New Resource: A Framework for Teaching English Learners

Posted by on April 1, 2005

[posted from Public Education Network newsblast]

A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING ENGLISH LEARNERS
English learners face the daunting task of learning the academic curriculum and a new language concurrently. With their numbers rising across the nation, and increased accountability requirements focusing on their performance, schools are under pressure to better serve these students. Language plays a central role in how children learn in schools. Getting a good education can be especially challenging for children whostarted life learning one language at home and now must learn from teachers and texts using a different one. In this country, the numbers of such students– those designated as English learners — have risen dramatically in recent years. Current estimates indicate over 4 million English learners in U.S. schools. Federal, state, and local policymakers are raising the stakes for how schools educate these students. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires states to set and meet “annual measurable achievement objectives” on students’ progress toward proficiency in English. NCLB also requires that states include English learners in reading, mathematics, and science testing to measure whether schools are making adequate yearly progress. Drawing on WestEd’s deep expertise in these matters, a new report focuses on some of the challenges and opportunities that educators face in trying to better serve English learners. Highlighted is a new framework for teaching English learners that is a central component of a large-scale professional development initiative in New York City led by WestEd’s A?da Walqui. The framework identifies specific instructional approaches that teachers can offer to help English learners excel.
http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/rs/760