know about enrichment activities where they can focus on problem-solving, such as robotics clubs, Maker space, Odyssey of the Mind, quiz bowls, and games clubs.

Resolving conflicts constructively

Students will need practice not only with new conflict resolution strategies but also with the language they need to use those strategies.

Introduce the concept of "conflict resolution" and any related vocabulary as needed.

Show students models of any strategies you are using through videos, photos, or role playing.

Give students practice with new strategies through role play or stories.

Review the tips in 8 Tips to Protect ELLs from Bullying in Your Classroom and School.

There may also be some cultural nuances in how students approach conflict and you may wish to ask students for ideas of different conflict resolution strategies before introducing new strategies.

In addition, it's critical to make sure that all students and families have a shared understanding of what bullying is and why it is not acceptable under any circumstance.

Showing leadership in groups

ELLs often have hidden reserves of leadership potential. Many ELLs are resilient, resourceful, and creative students who have navigated many challenges in their life and bring a big picture view of the world to their classroom. If the teacher isn't looking for those qualities and experiences, however, they may remain hidden.

Encourage ELLs to take leadership roles in pair or group work once they feel comfortable doing so. (Some may be ready to try it even if they are newcomers, while others may want a lot more practice!)

Also ensure that ELLs have opportunity to participate in any clubs or activities that foster leadership. Don't limit their options by assuming they won't be interested!

Note: Every spring, we read about high school valedictorians who started off in U.S. schools as ELLs and have achieved great things in a short time within a supportive school environment.

5. Responsible decision-making

CASEL definition: The abilities to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations.

Identifying solutions for personal and social problems

As noted above, ELLs can show great resilience and resourcefulness when given the chance. They also understand the impacts of big social issues that may have touched their lives. For example, many ELLs were caregivers for younger siblings and relatives during school closures in the early months of the pandemic and continue those responsibilities now outside of school.

Give students choices to pursue topics that interest them where possible.

You may wish to try a project-based or inquiry-led approach where students can dive deep on a particular topic of interest.

Having lived through a range of situations (often in other countries) provides ELLs with different lens and perspectives that can enrich the class.

Anticipating and evaluating the consequences of one's actions

As with the other topics above, it's essential to ensure that students have the vocabulary and language they need to engage in conversations or activities related to sophisticated conversations about topics like consequences. Like their peers, ELLs will likely have meaningful examples to share when taking about the consequences of one's actions.

Note: An example of an English/Spanish cognate, or word that's related in two languages, is "consequence/ consecuencia."

Reflecting on one's role to promote personal, family, and community well-being

As noted above, ELLs may come from cultures that are focused on the well-being of the group, whether it's the family, community, culture, or country.

Be sure that students have opportunities to share how they are contributing to their families and community. Those activities and responsibilities may remain hidden otherwise.

Students may be caregiving, working for a family business, actively participating in a community or faith institution, and supporting their family through employment, translation help, and other ways.

Exploring these perspectives not only can provide interesting insights -- it can help your classroom run more smoothly and even improve family engagement, such as in the example of a teacher who switched to group parent teacher conferences with her ELL families and increased attendance dramatically.

Closing Thoughts

As you can from the examples above, considering ELLs' experiences and perspectives beforehand can go a long way in ensuring that they can fully participate in all classroom activities. Along the way, they and the rest of your class will also benefit from increased collaboration and communication around SEL and so much more!

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SEL for English Language Learners: What Educators Need to Know

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What is social and emotional learning (SEL)? And how can schools ensure that English language learners (ELLs) are fully included and supported through SEL activities in the school setting? This article offers an introduction to SEL along with helpful resources from organizations such as the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).

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Performance on national assessments and on-time graduation rates

Introduction

This data story presents the most recent data on EL academic proficiency for states and selected urban school districts. It also provides state-level EL high school graduation rates and insights into changes in EL graduation and proficiency rates over time. When interpreting differences across states and between grade levels, readers should keep in mind that states vary in their criteria for which EL students are included in this reporting and in the accommodations provided for EL test takers. These differences can affect outcomes. ⁴ Additionally, it is important to remember that the EL population is dynamic: Students who attain English proficiency are reclassified as non-EL, and those who remain classified as EL over time are more likely to be low-performing. ⁵

The charts are interactive. Hover over or click on chart elements to learn more about specific data points, and where they appear; use buttons to filter charts by grade.

Proficiency on Educational Assessments

At least once every two years since 2003, samples of fourth- and eighth-grade students from across the nation take the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading and mathematics. The assessments are administered the same way across the nation and use the same test booklets. Thus, NAEP results provide a common measure of performance across states and a set of urban districts. Nationally, 14 percent of ELs in grade 4 were at or above proficient in mathematics and 9 percent were at or above proficient in reading on the 2017 NAEP. b, 6 A smaller percentage of ELs were at or above proficient in reading and mathematics in grade 8. For each grade and subject, ELs were far behind the proficiency rates of non-ELs. For example, while one-third of non-ELs were proficient in mathematics in grade 8, just 6 percent of ELs attained this level. Although EL performance on NAEP mathematics and reading assessments has improved overall since 2000, more recent years have shown little change for ELs and non-ELs alike. ⁷

The analyses below use state-level NAEP assessment data to show changes in EL proficiency rates in grade 4 and 8 mathematics and reading since 2009. Additional analyses present EL proficiency rates in reading and mathematics in the 27 school districts that participated in NAEP's Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) in 2017. Since the percentage of ELs is generally higher in urban districts, analyzing the proficiency rates in these districts may provide insights into the performance of ELs in districts with higher concentrations of ELs. ⁸ Note that the number of urban districts invited to voluntarily participate in the TUDA assessment has changed over time.

NAEP provides a common academic metric across states and a set of urban school districts; however, interpreting EL performance differences across states is complex, and comparisons should be made with caution. State inclusion criteria and testing accommodations for ELs vary. ⁹ In addition, NAEP EL proficiency data were not available for a number of states. In these states the sample of tested EL students was too small to produce statistically reliable estimates and therefore reflects a "reporting standards not met." States that did not meet NAEP reporting standards in one or both years examined (2009 and 2017) are classified in this data story as "Change not available." c

Change in proficiency rates over time

At the national level, there were small increases in the percentage of ELs reaching proficiency in grade 4 and grade 8 mathematics between 2009 and 2017. This percentage increased by 2 percentage points in grade 4 mathematics (from 12 to 14 percent) and by 1 percentage point in grade 8 mathematics (from 5 to 6 percent). ¹⁰ However, the state-level data reveal considerable variation in changes in EL proficiency rates in mathematics over time. For example, 14 states saw a sizeable decrease (more than 5 percentage points) in the percentage of ELs proficient in grade 4 mathematics. Among these states, five states experienced a decrease of more than 10 percentage points, with Kentucky experiencing the largest decrease (-16.5 percentage points). Four states saw the percentage of ELs who were proficient increase by at least 5 percentage points, with Indiana experiencing the largest increase (11.7 percentage points).

EL proficiency rates in grade 8 mathematics over time were available for fewer states. While 10 states experienced essentially no change (a change between plus or minus 1 percentage point), five states experienced a sizeable decrease. Indiana experienced an increase of more than 5 percentage points.

Similar to mathematics, the percentage of ELs proficient in grade 4 and grade 8 reading increased somewhat over time when looking at the nation as a whole, but there was more variation by state. Overall, the percentage of ELs proficient in reading rose by 3 percentage points in grade 4 (from 6 percent to 9 percent) and by 2 percentage points in grade 8 (from 3 percent to 5 percent). ¹¹

However, in contrast to mathematics, fewer states experienced a sizeable decrease (more than 5 percentage points) in grade 4 reading (four states compared with 14 in mathematics). As in mathematics, four states saw an increase of more than 5 percentage points in grade 4 reading, with Ohio experiencing the largest gain of 16.5 percentage points.

About half the states had available grade 8 reading data for 2009 and 2017. Only Virginia experienced a sizeable decrease, and two states experienced an increase of more than 5 percentage points, including Kansas, which had the largest increase of 11 percent.

Proficiency rates by district

The four urban districts in Texas (Dallas, Austin, Houston, and Fort Worth) had more than 20 percent of ELs proficient in grade 4 mathematics in 2017. The EL proficiency rates for these districts were far above the national percentage of 14 percent. Boston, Miami Dade, and Hillsborough County (Florida) also had higher EL proficiency rates than the national rate. d As with the state-level data, urban district EL proficiency rates in grade 8 mathematics were lower than in grade 4. Of the two districts that exceeded the national EL proficiency rate in grade 8 mathematics, only Dallas had more than 10 percent of ELs who were proficient.

Nationally, the EL proficiency rate in grade 4 reading (9 percent) was lower than in mathematics (14 percent).With few exceptions, this was also true for each urban district that participated in the NAEP TUDA in 2017. Seven districts had a fourth-grade EL proficiency rate in reading greater than the national rate (Boston, Austin, Fort Worth, Denver, San Diego, Dallas, and Cleveland). Four districts had an eighth-grade EL proficiency rate in reading above the national rate (Detroit, Dallas, Denver, and Hillsborough County).

Graduation Rates

In 2015-16, 84 percent of students nationwide graduated from high school on time (in four years, and accounting for transfers a). For ELs the rate was 67 percent, up from 57 percent in 2010-11, but well below the rate for non-ELs (85 percent). ¹² This difference in the graduation rates is especially concerning because we know that those without a high school diploma experience lower earnings and higher unemployment than those with a diploma.

The analyses below use four-year cohort graduation rate data to examine the rate at which ELs graduated from high school within four years compared with their non-EL peers, and how the graduation rate for ELs has changed over time. Because graduation requirements differ across states and states use different inclusion criteria for their EL cohorts, differences in graduation rates should be interpreted with caution.

In 2015-16, there were six states in which less than half of ELs graduated from high school on time. In these states, the EL graduation rate was between 34 and 48 percentage points lower than the graduation rate for non-ELs. Overall, state EL graduation rates varied from a low of 32 percent (Arizona) to a high of 93 percent (West Virginia).

Nationally, the EL graduation rate increased 10 percentage points from 2010-11 to 2015-16. In 31 states, the graduation rate of ELs was at least 5 points higher in 2015-16 than in 2010-11. In California and Texas - the two states with the largest EL populations - the graduation rate increased by more than 10 percentage points.

Wrap Up

Proficiency in core academic subjects such as reading and mathematics is a key indicator that students are learning what is expected at their grade level. A high school diploma demonstrates students' readiness for postsecondary activities and can lead to more successful employment outcomes than without a diploma. ¹³ While ELs have experienced some small gains in reading and mathematics proficiency nationally as well as increases in on-time high school graduation rates, their performance still lags far behind their non-EL peers.

This story map suggests that national gains in proficiency and graduation rates for ELs smooth out state-level variations. For example, about the same number of states experienced an increase as experienced a decrease in EL proficiency rates in grade 4 reading. Also, while many states experienced an increase in graduation rates from 2010-11 to 2015-16, the increase was not always in a straight line.

Moreover, drawing conclusions about EL performance only from national trends may misrepresent what is happening at the district level. Data from selected urban districts suggested wide variation in EL proficiency rates, with ELs in some districts performing at rates considerably higher or lower than the national rate.

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Academic Performance and Outcomes for English Learners

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This story map presents the most recent data on EL proficiency for states and selected urban school districts. It also provides state-level EL high school graduation rates and insights into changes in EL graduation and proficiency rates over time.

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NCLB is often cited as the impetus for having sufficiently prepared teachers, this legislation does not require teachers of ELLs to be certified in ESL, nor do they have “to meet the ‘highly qualified’ requirements under the federal law” (Honawar, 2009, p. 28).  “Only three states—Arizona, Florida, and New York—have laws requiring that all teachers receive training in working with English-learners” (Honawar, 2009, p. 28)

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In order to prepare preservice teachers for this reality, the underlying assumptions that they bring with them, such as “I probably will not be working with ELLs” or “The ESL specialist will be responsible for these learners,” need to be addressed (see Griego Jones, 2002).

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In 2009, the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality issued a paper that established six core competencies necessary for preparing preservice teachers:
• sociocultural and political foundations for teaching ELLs
• foundations in second language acquisition
• knowledge for teaching academic content
• effective instructional practices
• assessment and accommodation practices
• professional engagement and collaboration
(McGraner & Saenz, 2009, p. 5)

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Utilizing CCW to Learn with Diverse Language Communities 

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Utilizing CCW to Learn with Diverse Language Communities 

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Aiming for equity: Preparing Mainstream Teachers for Inclusion or Inclusive Classrooms?

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Aiming for equity: Preparing Mainstream Teachers for Inclusion or Inclusive Classrooms?

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How can CCW contribute to the development of a Teacher Preparation program that supports ELLs?

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How can CCW contribute to the development of a Teacher Preparation program that supports ELLs?

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Community-based approaches to teaching offer strategies for addressing the need to prepare teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse students and families.

- Provide teachers with opportunities to engage in direct interactions with learns and the local community
-Build on theories regarding culturally relevant education and provide course projects that can provide contextualized insight for teachers.

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Community Cultural Wealth Theoretical Perspective 

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Community Cultural Wealth Theoretical Perspective 

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What is CCW? A framework by Tara Yosso that acknowledges the various forms of cultural and intellectual wealth that diverse communities bring to education. It recognizes the strengths and assets that students and assets that students from marginalized backgrounds possess.

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A. Enhanced classroom inclusivity and diversity

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A. Enhanced classroom inclusivity and diversity

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For decades, researchers have found that teachers in public schools have undervalued the potential for academic success among students of color, setting low expectations for them and thinking of cultural differences as barriers rather than assets to learning.

In response, scholars developed teaching methods and practices-broadly known as asset-based pedagogies-that incorporate students' cultural identities and lived experiences into the classroom as tools for effective instruction. The terms for these approaches to teaching vary, from culturally responsive teaching and culturally sustaining pedagogy to the more foundational culturally relevant pedagogy. Though each term has its own components defined by different researchers over time, all these approaches to teaching center the knowledge of traditionally marginalized communities in classroom instruction. As a result, all students, and in particular students of color, are empowered to become lifelong learners and critical thinkers.

This explainer unpacks what it means to be a culturally responsive teacher, how all these research terms are related, and where other academic concepts such as critical race theory tie in-or not.

What is the definition of culturally responsive teaching?

Culturally responsive teaching means using students' customs, characteristics, experience, and perspectives as tools for better classroom instruction.

The term was coined by researcher Geneva Gay in 2000, who wrote that "when academic knowledge and skills are situated within the lived experiences and frames of reference for students, they are more personally meaningful, have higher interest appeal, and are learned more easily and thoroughly."

It's the kind of teaching that helps students of color see themselves and their communities as belonging in schools and other academic spaces, leading to more engagement and success.

What is culture, and why is it relevant to student learning?

Culture refers to the customs, languages, values, beliefs, and achievements of a group of people. Students' culture and lived experiences that influence how they understand and make sense of the world or themselves are an integral part of who they are as learners. As Emily Style, the former founding co-director of the National SEED Project (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity), once wrote, "Half the curriculum walks in the door with the students."

While more than half of public school students are students of color, most schools are organized around the mainstream culture of white Americans. The culture that many students experience at home and in their communities is not always represented at school-or is represented in a stereotypical way.

Also, 80 percent of teachers are white. Research has found that teachers are just as likely to have racial biases as non-teachers, and those biases tend to influence the expectations they have for their students and their ways of managing their classrooms. For example, past research has found that white teachers have lower expectations for Black students than they do for white students, and those can turn into "self-fulfilling prophecies" when students internalize them or when teachers change their approach to students as a result of their mindsets.

One study found that white teachers were more likely to praise a poorly written essay if they thought it was written by a student of color than if they thought the essay was by a white student. Teachers' racial biases can also result in decreased access to advanced coursework and higher rates of suspensions.

When did culturally responsive teaching start?

Culturally responsive teaching stems from the framework of culturally relevant pedagogy, which was introduced by scholar Gloria Ladson-Billings in the 1990s. Ladson-Billings was tired of the commonly held narrative that Black children were deficient and deviant, and that there was something wrong with them. Instead, she wanted to find out what was right with Black children, their families, and their communities. To do so, she researched the practices of effective teachers of Black students.

For about two years, Ladson-Billings observed teachers who were identified by both principals and Black parents as being excellent. The teachers had different ways of teaching, but they all had high expectations for their students and fostered academic success. They also all valued and integrated themselves in the community from which their students came.

Ladson-Billings distilled the commonalities in those teachers' beliefs and practices into the framework of culturally relevant pedagogy, which she defined as a model that "not only addresses student achievement but also helps students to accept and affirm their cultural identity while developing critical perspectives that challenge inequities that schools (and other institutions) perpetuate."

There are three components of culturally relevant pedagogy:

student learning-prioritizing students' intellectual growth, including their ability to problem-solve;

cultural competence-creating an environment where students affirm and appreciate their culture of origin while also developing fluency in at least one other culture; and

critical consciousness-teaching students how to identify, analyze, and solve real-world problems, especially those that result in societal inequities against marginalized groups.

So, what are the characteristics of culturally responsive teaching?

Gay's research shows five essential components of culturally responsive teaching:

A strong knowledge base about cultural diversity. Teachers should understand different racial and ethnic groups' cultural values, traditions, and contributions to society, and incorporate that knowledge into their instruction.

Culturally relevant curricula. Teachers should include multiple perspectives in their instruction and make sure the images displayed in classrooms-such as on bulletin boards-represent a wide range of diversity. Teachers should also contextualize issues within race, class, ethnicity, and gender.

High expectations for all students. Teachers should help students achieve academic success while still validating their cultural identities.

An appreciation for different communication styles. Teachers should understand different communication styles and modify classroom interactions accordingly. For example, many communities of color have an active, participatory style of communication. A teacher who doesn't understand this cultural context might think a student is being rude and tell the student to be quiet. The student may then shut down.

The use of multicultural instructional examples. Teachers should connect students' prior knowledge and cultural experiences with new knowledge.

Doesn't that require teachers to reinforce stereotypes about students of color and even discriminate against white children?

In short, no. While the academic framework of culturally responsive teaching and other asset-based pedagogies emerged from how to best support students of color, it evolved into a teaching approach that serves all students, regardless of their racial background.

Sharroky Hollie, the director of the nonprofit Center for Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning, works with teachers to practice what he calls cultural and linguistic responsiveness. In his work, he talks about the rings of culture, meaning the various aspects of students' identities that can impact how they interact with the world around them.

To Hollie, it's not just about thinking of ways to validate and incorporate a student's racial background into the classroom. It's not about thinking of students in a one-dimensional, stereotypical way. Culturally responsive teachers must also consider the student's gender, age, socio-economic status, whether they live in the suburbs or a rural area, and more.

"It's not as simplistic as we're trying to value our students of color," he said. "We're actually trying to value the rings of culture that they bring to our schools, regardless of their racial background."

For instance, in predominately white school districts, there are white students who, due to where they live or their family's socio-economic status, are underserved by their school district and could benefit from a culturally responsive approach to education, Hollie said.

What is culturally sustaining pedagogy, and how is it different than culturally relevant teaching?

Schools are still places where white norms are considered the default standard in the curricula, behavioral expectations, linguistic practices, and more. Culturally sustaining pedagogy says that students of color should not be expected to adhere to white middle-class norms, but their own cultural ways of being should be explored, honored, and nurtured by educators.

The framework builds on the work of Ladson-Billing and others but offers a "loving critique" that cultural relevance in the curriculum is not enough for students in today's world, given demographic shifts toward a more diverse society. Paris and Alim also argue that asset-based pedagogies, like culturally relevant teaching, traditionally haven't paid enough attention to young people's more fluid relationships with their identities.

Ladson-Billings has embraced the evolution of her foundational pedagogy, writing in 2014 that "culturally sustaining pedagogy uses culturally relevant pedagogy as the place where the beat drops." She also told Education Week that she is now paying close attention to how teenagers shape culture, an aspect that wasn't present in her original work.

It's important to remember that these asset-based pedagogies-culturally responsive, culturally relevant, and culturally sustainable, among others-are not in conflict with each other. While their frameworks vary, they all have the same goal of dismantling a deficit approach to educating students of color and focusing instead on their strengths, assets, and communities in the classroom.

What does the research say about the effectiveness of these teaching frameworks?

A 2016 synthesis of decades of research on culturally responsive teaching and related frameworks found that engaging in culturally affirming practices across subject matters, including mathematics and science, led to positive increases in students' understanding and engagement with academic skills and concepts.  For instance, students in high school math class could learn about statistics by assessing the probabilities of racial profiling cases in various neighborhoods or using other datasets applicable to their communities that bring up questions about justice and injustice.

Culturally responsive teaching and similar approaches to teaching also increased students' motivation, interest in content, and the perception of themselves as capable students, among other benefits, the study found. Brittany Aronson, an associate professor in educational leadership at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a co-author of the study, said, whenever teachers drew direct connections between classroom lessons and students' experiences outside of school, students could see greater value in the academic content as it applies to the real world. Such work helps students see themselves as knowledge producers and researchers.

Overall, teaching that makes school relevant to students helps them succeed both in terms of quantitative measures such as high test scores, and more qualitative measures such as becoming life-long learners able to ask critical questions about the world around them, both in and out of school, Aronson said.

What are some examples of culturally responsive teaching?

Teachers who practice culturally responsive teaching have a classroom full of books featuring characters and images that represent a variety of ages, genders, ethnicities, and other types of diversity. They share the achievements and expertise of people from different ethnic groups in every subject area. They include multiple perspectives when discussing historical and contemporary events, including those from oppressed groups who are often left out of the narrative. And they encourage students to draw on their prior knowledge and cultural experiences to make connections to the academic content.

Culturally responsive teaching also must have an element of critical consciousness, where students are empowered to critique and analyze societal inequities. For example, Teddi Beam-Conroy, an associate teaching professor at the University of Washington, was teaching the Declaration of Independence to a class of 5th graders. When they got to the line that said, "All men are created equal," Beam-Conroy asked her students, "Who were the men who were considered equal at that point?" To illustrate the point, she asked everyone to stand up-and then told them to sit down if they didn't identify as male, if they didn't identify as white, or if their parents rented instead of owned a home.

That exercise opened the door to a conversation about how Americans weren't all equal in the late 18th century. Beam-Conroy's students discussed when women and African Americans got the right to vote-and what implications that has had on the composition of U.S. Congress or the Supreme Court. The critical consciousness piece is "examining how historically, power has been distributed and guarded among particular folks who make the laws," Beam-Conroy said. "Fifth graders can understand that."

Culturally responsive teaching can also involve a deeper reimagining of classroom codes of conduct. For instance, in some students' culture, talking while someone else talks shows how invested and engaged they are in the conversation, said Hollie with the Center for Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning. Culturally responsive teachers find ways to incorporate that verbal overlap into their lesson rather than seeing it as rude or worthy of discipline.

What isn't culturally responsive teaching?

Researchers note that some educators say they're practicing culturally responsive teaching, but it's an overly simplified version. For example, for some teachers, a multicultural school potluck meal or adding diverse books to their classroom library sufficiently counts as affirming students' culture in education. But culturally responsive teaching is deeper, more critical work.

"There's a tendency to truncate culturally responsive teaching to be about a whole myriad of things-it's about relationships, it's about anti-racist education, it's about diverse books," said Zaretta Hammond, the author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. "It's like that old parable of the king who asks nine blind men to describe an elephant. Each one grabs a different part of the elephant. 'Oh, it's flat and wide'-he's got the ear. 'No, it's like a rope'-he's got the tail. No one has the whole picture."

Too often, she said, white progressive educators view culturally responsive teaching as an add-on to their regular instruction instead of a fundamental shift in their pedagogy. For example, a teacher might think students of color just need to see themselves in order to feel motivated and do the work, so she'll incorporate diverse books into her classroom or syllabus-but not change anything to the content or her way of instruction.

Another common misconception is that culturally responsive teaching is a way of addressing student trauma, which is a deficit-based ideology that assumes the universal experience of people of color is one of trauma, Hammond said.

How widespread is culturally responsive teaching?

Most teacher-preparation programs have also incorporated culturally responsive teaching into their courses. And some school districts, including New York City and Baltimore City, have adopted a culturally responsive and/or sustaining approach to education.

Still, experts say it's difficult to pinpoint exactly how many teachers have adopted these asset-based pedagogies because some may use only certain tenets. For instance, helping students develop a critical consciousness is often ignored.

What does all of this have to do with critical race theory?

Critical race theory, broadly speaking, is an academic concept with the core idea that race is a social construct, and racism is not only the product of individual bias or prejudice but is also embedded in policies and systems, such as a legal system-or as some scholars such as Ladson-Billings propose, an educational system.

Aspiring K-12 teachers in graduate level courses may study aspects of critical race theory to better understand how school systems are designed in ways that don't serve the needs of students of color. But critical race theory is not taught as a guide for classroom instruction, nor is it typically used as a culturally relevant or culturally responsive lesson plan for kids and teens, said Aronson with Miami University.

Asset-based pedagogies, like culturally relevant or culturally responsive teaching, are not the same thing as critical race theory. They have different theoretical bases and different goals. However, there might be some commonalities-for example, the questions students are encouraged to ask about social systems, including education, may ring close to the consciousness critical race theory is meant to evoke.

In an interview with Education Week, Ladson-Billings stressed that culturally relevant teaching, as she defined it, has nothing to do with critical race theory. But opponents to critical race theory have glossed over those nuances, she said, adding that deliberative public debate is hard when people don't know what they're talking about.

"The attack on anything that allows more participation and moves us toward equity is going full force," she said.

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Here's what it means to be a culturally responsive teacher and where critical race theory ties in-or not.

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Bridging the Gap: Preservice Teachers and Their Knowledge of Working with ELLs

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Bridging the Gap: Preservice Teachers and Their Knowledge of Working with ELLs

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This study explores the impact of a three-credit foundations course for teaching English language learners and its corresponding field experience component of observing ELLs offered as part of the requirements for a BA degree program in elementary education.
The findings from this study show an increase in tolerance and knowledge of ELLs and support for them in the schools. The results present a compelling case to integrate these kinds of experiences into existing teacher preparation programs.

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English Language Learners in U.S Schools

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English Language Learners in U.S Schools

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https://www2.ed.gov/datastory/el-characteristics/index.html

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"English learners (ELs) are a growing part of the K–12 student population. Between the 2009–10 and 2014–15 school years, the percentage of EL students increased in more than half of the states, with increases of over 40 percent in five states.¹ Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, states must annually assess the English language proficiency of ELs, provide reasonable accommodations for them on state assessments, and develop new accountability systems that include long-term goals and measures of progress for ELs. While Spanish was the most common language spoken by ELs at home in 2014–15, in some states there was more variation in the home language."
(U.S Department of Education)

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A diverse group of individuals with different language and academic needs who are limited-English-Proficient.

(U.S Department of Education)

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As the number of students with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds increases in schools, there must be focus on preparing all teachers to work with English Language Learners. Preparation should be provided and required for all candidates in the Teacher Preparation Programs in the U.S in order to be ready to meet the needs of all learners but in particular, English Language Learners.

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The importance of providing knowledge of working with ELLs in Teacher Preparation Programs. This presentation will analyze the topic through the Community Cultural Wealth  theoretical perspective.