Vocabulary and spelling are two of the most important skills to achieve success in an academic setting. This review of 15 articles highlights classroom interventions that successfully enhanced vocabulary and spelling skills among ESL, English Only, English language learners (ELL), and learning disabled (LD) students. The strategies that enhanced…

Background: The Response to Intervention (RTI) approach involves the use of a dynamic model built around the systematic documentation of students' response to research-based instructional interventions. Although there has been widespread implementation of RTI models for early intervention and in some cases, as a means to identify students with…

Given new, more rigorous content standards and expanding student diversity, how can school leaders leverage limited resources to guide teachers to effectively teach standards-aligned lessons to all learners? The authors propose that leaders leverage familiar instructional strategies but in a new way to support all students--English learners,…

While the literature on learning disabilities and on second-language acquisition is relatively extensive within the field of education, less is known about the specific characteristics and representation of English learner students with learning disabilities. Because there are no definitive resources and processes for identifying and determining…

Identifying English language learners (ELLs) with learning disabilities has become very important in education settings so that appropriate educational services can be provided to this group of students. Linguistic diversity may increase the measurement error and reduce the reliability of assessments. This article discusses the issues with…

Response to intervention (RTI) has actively been used for identifying reading difficulties and providing supplemental instructions for students with disabilities. Recent developments of RTI show that the method expands its applicability to other areas and populations. In particular, it is difficult to distinguish learning disability (LD) from…

English language learners (ELLs) who are in the process of acquiring English as a second language for academic purposes, are often misidentified as having Language Learning Disabilities (LLDs). Policies regarding the assessment of ELLs have undergone many changes through the years, such as the introduction of a Response to Intervention (RTI)…

The Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2004 (IDEA) was reauthorized to include accountability targets to address disproportionality in special education categories. While socioeconomic disadvantaged students were not identified as a target subgroup by IDEA, the goal of closing the achievement gap for all students has been at the forefront in…

The Census 2000 Brief (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2004b) indicates that English is not the heritage language of approximately one in five Americans, and the number of limited English proficient (LEP) students, also known as English language learners (ELLs), grew about 50 percent in the last decade. It is estimated that nearly 400,000 ELL…

The aim of this document is to give teachers and administrators the contextual and pedagogical tools for the late immersion program. It acts as a guide for beginning and experienced teachers who need to update their knowledge regarding this program and its details. For many working in this area, it also confirms their daily practices as well as…

This study explores No Child Left Behind's required timetable for English language learners (ELLs) to reach English language proficiency within five years, as outlined in the Annual Measurable Achievement Outcomes (AMAOs), despite the lack of research evidence to support this as a reasonable expectation. Analysis was conducted on the archived data…

Using interviews with district and school personnel and documents from state and district web sites in three districts in New York State, the study examines practices for identifying learning disabilities among students who are English language learners and the challenges that arise. Specifically, two research questions guided the project: (1)…

This book captures the diversity and richness of writing as it relates to different forms of abilities, skills, competencies, and expertise. Psychologists, educators, researchers, and practitioners in neighboring areas are interested in exploring how writing develops and in what manner this development can be fostered, but they lack a handy,…

This publication explores issues and makes recommendations related to meeting the needs of English learners with limited language proficiency or learning disabilities, or both. The authors begin by noting the current federal policy context in which this discussion of reading instruction and interventions for English language learners (ELLs)…

There is great controversy in the field of learning disabilities (LD) regarding the establishment of criteria for LD identification. The traditional approach to LD identification is to use the IQ-discrepancy. Lyon and colleagues (2001) point out the numerous problems with such an approach, including faulty assumptions about the adequacy of an IQ…