Projects English Language Learners - All Projects
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Tuesday, April 9, 2013
ELL Center's Technical Assistance Related to the Common Core State Standards
In the past year, staff from the Center for English Language Learners have been involved in technical assistance work related to the Common Core.
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Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Technical Assistance to New York State Districts for ELLs to Help Turn Around Low-Achieving Schools
Leaders in New York contracted with AIR in 2005 when they wanted to know which practices and strategies were working for ELLs in their schools and districts. On behalf of the New York State Education Department and the New York City Department of Education, AIR has engaged schools and districts cited as being in corrective action throughout the state of New York.
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Tuesday, April 9, 2013
ELLs and the California Collaborative on District Reform
The California Collaborative on District Reform joins researchers, district practitioners, state policy actors, and funders in on-going evidence-based dialogue and collective problem-solving to improve outcomes for all students in California school systems, with an emphasis on the over 1.5 million ELLs in California schools.
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Friday, April 5, 2013
ELL Policy Analysis and Related Work
The policy work of the Center for English Language Learners currently focuses on analysis of state and federal policies and assistance to federal and state policymakers on issues relevant to ELLs.
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Friday, April 5, 2013
ELL Work in Regional Comprehensive Centers
AIR manages the Great Lakes Comprehensive Center and Midwest Comprehensive Center, two of the 15 regional centers that are funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The regional centers provide technical assistance designed to build the capacity of states to help districts and schools meet the goals of ESEA, including the states' new flexibility waivers. AIR regional center staff provides ELL-related technical assistance to state education agencies.
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Friday, April 5, 2013
ELL Content Centers
Recently, the U.S. Department of Education awarded AIR two content centers, which will offer all states research-based resources and tools to support struggling students, including ELLs: the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders and the College and Career Readiness and Success Center.
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Friday, April 5, 2013
English Language Learners - The National Charter School Resource Center
The National Charter School Resource Center’s resources for English language learners are designed for a range of different stakeholders, who might have varied levels of knowledge about ELLs. Target audiences include authorizers, charter management organizations, charter support organizations, charter school developers, and staff and leaders at charter schools that serve ELLs.
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Thursday, March 14, 2013
Evaluation of the Massachusetts Rethinking Equity and Teaching for English Language Learners (RETELL) Initiative
In order to improve instruction for ELLs in Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) has recently introduced the Rethinking Equity and Teaching of English Language Learners (RETELL) initiative. Under this initiative, all core academic teachers in the state are required to complete comprehensive professional development in Sheltered English Instruction methods by July 2016. AIR has evaluated the pilot professional development program that was initiated under RETELL in Fall 2012 and will be evaluating the implementation of the first year of the full roll-out of the program.
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Tuesday, March 20, 2012
AIR Centers with ELL Components
The U.S. Department of Education has contracted with AIR to operate a number of federally funded research and technical assistance centers, many of which have developed resources related to English language learners (ELLs).
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Study of School Turnaround
The U.S. Department of Education has invested substantial funds in turning around the nation’s lowest performing schools and has contracted with AIR to examine how schools’, receiving federal school improvement grants (SIGs) are changing over time. Over a three year-year period, AIR has followed 35 case-study schools to determine how they define their performance problem(s) and implement strategies to improve, how these actions are influenced by the schools’ contexts and by elements of the SIG grants, and what changes in the schools as a result. An ELL sub-study follows the experiences of a subset of case-study schools that have high proportions of ELLs, exploring issues specifically related to ELLs in low-performing schools. Through site visits, interviews, and teacher surveys, AIR staff has explored teacher and leader capacity to meet the needs of ELLs, professional development related to ELLs, instructional approaches for ELLs, and involvement of ELL parents. Lessons learned about successful turnarounds will inform future federal policies related to low-performing schools.
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Curriculum Audits of Districts and Schools for English Language Learners
AIR’s district and school consultation services include curriculum audits of districts and schools in corrective action. Learn more about how AIR District Audits have revealed how some schools defy the odds for ELLs who struggle with poverty and English language acquisition.
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Analysis of the Title III Professional Development Program
The National Professional Development Program (NPDP) supports projects designed to increase the pool of teachers who are highly qualified to work with ELLs and to improve the skills of teachers who are currently serving these students. On behalf of the Program and Policy Studies Service at the U.S. Department of Education, AIR is gathering lessons learned about characteristics of pre-service and in-service teacher education programs, courses, and activities intended to improve instruction for ELLs, both by reviewing the literature and by conducting case studies of current and former NPDP grantees.
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Thursday, April 1, 2010
California Collaborative on District Reform
The California Collaborative on District Reform, an initiative of AIR, was formed in 2006 to join researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and funders in ongoing, evidence-based dialogue to improve instruction and student learning for all students in California’s urban school systems. In particular, the group recognizes the key role that districts play in supporting educational improvement and often explores issues through the lens of improved instruction for English learners.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Evaluation of Proposition 227
The California Department of Education (CDE) contracted AIR to provide information about the implementation and effects of Proposition 227 and of the English Language Acquisition Program (ELAP), which provided funding to support instruction for ELLs in the state. This five-year evaluation informed CDE about the effect on students, schools, and districts of Proposition 227 and about the future viability of ELAP. Using case studies, phone and written surveys, statistical analyses of student performance data, stakeholder interviews, and document reviews, AIR staff investigated federal-, state-, district-, and school-level factors that influenced the implementation of Proposition 227 and evaluated trends in student outcomes since its passage.
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Thursday, October 22, 2009
Title III Evaluation
The U.S. Department of Education commissioned AIR to evaluate the Title III program to determine how, and how well, states are implementing Title III provisions, how state policy translates into district practices, and how well ELLs are mastering grade level content and improving their English language proficiency.
