Serving English Language Learners
The vision of equitable, democratic learning environments and thriving learners applies to all students and all teachers. Serving an increasingly diverse student population requires flexibility and a culturally responsive approach. Ensuring rigor and integrity across content areas, instruction and assessment requires commitment and resilience.
Meaningful education for all begins with understanding and addressing educators’ capacity to serve a broadening student base. CCE’s Instruction practice directs resources to the needs of educators working in classrooms where students are developing their English proficiency and content area knowledge and skills; in effect, all classrooms, and especially classrooms that include English Language learners (ELLs).
Teacher Leadership Network: Ensuring Equity for ELLs supports teachers to consider many measures of student success and how to achieve them. In an inquiry-based process, participants explore and identify challenges facing teachers and learners; develop and test solutions; continuously iterate and improve; and share their findings to effect better student outcomes across schools, districts and states, consistent with college and career readiness standards and other important learning targets.
Improving students’ chances of learning, and teachers’ opportunities to be better teachers.
The process sets the tone for collaborative professional development with continuous improvement as the primary goal. Leaders contribute by making time and space for teachers to design, try and assess new approaches, and communicate their learning.
Developing teacher leaders and creating cultures of teacher-driven change.
Empowering teachers to own their students’ education is the critical first step. On-the-ground learning and public reflection and sharing of validated work inspire greater confidence; more effective teaching; and, ultimately, more equitable outcomes in the classroom.
Taking instructional risks to enable deeper learning.
Teachers probe commonly held views of Depth of Knowledge (DOK) and other measures of student engagement and learning, to find new approaches that serve the needs of all 21st century learners. As accountability shifts to those closest to learners, educators are challenged to develop and provide learning experiences that recognize the multiple dimensions of the individual.
Learning the tools of relevant and equitable assessment.
Allowing all students to demonstrate what they know and can do, and measuring their achievement consistently, enhances both student and teacher learning. Program participants learn to evaluate their solutions and help their students move forward as confident, accomplished citizens.
Sharing to promote better student outcomes.
With regular opportunities to gain colleague feedback on lesson plans and units; to analyze student work and better understand and address learning gaps; to reflect on instruction via classroom observation; and to interpret student data, design equitable assessments, and co-construct curriculum, teachers are better prepared to apply effective, research-based practices in their classrooms. Through the publication of tools, strategies and protocols, they learn from others similarly engaged.