Although nearly one in 10 U.S. students is an English Learner (or EL), the definition of the term EL varies considerably from state to state, as does the means of assessing English language proficiency and the period of time for which the label is applied to individual students. As EL populations are growing throughout the U.S., both in school…

Providing appropriate academic evaluation and intervention services for English learners remains a challenging goal for school support teams. Understanding English language proficiency assessment and universal screening processes can help teams make better decisions when considering possible continued intervention or referral for a comprehensive…

The authors provide novice teachers with a step-by-step introduction to linguistic analysis, a tool to identify gaps between English learners' proficiency levels and the language demands of their coursework in the content areas.

The English learner (EL) population has grown by 35% in the last 20 years. However, in addition to new students being identified as ELs, the EL subgroup is being inflated by students who are not being reclassified within a reasonable and developmentally appropriate timeframe. These students, often labeled long term ELs (LTELs), are a product of…

Direct Entry Programs (DEPs) at Australian universities are designed to enhance students' English language and academic skills, with the primary goals of preparing and assuring students' readiness for university studies. Given that university tasks often require the integration of language skills (e.g., writing assignments using information from…

The growing number of English Learners (ELs) in American schools has led to increasing referrals of these students for special education, including speech-language services. These ELs are frequently overidentified as having a language impairment (LI) due to biased assessment practices that are not legal or grounded in research promoting best…

Both educators and students in the United States feel the continuous pressure to improve achievement scores as a form of validation for their work and success. However, emerging bilingual (EBs) learners encounter barriers within assessments that break the assumptions of validity, reliability, and fairness and prevent them from demonstrating their…

This program profile describes the establishment and development of the English Language Learner Writing Center (ELLWC) at Miami University. The Center's mission is to help multilingual (ML) students whose first language (L1) is other than English build writing skills while improving their academic English proficiency. The ELLWC's profile details…

English proficiency cannot be seen as a prerequisite to meaningful participation in classrooms. Instead, language must be viewed as something that is developed in the process of learning when students are supported and have access to the richest curriculum.

Striving for greater English proficiency and securing a job are common goals of newcomers to Canada. For newcomers in the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program, the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB)/Niveaux de competence linguistique canadiens (NCLC) provide an indicator of their abilities and progress in their language…

In the authors' 2017 book "Mastering Formative Assessment Moves" (ASCD), they outlined seven high-leverage formative assessment strategies that promote ambitious teaching and deeper learning. Since then, they've worked with pre- and in-service teachers who are implementing the new English Language Development Standards (2014) in…

High stakes test-based accountability systems primarily rely on aggregates and derivatives of scores from tests that were originally developed to measure individual student proficiency in subject areas such as math, reading/language arts, and now English language proficiency. Current validity models do not explicitly address this use of aggregate…

At the end of every school year, particularly as students move on to middle or high school, educators throughout the nation face the same question: To reclassify or not to reclassify English Language Learners (ELLs)? The reclassification decision is tricky because it sometimes feels as if there is an inevitable tradeoff between specialized…

Many U.S. schools now have adolescent students who are recent immigrants arrive throughout the school year--sometimes with little English or having had interrupted formal education in their home country. Teachers need strategies to involve such "newcomer" students in classroom work right away. The author describes a framework of…

Meeting the needs of English learners (ELs) effectively must be an individualized, purposeful, and data-driven process. Progress monitoring can help practitioners to target their EL students' most significant academic and linguistic needs and, subsequently, develop and deliver instructional programming that may help students develop to their…