The Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy today launched a new resource, an ELL (English Language Learner) Information Center that offers videos, data and maps that chronicle the growth and academic performance of the ELL student population across the United States.  The ELL Information Center offers videos, fact sheets and other data that trace the rapid growth of ELL students -- native-born and immigrant -- as well as their performance on standardized tests. The data offerings are national as well as state-by-state.  To view the new Information center, please go to http://www.migrationinformation.org/integration/ellcenter.cfm

 

Securing the Dream: Power, Progress, Prosperity
DCU Convention Center, Worcester, MA
September 17, 2010

This year's Statewide Latino Public Policy Conference, "Securing the Dream: Power, Progress, Prosperity," climaxes the twentieth-anniversary celebration of the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy. During the anniversary year, Institute staff engaged many local leaders, policy makers, and practitioners in regional meetings across Massachusetts on the status of Latinos - the Institute's 2009 Statewide Listening Tour. It is from these conversations - in Springfield, Holyoke, Worcester, Southbridge, Lawrence, Boston, and Dartmouth - that the themes of this conference have emerged. Securing the Dream: Power, Progress, and Prosperity echoes the collective aspirations of Latinos who participated in these intense discussions.

 

http://www.alliance.brown.edu/

 

 

NABE's recomendations for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act were submitted to the Senate committee by Dr. Jose Ruiz-Escalante, President of NABE. The set of recomendations are based on numerous researched-based effectiveness studies that demonstrate the long-term academic and linguistic success for bilingual learners. Below is a link to the letter submitted to the committee.

 read more ...

US to investigate English-teaching efforts in Hub

Civil rights review of lagging school program

By James Vaznis

Globe Staff / March 27, 2010

 

     Federal civil rights investigators have launched a formal review of programs for students who speak limited English in Boston schools, where thousands of such students have not received the help they are entitled to and lag academically.

     The move follows a similar review by the state two years ago that found widespread violations, such as failing in some cases to offer specialized instruction when a language barrier is impeding learning. The district has moved to address the problems, but not swiftly or effectively enough to satisfy local civil rights activists or the state, prompting the US departments of Education and Justice to investigation.

 

 

U.S. Department of Education

March 10, 2010

 

Following Secretary Duncan's announcement Monday of a new focus on civil rights law, the U.S. Department of Education has announced its first formal civil rights enforcement action. The department will examine the academic opportunities and access of English Learner (EL) students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to assess whether they are being denied equal educational opportunities.

 

"It is critical that all students in the district receive equal access to a quality education. If civil rights violations are found, we will seek to put an end to them promptly," said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali.

 

 

NCELA Newsletter: AccELLerate

Winter 2010 - Volume 2: Issue 2

 

Professional Development for Teachers of English Language Learners

 

NCELA announces the publication of a new edition of AccELLerate focusing on professional development for teachers of English language learners. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as reauthorized in 2001, places special emphasis on ensuring that every child has access to highly qualified teachers. Yet, despite continued federal, state, and local efforts to support general classroom teachers, professional development (PD) programs face many challenges, such as time constraints and the difficulty of identifying appropriate instructional strategies. We hope that the collection of articles in this issue, many of which were written by the recipients of National Professional Development grants, may stimulate productive discussion among researchers, administrators, and teachers about PD strategies that help ELLs meet achievement goals by improving the knowledge, skills, and practices of pre-service and in-service teachers. 

 

In this Issue:

• Wilde: Guidelines for Professional Development: An Overview
• Ryan & Garcia: The National Professional Development Program
• Coady, de Jong, & Harper: Quality Teacher Preparation for ELLs: Preliminary Findings from Florida
• Spezzini & Austin:  Collaborative Mentoring Among K-12 Teachers: Professional Development on the Effective Instruction of ELLS
• He & Prater: Collaboration in Professional Development for ELL Content Achievement
• Truxaw & Staples Math ACCESS: Building Mathematical Proficiency in Linguistically Diverse Schools
• Cervone:  Excellence for Connecticut’s English Language Learners
• Lier & Fregeau:  Sixteen Fundamentals for Successful Teachers of ELLs
•  

Also in this issue:

• Sharing Success: Christopher & Christenot and Garrison & Amaral ;
• Information on: PD for Teachers of ELLs: Facts and Figures, OELA , new publications from the  National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, upcoming conferences, PD opportunities, NCELA staff; and
• askNCELA‘s Inbox. 

 

 

 

For the pdf version: http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/files/accellerate/8/Accellerate_2_2_final.pdf

For the html version: http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/accellerate/edition/8/

 

Education Week has just released "Spotlight on ELLs in the Classroom," an online collection of articles and commentaries about ELLs published in the newspaper over the last several years.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/marketplace/products/spotlight-ells-classroom.html

The Spotlight explores how schools and teachers are using innovative means to help English-language learners gain skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The cost for the online package is $4.95.

 Topics include:

• developing oral-language skills for English-learners
• using data to inform ELL instruction
• educating long-term English-language learners
• strategies for math instruction
• mixing students at varying levels of English proficiency
• online resources for English-language learners
• research on improving achievement for English-learners

 Also available from Education Week for $4.95 is a Spotlight on ELL Assessment and Teaching.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/marketplace/products/spotlight-ell-assessment-teaching.html

Teaching English-language learners is a complex endeavor that requires skill and patience. It is also a reality that more and more schools are facing. This Spotlight examines assessment and instruction in the everyday world of ELLs and their schools.

 

This report was published by A Research Initiative of the Campaign for Educational Equity, Teachers College, Columbia University.  The report identifies who are emergent bilingual, gives a brief history of US educational policies for emergent bilinguals and review of equity issues in the education of emergent bilingual. The authors of the report are Ofelia Garcia, Jo Anne Fleifgen and Lorraine Falchi. A copy of the report can be downloaded from the Equity Campain web site at Teachers College Columbia University

 

U.S. Government Accountability Office(GAO) Report On Teacher PreparationThis report, Teacher Preparation: Multiple Federal Eduacation Offices Support Teacher Preparation for Instructing Students with Disabilities and English Language Learners.... finds that "most traditional teacher preparation programs at insitutions of higher education require at least some training for prospective general classroom teachers on instructing students with disabilities and English language learners. While the majority of programs required at least one course entirely focused on students with disabilities, nor more than 20 percent of the programs required at least one course entirely focused on English language learners. More than half the programs required field experience with students with disabilities, while less than a third did so for English language learners. Despite recent steps by the majority of programs to better prepare teachers for instructing both of these student subgroups, many programs faced challenges in providing this training".   The full report can be found at the GAO website www.gao.gov/new.items/d09573.pdf