Finally…
Every Student
Succeeds Act (ESSA) now allows
states flexibility to assess the growth of English Language Learners (ELLs). No
learner is the same including our growing number of ELLs in the United States.
It states that now ¼ of all students
speak a language other than English at home. ESSA now allows a growth-to-target model. It sets annual and long-term
goals based on their baseline test upon entering the US. Each ELL has an individual
learning plan. That sounds familiar (IEP). It finally makes some sense now!
“Historically,
ELs have often been held accountable for making exactly the same English
language growth each year. Trouble is, research reliably shows that different levels of language proficiency
take different amounts of time to develop. That is, many students move rapidly
from basic to intermediate English language skills but then take longer to move
to advanced levels of academic language proficiency”
Things are finally starting to make sense now in terms of a common sense growth plan for ELLs! Sure took long enough to listen to the research! But I am just a simple teacher with simple ideas!
https://www.the74million.org/article/williams-in-praise-of-new-jersey-illinois-louisiana-3-states-smartly-using-essa-to-help-english-learners
I found it interesting that more than 1/4 of students speak another language other than English at home. Your blog made me think about how my dad, who only spoke Italian at home and failed first grade because he speak English, got through school. I wonder if there was any programs or steps to assist students back then to learn English and succeed in school. We obviously came a long way in assisting students to learn English in school and having ESSA ensures that occurs. It is not easy to learn a language and each learner obtains the language knowledge at different rates just like learning material. Thank you for the information on ESSA as I was unaware of this act!
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