This paper looks at the next 25 years of education and policy making regarding students classified as English learners (EL). Given the strong research evidence on the benefits of bilingual education and need to address barriers to opportunity experienced by English learners, this paper strengthens the case for federal, state and local education policy and action that looks toward the implementation of bilingual education as the standard service--rather than exception--for EL-classified students.
With the increased number of English learners (ELs) participating in large-scale state testing, there has been an increased focus on fairness in testing for these students. Test accommodations have shown promise in eliminating barriers and improving accessibility, and computer-based testing (CBT) allows individual customization of tests with built-in accessibility features. Most research on testing accommodations focuses on paper-based tests, but CBT is the most predominant mode of delivering large-scale state assessments.
This article addresses the customary practice of delaying teaching of writing for Beginner English Learners (BELs) which often results in slowing writing development. Barriers preventing teachers from earlier writing instruction include a belief BELs cannot produce written English before learned orally first, a lack of teaching writing know-how, and few level-appropriate materials for older BELs.
This podcast by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) features Maha Abdelkader, Education Program Specialist from OELA, Roger Rosenthal, attorney with the Migrant Legal Action Program and Lissette Colon Collins, Assistant Superindendant for Language Acquisition Funded Programs, School Improvement, and the Arts at Yonkers Public Schools. The panelists discuss the important topic of how U.S. schools can provide English learners with meaningful access to core curricular and extracurricular programs.
The number of English learners enrolled in public schools has grown substantially in the United States over the past two decades. The growth is especially large in states in the South and Midwest that have not been traditional destinations for recent immigrants. In this study, we examine the effects of an influx of new English learners on students in receiving schools in Delaware, which is one of the so-called “new destination” states.
Prior research has documented substantial inequity across, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines within the population of students identified as gifted. Less attention has paid to the equity of gifted identification for student learning English or those with disabilities and what effect state policies toward gifted education might have on these rates.
As part of ED's Raise the Bar efforts to create pathways for global engagement, the Department is working to provide every student with a pathway to multilingualism while ensuring equitable access to a high-quality education for students who are English Learners (ELs), who historically have been underserved. In this letter, the U.S. Secretary of Education shares a number of resources from the Department on how to support students who are ELs.
In 2018, New America provided nine recommendations for how state leaders can improve DLL data practices in three areas: (1) screening, identifying, and tracking DLL enrollment; (2) evaluating program quality; and (3) assessing learning outcomes. Since then, no state has addressed all of the recommendations, and no single recommendation has been adopted by all states.