Standard 2: Are the school district's programs and practices, including resources and personnel, reasonably calculated to implement this theory effectively?
Resources: Standards in California Access to Standards in California School Organization in California
Summary: Districts need to ensure that the following is accomplished:
1) ELL programs (regardless of type) are not seen as "one size fits all", but rather are developed after reflection of a particular program's population and their needs
2) language and content standards specific to ELLs are developed
3) additional quality materials for instructing ELLs are developed and equitably distributed
4) more teachers are trained to work with the ELL population
5) these teachers be offered on-going professional development
From The Education of Language Minority Students: The testimony of Kenji Hakuta (with the special assistance of Michele Bousquet Gutierrez)
- Program Characteristics
- A set of generally agreed upon "best practices" can and should be found across program types.
- Standards specific to ELLs
- Clear academic standards for ELL students must be in place, emphasizing the integration of theory, standards, instruction, and assessment.
- It is unreasonable to expect ELLs to perform comparably to their native English-speaking peers in their initial years of schooling. However, students should be pushed to go beyond this stage over time.
- Adequacy of and access to appropriate materials and academic environments
- Lesser resources are available in many of the classrooms where ELLs can be found.
- Criteria for effective school environments for this population are important to identify as well.
- Teacher Quality and Availability
- Instructors need additional teaching skills and theoretical knowledge beyond that which is taught to mainstream teachers.
- Despite the availability of programs to train teachers, many instructors of ELLs have not completed this training.
- There is a danger of over-reliance on classroom aides for the education of ELL students.
- The schools that ELLs are most likely to attend are the very ones in which qualified teachers are least likely to be employed.
- There is also a mismatch between the racial and ethnic breakdowns of the nation's teachers and students.
- Professional development is critical.
- States should fund research to allow for the tailoring of credentials/certificates that are tied to what we know about critical teacher competencies for ELLs.
- Policymakers should demand a systematic inquiry into ways to understand, support, and coordinate all of these efforts.
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