Equity & Diversity

Back-to-School Reading for English-Language-Learner Teachers

By Corey Mitchell — August 11, 2017 4 min read
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Whether you’re a teacher who’s already back in school or one who’s heading back soon, we hope this blog can serve as resource to you.

Here are links to some stories that have caught our eye this month along with a look ahead at some upcoming notable events.

There are reports about efforts to spur publishers to create quality learning materials for ELLs and states lowering the bar for English proficiency and tips on how to help students develop literacy skills.

If you have suggestions for our next reading roundup or want to chat about English-language learners, please reach out via Twitter @c_c_mitchell or email, cmitchell@epe.org.

Education Week: Is a New English-Proficiency Test Too Hard? Educators and Experts Debate

In many of the 35 states that belong to the WIDA consortium—and use ACCESS 2.0, the common test it designed to assess students’ language proficiency—scores plummeted under the more demanding requirements.

Education Week: Minority Students Missing Out on Speech and Language Services, Study Finds

My colleague Christina Samuels reports on a new study that found English-language learners are less likely to receive speech and language services in kindergarten than white children who are otherwise similar to them.

Education Week Teacher: Teaching Literacy Skills to English-Language Learners (VIDEO)

Kateryna Haggerty, an English teacher at Newtown High School in Queens, N.Y., shares how she helps her English-language learners develop key literacy skills.

Education Week: Teaching Materials for English-Learners Are in Short Supply: That Could Soon Change.

The Council of the Great City Schools has formed a purchasing consortium to encourage the production of better instructional materials for English-learners.

Education Week Teacher: Q & A Collections: Teaching English-Language Learners

Insights from some of Education Week blogger Larry Ferlazzo’s top posts on English-learners.

Colorín Colorado: The bilingual website for educators and families of English-language learners will host a Facebook Live event at 2p.m. Tuesday with Sean Pang, a teacher in Rockville, Md., who is a former English-language learner.

Education Week: Four Ways School Leaders Can Support Undocumented Students

An Education Week opinion piece from Nancy Gutierrez, the chief strategy officer at the NYC Leadership Academy, a nonprofit organization that prepares and supports education leaders. Here’s a link to an story about how educators have responded to President Donald Trump’s immigration orders.

Connecticut Mirror: In Their Words: English Learners Share Their Stories About School

Deeply personal accounts from English-learners about the trials and triumphs of what school looks like from their eyes.

Decatur Daily: Test Change for ELL Students Raises Funding, Accountability Concerns for Systems

A look at the challenges that the new scoring system for WIDA ACCESS 2.0 poses for schools in Alabama.

New America: Social and Emotional Learning for English Learners

Examines how Leticia Guzman Ingram, Colorado’s 2016 Teacher of the Year, uses social and emotional learning to connect with her English-learner students

Huntsville Times: Immigration Transformed This Rural Alabama Town: the Principal Fought to Keep the School Together

When immigration changed the face of his rural hometown, David Uptain worked to draw students of different backgrounds, including ELLs, closer together.

Peoria Journal Star: Spanish Education ‘Instills Bicultural Heritage’ in Students

A look back at a program designed to engage English-learners during the summer months.

Advocates for Children of New York: English-Language Learners Underrepresented in NYC Career and Technical Education Programs

This report tackles a critical question: Why aren’t more ELLs enrolled in career and tech ed courses?

Hechinger Report: Rising Popularity of Dual-Language Education Could Leave Latinos Behind

In the District of Columbia schools, “programs that were created to serve Latino immigrants have become coveted enrichment opportunities for native English speakers who recognize the value of being bilingual in a globalized world,” writes Tara García Mathewson.

Forbes: This School for Refugees and Immigrants Pushes Young English-Learners to Aim Higher

An on-the-ground look at life at the International High School at Langley Park. Here’s a story from the Education Week archives on a sister campus in D.C. Both schools are based on a model developed by the Internationals Network of Public Schools, a New York City-based nonprofit that focuses on serving immigrant students.

Photo credit: High school teacher Dennis Caindec, right, talks with a student during a 12th-grade senior seminar class at San Francisco International High School in San Francisco. --Jeff Chiu/AP

A version of this news article first appeared in the Learning the Language blog.