As we've been talking to ELL educators around the country, we're hearing a common (no pun intended) theme – teachers are buried i
Since teachers will need to plan their CCSS-based instruction around the CCSS standards as well as the CCSS-based assessments, I thought it would be helpful in part 1 of this post to dissect a sample test task from an ELL point of view in order to take a closer look at what the item might mean for ELLs and those who teach them.
In this week’s post, I’ll share some information related to assessing ELLs that I gathered while attending the Council of Chief State School Officers National Conference on Student Assessment last week.
http://www.cal.org/resource-center/briefs/implementing-the-common-core-for-english-learnersNow that educators and researchers alike are digging into the Common Core, more substantive conversations are emerging about what the new standards mean for ELLs, and this CAL brief does a good job painting the big picture as well as offering specific and practical ideas for the classroom.
Big news at the end of the last week: On Friday, Education Week’s Michele McNeil reported that a months-long standoff between the state of California and the U.S. Department of Education has ended, with federal officials approving a waiver allowing the state to administer the Smarter Balanced field tests this year instead of its state testing program.
Diane Staehr Fenner describes California's new English Language Arts/English Language Development (ELA/ELD) Framework and its distinctive features, themes, and guidance. She also offers some ideas on what this framework could mean for teachers in their work with ELLs.
When asked to review these curricular units, I realized I needed a rubric to help me take an objective look at them and be able to share the results with the curriculum writers.Dr. Sydney Snyder and I developed the rubric below and found that it’s been helpful in framing our own thinking.
Julie Motta is the Assistant Superintendent of the East Providence School District in Rhode Island and formerly the ESL Director of Pawtucket Schools. In this blog post written for Colorín Colorado, Julie walks through a template that she has been using with her ESL teachers to make curriculum units aligned to the Common Core State Standards more accessible to ELs and highlights the many strengths and areas of expertise her teachers bring to the process.
Since Education Week continues to provide excellent, in-depth coverage of the Common Core State Standards roll-out, this week we wanted to share a few highlights from their recent headlines.
In addition to this increased urgency to prepare all children for kindergarten, what is going to be expected of children once in kindergarten is changing. How can we best prepare rising kindergartner ELLs for the new demands of the CCSS?
Pages
