Language Education: Major Papers and Reports

Author(s): Brouillette, Liane | Abstract: This study looks at the impact of a cost-effective professional devel- opment model in which teaching artists helped early elementary teachers master arts-based strategies for boosting the oral language development of English- language learners (ELLs). Teaching artists visited K–2 classrooms for 50 minutes weekly for 28 weeks. Student scores on the listening and speaking sections of the California English Language Development Test were used to determine the impact on language development. The experimental group consisted of 267 students; the comparison group consisted of 2,981 students. The analysis of the listening and speaking scores, fall 2010 to fall 2011, showed significantly more improvement for students in the experimental group. This research has implications for school leaders who, in times of tight budgets, seek professional development opportunities that can assist teachers in addressing the language development needs of English-language learners.

Coalition for English Learner Equity issues a call to help address the education disparities faced by English Learners across the U.S.

American schools’ responses to COVID-19’s sudden interruption to public education varied considerably across the nation as students went from daily classroom learning to stay-at-home orders nearly overnight. Now, a new survey reveals the limits of that patchwork response to the emergency — and indicates key lessons for schools’ reopening this fall. Over the past several months, […]

Insights is a SmartBrief Education Originals column that features perspectives from noted experts and leaders in education on the hot-button issuessaffecting schools and districts. All contributors are selected by the SmartBrief Education editorial team. In today's column, Natasha Chenowith, professional development manager for Learning A-Z, offers ideas for supporting English

People have asked me why I recently joined the U.S. Department of Education as assistant deputy secretary in the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) and what I hope to accomplish. It’s personal. The mission of OELA is very important to me as someone whose family did not fully understand U.S. education and someone who […]

Due to the pandemic, the shift to online learning has been a necessity for many students, but as a result, many learners could be left behind. 

In the United States, bilingual education in schools has been an afterthought for decades. But demographic changes in the student population, and new research out of Chicago, demand that it occupy a more meaningful role in how we measure success in serving these students, as well as other groups of learners. Today, as a policy […]

When we have a chance to look back, many in education will recognize 2020 as the year that learning radically changed. The impact of quickly pivoting the entire industry to an online environment has only begun to truly sink in. It is clear technology will play a role in learning in more conscious and thoughtful […]

Dr Stewart and Dr Hansen-Thomas research how co-learning through translanguaging might improve English language acquisition.