SRI Education’s Carrie Parker sat down with Ruchika Chopra of the Urban Collaborative to discuss Carrie’s research and reflections on policies and practices around identifying and supporting multilingual learners with disabilities in kindergarten to third grade.
SRI’s director of Multilingual Learner Program Area, Carrie Parker, co-hosted this episode and shares reflections from work she has done over the last five years to better understand how teachers in grades K-3 identify disabilities among multilingual learners.
Reclassification from English learner to English proficient is a crucial outcome for English learner (EL) students’ academic progress because it can open the door to more rigorous courses and lead to stronger academic outcomes.
When I arrived in the United States, I was not quite eight, and did not know how to even say “hello” in English. All I knew was that education was my opportunity to live a better life, and that I had to learn English to access it.
The language we use affects the way we perceive our world. Language can help create new understandings and expand our view of what exists and what is possible, and it also can limit our understanding. The terms we use to describe students who speak two or more languages or speak a language other than English at home, for example, impacts how we envision and develop programs and policies for those students.
SRI Education is leading an external evaluation of bilingual professional development developed by faculty from Santa Clara University and San Jose State University. The National Professional Development Program of the Office of English Language Acquisition has funded this 5-year project to develop bilingual professional development for in-service teachers, pre-service teachers, and student caregivers. The project … Continue reading Bilingual/Biliterate Instruction for Bilingual Youth (BBILY) Evaluation
For the last two years, a team of educators from the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) has collaborated with REL Northeast & Islands researchers on a project designed to ensure equitable access to high-quality instruction for USVI English learners. The team—composed of two administrators from the Virgin Islands Department of Education (VIDE), two district English as … Continue reading REL Northeast & Islands Virgin Islands English Learner Project
From 2017 to 2020, REL Northeast & Islands staff worked with state and local partners in the region to learn about the policies and practices they use to identify disabilities among English learners and to provide resources to implement key policies and practices at the district, school, and classroom levels. » Learn more Project Leaders: … Continue reading REL Northeast & Islands Identifying Disabilities among English Learners
Extending prior research that explores the relationship between contextual factors, engagement, and learning in online settings, this mixed-methods study examines outcomes in a MOOC designed for teachers of English learners (ELs). The study identifies structural and social supports available to some course participants (release time, stipends, participating with colleagues, and having a facilitator who convened … Continue reading Taking Away Excuses to Quit: The Role of Supports in Completion and Learning in Online Professional Development for Teachers
From 2017 to 2020, REL Northeast & Islands staff worked with state and local partners in the region to learn about the policies and practices they use to identify disabilities among English learners and to provide resources to implement key policies and practices at the district, school, and classroom levels. The resulting resources can be … Continue reading Resources for Determining Special Education Eligibility of English Learners
This blog introduces a series of policy briefs that were developed in collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Education to better understand the state of bilingual education across the country, potential strategies to address the shortage of bilingual educators, and approaches to bilingual education policy and programming. View Resource Citation: Rutherford-Quach, S., Kelly, H., … Continue reading Examining Bilingual Programs and Policies
This blog describes a two-year project in collaboration with the Virgin Islands Department of Education to ensure that all educators have access to best practices for English learners. View Resource Citation: Parker, C.E. (2021). Virgin Islands Project Supports All Educators in Instructing English Learners. Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast & Islands. Retrieved from https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/northeast/Blog/Post/35 Related Project: … Continue reading Virgin Islands Project Supports All Educators in Instructing English Learners
In this brief, the authors define some of the key terms in bilingual education and then provide an overview of the different state policies for the provision of bilingual education to English learners. View Resource Citation: Rutherford-Quach, S., Torre Gibney, D., Kelly, H., Ballen Riccards, J., Garcia, E., Hsiao, M., Pellerin, E., & Parker, C. … Continue reading Bilingual Education Across the United States
In this brief, the authors share strategies that can help mitigate bilingual teacher shortages and provide considerations for state and district leaders who are interested in addressing these shortages. View Resource Citation: Torre Gibney, D., Kelly, H., Rutherford-Quach, S., Ballen Riccards, J. & Parker, C. (2021). Addressing the bilingual teacher shortage. CCNetwork. Related Project: Mid-Atlantic … Continue reading Addressing the Bilingual Teacher Shortage
Resource: Leveraging Flexible Teacher Certification Policies to Address the Bilingual Teacher Shortage
In this brief, the authors share strategies that state education agencies may use to provide more flexibility in teacher certification policies and thereby mitigate bilingual teacher shortages, including: 1) providing educators multiple pathways to certification, 2) offering prospective teachers a menu of certification requirements, 3) allowing educators to earn probationary certifications, and 4) creating flexible … Continue reading Leveraging Flexible Teacher Certification Policies to Address the Bilingual Teacher Shortage