Educational Leadership
and
English Language Learners
Dr. Monica Vuksánovich, Ph.D
Vst. Asst. Professor of Spanish & ELL Education
Department of Modern & Classical Languages
North Central College
What do we need to know?
• Who are ELLs?
• What is the law?
• How do ELLs learn best?
• What should a principal know?
Who are ELLs?
• In Illinois (2010): 183,522 ELLs in 579 districts
• Linguistically and culturally diverse
• While about 80% are Spanish speakers, 141 different home
languages were represented in Illinois in 2010
What is the law?
• Equal Educational Opportunities Act (EEOA), Section 1703(f) a school district must provide
services that will enable LEP students to “overcome barriers that impede equal participation by
these students in the district’s instructional programs” (see 20 USC 1703)
• Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA/NCLB) – Title III - 'English Language
Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement Act'. “Sec. 3102 (1) to help
ensure that children who are limited English proficient, including immigrant children and youth,
attain English proficiency, develop high levels of academic attainment in English, and meet the
same challenging State academic content and student academic achievement standards as all
children are expected to meet”
• Illinois School Code Article 14C – Transitional Bilingual Education
“105 ILCS 5/14C-1 … to insure equal educational opportunity to every child, and in recognition of
the educational needs of children of limited English-speaking ability, it is the purpose of this Act to
provide for the establishment of transitional bilingual education programs in the public schools, to
provide supplemental financial assistance to help local school districts meet the extra costs of
such programs, and to allow this State to directly or indirectly provide technical assistance and
professional development to support transitional bilingual education programs statewide.”
• Illinois Administrative Code Title 23 Part 228 – Transitional Bilingual Education
• Identification of Eligible Students; Data Collection; Program Options & Placement;
Assessment; Personnel Qualifications and Professional Development; Program Evaluation
Hernandez, R. (2011)
How do ELLs learn best?
• Communicative Language Teaching and Task-based instruction
[1980’s - present day] from a highly qualified teacher with
ELL/Bilingual Certification/Endorsement
• CLT is an approach, not a method (SIOP and CALLA are two
popular “commerical” methods)
What is “proficiency”?
BICS
CALP
Cummins (1991)
How long will it take?
ELL Students
Native Speakers
5-7 (up to 10 ) years
2 years
Based on Cummins (1991), Collier (1995)
When is a student considered
“proficient”?
Overall composite proficiency level of 4.8 as well as a 4.2 composite
literacy (reading/writing) proficiency level on ACCESS for ELLs are
considered English Language Proficient and can exit ELL programming.
6
5
4
3
2
1
DEVELOPING
BEGINNING
ENTERING
EXPANDING
BRIDGING
R
E
A
C
H
I
N
G
How are ELLs assessed?
Step 1: Home language survey
Step 2: Placement tests for ELLs
Preschool: Pre-IPT Oral (listening & speaking)
K-1: Measure of Developing English Language (MODEL)
1-12: WIDA Access Placement Test (W-APT) for new
students
Step 3: Proficiency tests
ELLs annually take the ACCESS for ELLs test to assess
ELP and linguisticially modified ISAT/PSAEs to assess
academic growth
What are the programs in IL?
• TBE
•
What does TBE look like?
•
Bilingual teacher instructs math, science, and social studies in
student’s L1. Lang Arts is bilingual (scaffolded English with
emphasis on L1 literacy at first) and PE & Art are in English.
• TPI
•
(Transitional Bilingual Education) >20 LEP of same L1.
(Transitional Program of Instruction) <20 LEP of same L1.
What does TPI look like?
•
•
P-6 = “Pull out” or “push in” program
7-12 = 1-2 ELL classes per day, plus sheltered math and science.
These classes parallel the regular curriculum but are taught in a
modified manner.
What should a principal know?
Broad Administrative Knowledge of ELLs
ELL Specialized Knowledge
ELL Ed Policy –
New Initiatives and State/Fed Mandates
Special
Education,
Incl Gifted & Magnet
Specialist
Services
Family / Community Engagement
Assessment
Professional Development
Classroom Management
Instruction
Curriculum
Adapted from Hernandez, Reyna (2011)
What are key questions for Ed
Leadership and ELLs?
1. How should my school/district provide appropriate and
differentiated instructional services to all ELLs?
2. What programs models support ELLs?
3. What does fair assessment for ELLs look like?
4. How does an instructional leader analyze and evaluate the
English Language Learning classroom, and how does that
leader know what effective instructor practices and student
behaviors to look for?
5. What strategies should an instructional leader promote to
create collaborative learning teams among teachers?
6. What are the central features of action plans for English
Language Learning excellence?
Adapted from the National Institute for School Leadership (2011)
Next steps?
• Move to Dr. Joe Pacha’s draft of the ELL Assessment
Rubric
Resources
Highly Recommended Texts
Alford, B. and Mary C. Nino (2011). “Leading Academic Achievement for English Language Learners: A Guide for Principals.” Corwin. ISBN-10:
1412981603 ISBN-13: 978-1412981606
Smiley, P. and Trudy Salisbury. (2007). “Effective Schooling for English Language Learners: What Elementary Principals Should Know and Do.”
Eye on Education. ISBN-10: 1596670304 ISBN-13: 978-1596670303
Suggested Additional Texts
Houk, Farin. (2005). “Supporting English Language Learners: A Guide for Teachers and Administrators.” Heinenman. ISBN-10: 0325006997
ISBN-13: 978-0325006994
“Prek-12 English Language Proficiency Standards.” (2006). TESOL. ISBN-10:
93118531X ISBN-13: 978-1931185318
Lindsey, R., Nuri-Robbins, K., and Raymond Terrell. (2009). “Cultural Proficiency: A Manual for School Leaders.” Corwin Press. ISBN-10:
141296363X ISBN-13: 978-1412963633
Theoharis, G. (2009). “The School Leaders Our Children Deserve: Seven Keys to Equity, Social Justice, and School Reform.” Teachers College
Press. ISBN-10: 0807749516 ISBN-13: 978-0807749517
Additional Supporting Texts
Brock, Cynthia and Diane Lapp, Rachel Salas, and Dianna Townsend. ( 2009). “Academic literacy for English learners : high-quality instruction
across content areas.” Teachers College Press: New York.
Cloud, N., Genesee, F., Hamayan,E. (2009). “Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners.” Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Cruz , Bárbara C. and Stephen J. Thornton. (2009). “Teaching social studies to English language learners.” Routledge: New York.
Cummins, Jim, Kristin Brown, Dennis Sayers. (2007). “Literacy, Technology and Diversity: Teaching for Success in Changing Times.”
Freeman, David E. and Yvonne S., (2000). “Teaching Reading in Multilingual Classrooms.” Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Freeman, David E. and Yvonne S. Freeman. (2001) “Between Worlds: Access to Second Language Acquisition.”
Haynes, Judie. (2007). “Getting started with English language learners : how educators can meet the challenge.” ASCD: Alexandria, VA.
Herrell, Adrienne and Michael Jordan. (2008). “Fifty strategies for teaching English language learners.” Pearson: New Jersey.
Herrera, S.G., Perez,D.R., and Escamilla, K. (2010). “Teaching Reading to English Language Learners: Differentiated Literacies.” Boston, MA:
Allyn & Bacon.
Li, Guofang and Patricia A. Edwards, Eds. (2010). “Best practices in ELL instruction.” The Guilford Press: New York.
Lightbown, Patsy M. Nina Spada. “How Languages are Learned.” Third Revised Edition.
Patton O. (2008) “One Child, Two Languages: A Guide for Early Childhood Educators of Children Learning English as a Second Language.”
Second edition. Tabors.
Shatz, Marilyn and Louise C. Wilkinson, Eds. “Education of English language learners : research to practice.” The Guilford Press: New York.
Whelan Ariza, Eileen N. “Not for ESOL Teachers: What Every Classroom Teacher Needs to Know About the Linguistically, Culturally, and
Ethnically Diverse Student” Second Edition.
Resources
TESOL (http://tesol.org/s_tesol/index.asp) : Teachers of
English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) is the
primary professional development organization in the field
of English language acquisition.
ACTFL (http://actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1):
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages is
the primary professional development organization in the
field of foreign language acquisition. ACTFL also address
the teaching and learning of English as a Second
Language.
References
Hernandez, Reyna (2011). Powerpoint Presentation entitled
“Educational Administration and ELLs.” LINC Conference.
Cummins, J. (1991) Language Development and Academic Learning
Cummins, J in Malave, L. and Duquette, G. Language, Culture
and Cognition Clevedon: Multilingual Matters
Collier, V.P. (1995). Acquiring a second language for school. Washington,
DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.
National Institute for School Leadership. (2011)
www.nisl.net/institutes/elli/content.php
WIDA (2011). Steps to English Language Development.
http://www.wida.us/standards/elp.aspx