There’s still time to sign up for Professional Development Strategies for English Learners (EL) on Tuesday, February 12. Topics include student writing, student engagement, language objectives, and language objective writing. This workshop is for grade 7-12 classroom teachers and EL support staff. Registration closes Tuesday, January 29.
via There’s still time to sign up for Professional Development Strategies for Englis….
Learn engagement strategies for English learners (EL) with our professional development workshop on Tuesday, February 12. This workshop is for grade 7-12 classroom teachers and EL support staff. Registration closes Tuesday, January 29.
http://www.solanocoe.net/apps/events/2013/2/12/1223252/?id=0
via Learn engagement strategies for English learners (EL) with our professional deve….
Grade 7-12 classroom teachers and English learner (EL) support staff: Register today for SCOE’s EL Professional Development Strategic Workshop on February 12.
http://www.solanocoe.net/apps/events/2013/2/12/1223252/?id=0
via Grade 7-12 classroom teachers and English learner (EL) support staff: Register t….
Up to now, California schools have placed a greater emphasis on teaching the state’s 1.5 million English learners the parts of a sentence rather than the meaning of a sentence. That focus on syntax over significance is in for a massive overhaul if, as expected, the State Board of Education votes tomorrow to approve new English Language Development standards aligned to Common Core state standards in reading and writing.
“The old standards are very much geared toward vocabulary and grammar,” said Kenji Hakuta, a Stanford University Education Professor and head of a $2 million English Language Learner Initiative funded by the Gates Foundation and Carnegie Corporation. “This doesn’t ignore them [English learners], it takes a different approach. What you get is a different flavor in terms of how language is used in the classroom to exchange ideas and negotiate meaning.”
via State Board to vote on Common Core for English learners – by Kathryn Baron.
Assembly Bill 18 was one of the casualties as Gov. Jerry Brown waded through hundreds of bills from the hectic, final hours of the 2012 legislative session.
And therein lies a tale.
Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, carried the bill, a watered-down version of her proposal to overhaul how the $60-plus billion in state, local and federal funds are allocated to California’s K-12 school districts each year.
Brownley wanted to streamline state aid and shift more money to low-performing schools with large numbers of students who are poor or “English learners,” responding to criticism that the state was not focusing money on its most urgent needs.
via Dan Walters: California school funding formula not easy to change.
Anyone who studied French all through high school and still ended up hiring an avocado (avocat) instead of an attorney (avocat) understands that learning a foreign language is complicated, and isn’t a strong suit for U.S. schools. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that the same is true when it comes to bilingual education. About 59 percent of California’s 1.4 million English learners are considered long-term English learners, meaning they’ve been in school here for more than six years, yet are not academically fluent.
Alarmed by those statistics, dozens of California school districts have been developing courses to end this educational stagnation. These efforts are showing promise and progress according to a new report, and have propelled California to the forefront a new nationwide movement.
via California leads effort to boost English learner success – by Kathryn Baron.
FAIRFIELD — Last week it was National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week, and at the Fairfield-Suisun Adult School that celebration has a lot of meaning.
Principal Kay Hartley certainly thinks so.
The Adult School faced some devastating cuts last year including several staff layoffs and the near dissolution of the English as a Second Language program. The Fairfield-Suisun School Board cut $862,607, nearly all of the Adult School’s budget.
The board did, however, change some language in its motion so that the Adult School could bring back programs if it found outside funding from grants or other sources.
Solano County Office of Education’s Facebook Wall
SCOE’s English Language Professional Development Series presents Dr. Adria Klein, professor emeritus at CA State University, San Bernardino, and visiting professor at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga. Dr. Klein has worked extensively with groups instrumental in creating the new Common Core Standards for English learners (EL).
This collaborative professional development (PD) series will focus on Common Core and English Language Developent Common Core Standards and its implications for EL students focusing in text complexity. Title III PD goals, EL support strategies, EL monitoring, and coaching for ELD will be an intricate part of this series.
Register today! For more information: http://www.solanocoe.net/apps/events/2013/0/17/1223228/?id=0&REC_ID=1223228
via SCOE’s English Language Professional Development Series presents Dr. Adria Klein….
Solano County Office of Education’s Facebook Wall
Classroom teachers and English language support staff: Register today for SCOE’s English Language Professional Development Strategic Workshops. For details, see the link below.
http://www.solanocoe.net/
via Classroom teachers and English language support staff: Register today for SCOE’s….
Solano County Office of Education’s Facebook Wall
Classroom teachers and English language support staff: Register today for SCOE’s English Language Professional Development Strategic Workshops. For details, see the link below.
http://www.solanocoe.net/
via Classroom teachers and English language support staff: Register today for SCOE’s….
Solano County Office of Education’s Facebook Wall
Classroom teachers and English language support staff: Register today for SCOE’s English Language Professional Development Strategic Workshops. For details, see the link below.
http://www.solanocoe.net/
via Classroom teachers and English language support staff: Register today for SCOE’s….
The Vallejo school board adopted a new English language development curriculum Wednesday.
“It gives our students, in a nutshell, access to the core (curriculum),” said Porfirio Loeza, an English learner teacher leader for the Vallejo City Unified School District.
The new program, California Treasures English Language Development, comes after two years of piloting English language development curricula.
via Vallejo school board adopts new English development curriculum.
Solano County Office of Education’s Facebook Wall
Classroom teachers and English language support staff: Register today for SCOE’s EL Professional Development Strategic Workshops. For details, see the link below.
http://www.solanocoe.net/apps/events/2012/7/28/1223250/?id=0&REC_ID=1223250
via Classroom teachers and English language support staff: Register today for SCOE’s….
Civil rights groups are accusing the state of violating the constitutional rights of English learners in the Dinuba Unified School District by implementing a program that bars first- and second-grade non-English-speaking students from reading classes.
District teachers and parents say the program, called Structured Language Acquisition Development Instruction, requires first- and second-grade English learners to deconstruct complex sentences and memorize formal parts of speech before they have been taught basic reading skills.
While other first- and second-graders are given books and taught how to read, English learners at Dinuba are excluded from that course work for the first half of the school year. When English learners are allowed to join the reading classes during the second half of the year, they are considerably behind the rest of the students,parents and teachers say.
via Civil rights groups sue state for violating rights of English learners.
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In a special state Senate hearing last month, California’s system of classifying, reclassifying, and teaching English learners came under heavy criticism from educators and advocates, who cited inconsistent and ineffective policies and practices for teaching students who comprise one-quarter of the state’s schoolchildren. On Wednesday, parents and teachers in a small Central Valley town added an exclamation point to the criticism by filing suit against the state and their school district over a curriculum for English learners they say is damaging their children’s chances to learn to read and write.
The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento Superior Court by attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union in California, charges that 6,000-student Dinuba Unified and the state violated their children’s constitutional right to equal education opportunity and federal law mandating sound instruction for English learners. The district adopted, and the state rubber-stamped its approval of a curriculum that “contradicts everything we know about how children learn language,” ACLU attorney Mark Rosenbaum said in a statement. Teachers in the district who have taught Second Language Acquisition Development Instruction, or SLADI, concluded it was “nonsense,” the lawsuit said.
via Lawsuit over ‘nonsense’ EL program – by John Fensterwald – Educated Guess.
SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today released the results of the 2011–12 California English Language Development Test (CELDT) that show gains among English learners, with an increasing percentage becoming proficient in their new language.
“We want every English learner to become proficient while making progress in all academic subjects,” Torlakson said. “These results show our students are making important strides toward English language fluency, which will help them tremendously as they work toward their educational goals.”
The CELDT assesses the English-language proficiency of students in kindergarten through grade twelve. The results are used to calculate Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAOs) for federal accountability requirements.
VACAVILLE — Vacaville High School plans to celebrate the work of second-language students from 6:30 to 8 p.m. May 10 in the Little Theater.
The ceremony will honor students, teachers and staff for working to close the achievement gap for second-language students. More than 40 students will receive awards. Food will be available, and dancers will perform as well.
via Vacaville High to celebrate success of second-language students.
How can preschool help children become better prepared for kindergarten? This report examines the relationship of childcare experiences and kindergarten academic skills of four-year-old children. It finds that children attending center-based care significantly improve their early reading skills — including noticeable gains among those whose parents do not speak English.
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English language learners currently get about 8 percent per student in extra funding, says the Legislative Analyst’s Office. That amount would more than quadruple in six years, to 37 percent, if the Legislature adopts Gov. Brown’s weighted student formula, phasing in substantially more money for every poor student and each English learner.
via Dilemma over English learners – by John Fensterwald – Educated Guess.
Legislative Analyst’s Office: Recent K-12 Education Publications, Handouts and Budget Recommendations
via The Weighted Student Funding Formula and English Learner Students.