This book is the result of a decade long effort in school districts such as New York City, Austin, and San Diego to implement challenging instruction that is designed for classrooms that include English learners and that raises the bar and increases engagement for all learners. Classroom vignettes, transcripts of student interactions, and detailed examples of intellectually engaging middle school and high school lessons provide a concrete picture of the instructional approach developed by coauthor Aida Walqui, founder and director of WestEd s Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) initiative.

This book presents an ambitious model for how educators can design high-quality, challenging, and supportive learning opportunities for English Learners and other students identified to be in need of language and literacy support. Starting with the premise that conceptual, analytic, and language practices develop simultaneously as students engage in disciplinary learning, the authors argue for instruction that amplifies—rather than simplifies—expectations, concepts, texts, and learning tasks. The authors offer clear guidance for designing lessons and units and provide examples that demonstrate the approach in various subject areas, including math, science, English, and social studies. This practical resource will guide teachers through the coherent design of tasks, lessons, and units of study that invite English Learners (and all students) to engage in productive, meaningful, and intellectually engaging activity. “This book offers the most detailed guide available for designing instruction for students categorized as ELLs. Theoretically grounded and informed by years of implementation and study, this work is without equal in the field. I recommend the book enthusiastically as required reading in all teacher preparation programs.” —Guadalupe Valdés, Bonnie Katz Tenenbaum Professor of Education, Stanford Graduate School of Education “Reflecting its title, this book is an amplification of what it means to provide the best learning opportunities for English Language learners. Drawing on classroom-based research, Amplifying the Curriculum offers many practical examples of intellectually engaging units and tasks. This innovative book belongs on the bookshelves of all teachers.” —Pauline Gibbons, UNSW Sydney “This timely book is a call to educators across the nation to integrate language, literacy, and disciplinary knowledge to improve the education of our new American students.” —Tatyana Kleyn, The City College of New York

A study of first and second language development in an indigenous community with implications for broader linguistic and cognitive issues. When two or more languages are part of a child's world, we are presented with a rich opportunity to learn something about language in general and about how the mind works. In this book, Norbert Francis examines the development of bilingual proficiency and the different kinds of competence that come together in making up its component parts. In particular, he explores problems of language ability when children use two languages for tasks related to schooling, especially in learning how to read and write. He considers both broader research issues and findings from an ongoing investigation of child bilingualism in an indigenous language–speaking community in Mexico. This special sociolinguistic context allows for a unique perspective on some of the central themes of bilingualism research today, including the distinction between competence and proficiency, modularity, and the Poverty of Stimulus problem. Francis proposes that competence (knowledge) should be considered as an integral component of proficiency (ability) rather than something separate and apart, arguing that this approach allows for a more inclusive assessment of research findings from diverse fields of study. The bilingual indigenous language project illustrates how the concepts of modularity and the competence-proficiency distinction in particular might be applied to problems of language learning and literacy. Few investigations of indigenous language and culture approach bilingual research problems from a cognitive science perspective. By suggesting connections to broader cognitive and linguistic issues, Francis points the way to further research along these lines.

Educating dual language learners (DLLs) and English learners (ELs) effectively is a national challenge with consequences both for individuals and for American society. Despite their linguistic, cognitive, and social potential, many ELsâ€"who account for more than 9 percent of enrollment in grades K-12 in U.S. schoolsâ€"are struggling to meet the requirements for academic success, and their prospects for success in postsecondary education and in the workforce are jeopardized as a result. Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures examines how evidence based on research relevant to the development of DLLs/ELs from birth to age 21 can inform education and health policies and related practices that can result in better educational outcomes. This report makes recommendations for policy, practice, and research and data collection focused on addressing the challenges in caring for and educating DLLs/ELs from birth to grade 12.

How to give English language learners every opportunity for success This practical guide equips school leaders to help English language learners succeed. The authors show how school leaders and staff members can serve as student advocates and apply successful instructional practices that increase student learning. Written in straightforward language with quick reference charts and summaries, the text provides: Strategies for creating a culture of ELL advocacy and achievement Case studies from school leaders who have created positive change for ELLs Professional development tools that build teachers’ knowledge of second language acquisition Tips for strengthening home–school–community connections

Build the bridges for English language learners to reach success! Ten years ago, the first edition of Margo Gottlieb’s Assessing English Language Learners changed the dialogue about how educators envision educational equity for students. Since then, the ELL and dual language student populations have grown exponentially, and so has the need for forward-thinking and effective approaches to facilitating students’ academic language development alongside their content knowledge. This thoroughly updated edition of Gottlieb’s classic delivers a complete set of tools, techniques, and ideas for planning and implementing instructional assessment. The book includes: A focus on academic language use in every discipline, from mathematics to social studies, within and across language domains Emphasis on linguistically and culturally responsive assessment as a key driver for measuring academic achievement A reconceptualization of assessment "as," "for," and "of" learning Reflection questions to stimulate discussion around assessment policies and practices to maximize opportunities for teacher input and student engagement This book is an essential resource for pre-service and in-service teachers, educator teams, and school leaders striving toward equity in every classroom. "In this exciting, practitioner-friendly volume, Margo Gottlieb shows us how assessment as, for, and of learning can provide a level playing field for today’s language learners. Educators working with English language learners will find this assessment-moxie book truly invaluable." —W. James Popham, Professor Emeritus University of California, Los Angeles "There are no other books available that cover the topic of fair and equitable assessment practices for English learner as comprehensively as this one. Nor are there any other books with such a rich selection of tools readily available for practitioners. It must belong in every TESOL professional’s library!" —Andrea Honigsfeld, Associate Dean and EdD Program Director Molloy College

The bestselling Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning helped tens of thousands of mainstream elementary teachers ensure that their English language learners became full members of the school community with the language and content skills they needed for success. In the highly anticipated Second Edition, Pauline Gibbons updates her classic text with a multitude of practical ideas for the classroom, supported by the latest research in the field of ELL/ESL. With clear directions and classroom tested strategies for supporting students' academic progress, Gibbons shows how the teaching of language can be integrated seamlessly with the teaching of content, and how academic achievement can be boosted without sacrificing our own vision of education to the dictates of knee-jerk accountability. Rich examples of classroom discourse illustrate exactly how the scaffolding process works, while activities to facilitate conversation and higher-level thinking put the latest research on second language learning into action.

“It’s a new day! We’ve learned language acquisition in school isn’t linear and rote, but rather, dynamic, meaningful, and collaborative. Multilingual learners thrive through the production of oral and written language.” —Dr. Nancy Akhavan Are you ready to teach multilingual learners with instruction that reflects current English Language Development (ELD) standards? Language acquisition expert Dr. Nancy Akhavan provides a flexible resource that delivers what students need most—experiences that teach language skills through intellectually engaging texts, tasks, and lively communication with peers. This dynamic curriculum offers five units based on a writing performance task that aligns to commonly taught genres and key reading skills. The research-backed instructional framework maximizes students’ participation through a series of listening, speaking, and writing activities. Book Review 1: "Nancy Akhavan has brought together a set of carefully designed lessons that address the specific language-acquisition needs of English Language Learners. Each 30 minute lesson is designed to help multilingual learners acquire English through content, which supports lesson planning and delivery. Dr. Akhavan’s work ensures success by demystifying the process of teaching and learning." Cinnamon Scheufele Executive Director, Curriculum and Instruction Lindsay Unified School District, Lindsay, CA Book Review 2: "As a teacher educator, this curriculum is exactly what I wished I had to give my early career teachers - who needed structure, scaffolding, and support in fine-tuning their instruction. The unit design - with the foundations, pave the way, lead the way, and assess - serve as the foundation upon which each lesson rests. The lessons are laser focused to standards and learning outcomes, and the assessment perfectly aligns. I enthusiastically support this curriculum, which has the potential to promote significant changes in the literacy trajectories for students and districts." Molly Ness VP, Academic Content Learning Ally

Teacher Education and Practice, a peer-refereed journal, is dedicated to the encouragement and the dissemination of research and scholarship related to professional education. The journal is concerned, in the broadest sense, with teacher preparation, practice and policy issues related to the teaching profession, as well as being concerned with learning in the school setting. The journal also serves as a forum for the exchange of diverse ideas and points of view within these purposes. As a forum, the journal offers a public space in which to critically examine current discourse and practice as well as engage in generative dialogue. Alternative forms of inquiry and representation are invited, and authors from a variety of backgrounds and diverse perspectives are encouraged to contribute. Teacher Education & Practice is published by Rowman & Littlefield.

It was a dark and stormy night in Santa Barbara. January 19, 2017. The next day’s inauguration drumroll played on the evening news. Huddled around a table were nine Corwin authors and their publisher, who together have devoted their careers to equity in education. They couldn’t change the weather, they couldn’t heal a fractured country, but they did have the power to put their collective wisdom about EL education upon the page to ensure our multilingual learners reach their highest potential. Proudly, we introduce you now to the fruit of that effort: Breaking Down the Wall: Essential Shifts for English Learners’ Success. In this first-of-a-kind collaboration, teachers and leaders, whether in small towns or large urban centers, finally have both the research and the practical strategies to take those first steps toward excellence in educating our culturally and linguistically diverse children. It’s a book to be celebrated because it means we can throw away the dark glasses of deficit-based approaches and see children who come to school speaking a different home language for what they really are: learners with tremendous assets. The authors’ contributions are arranged in nine chapters that become nine tenets for teachers and administrators to use as calls to actions in their own efforts to realize our English learners’ potential: 1. From Deficit-Based to Asset-Based 2. From Compliance to Excellence 3. From Watering Down to Challenging 4. From Isolation to Collaboration 5. From Silence to Conversation 6. From Language to Language, Literacy, and Content 7. From Assessment of Learning to Assessment for and as Learning 8. From Monolingualism to Multilingualism 9. From Nobody Cares to Everyone/Every Community Cares Read this book; the chapters speak to one another, a melodic echo of expertise, classroom vignettes, and steps to take. To shift the status quo is neither fast nor easy, but there is a clear process, and it’s laid out here in Breaking Down the Wall. To distill it into a single line would go something like this: if we can assume mutual ownership, if we can connect instruction to all children’s personal, social, cultural, and linguistic identities, then all students will achieve.