Within California, there are high numbers of Multilingual Language Learners (MLLs) that populate California public schools that require special programs and services to ensure their academic, language, and social success. According to the Public Policy Institute of California (2023), nearly 25 percent or 1.4 million of the students in California…

Dual language learners make up an increasing share of preschool students, but they often perform worse than monolingual students on assessments measuring school achievement. This study compares Head Start classrooms implementing either the dual language model or the English with home language support model. The author examines how the models…

Language must be taught with academic vocabulary that is meaningful and that can be transferred between content and context. This comparative-descriptive research study examines how academic specific instruction increases students' learning of a second language acquisition (i.e., English). The conceptual framework of the study drew research…

The population of Spanish-speaking preschoolers in the United States continues to increase and there is a significant need to develop psychometrically sound early language and literacy screening measures to accurately capture children's ability in Spanish. In this paper, we describe the innovative design and calibration process of the new…

Although researchers call for inquiry learning in science, science assessments rarely capture the impact of inquiry instruction. This paper reports on the development and validation of assessments designed to measure middle-school students' progress in gaining integrated understanding of energy while studying an inquiry-oriented curriculum. The…

Many students, especially English language learners (ELLs), struggle with writing expository texts. This study examined the impact of several writing strategies on ELLs' writing skills, including prewriting strategies and scaffolding strategies inherent in the Thinking Maps (TM) program. The purpose of the study was to see if ELLs were able to use…

Students' oral reading fluency growth from first through fourth grade was used to predict their achievement on the Stanford Achievement Test (9th ed.; SAT-9 Reading) using a latent growth model. Two conditional variables related to student status were used to determine the effects on reading performance--English language learners (ELLs) with low…

Dynamic assessment (DA) is based on Vygotsky's (1978) sociocultural theory and his Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). ZPD is the range of abilities bordered by the learner's assisted and independent performances. Previous studies showed promising results for DA in tutoring settings. However, they did not use proficiency-based rubrics to measure…

This study examined the added value of a vocabulary plus phonological awareness (vocab+) intervention against a phonological awareness (PA only) intervention only. The vocabulary intervention built networks among words through attention to morphological and semantic relationships. This supplementary classroom instruction augmented existing…

The social nature of language learning and development has been widely acknowledged, as has the importance of family relationships in language learning processes. The role that the first language plays in the literacy development of English language learners (ELLs) and their families is irrefutable. Advocates of family literacy programs have…

Current emphasis on teacher effectiveness in educational policy poses a challenge for the evaluation of special education teachers and English language learner (ELL) specialists. Most evaluation systems focus on student achievement and teacher practice; however, few systems have the capacity to differentiate among specialty area educators, address…

State educational agency efforts to promote linguistic and academic achievement for English language learners (ELLs) are critical to improving educational outcomes, such as high school achievement, graduation rates, and postsecondary opportunities. This brief begins with a national snapshot of the achievement and educational outcomes of ELLs and…

Of California's 6.3 million public school students in 2006-07, 1.6 million (25%) were considered English learners (EL). Although the vast majority of ELs in the state are Spanish-speaking, more than 50 languages are represented in the state's EL population. English learners are distributed throughout the state and across grade levels, with the…

In grade 8 (the only grade in which subgroup trends were analyzed by achievement level), California students made gains across the board in reading at the basic, proficient, and advanced levels for racial/ethnic subgroups, low income students, and boys and girls. In math, there were some declines at the basic achievement level. In terms of…

This descriptive study documents the effects of response-to-intervention type practices in four first-grade classrooms of English learners (ELs) from 11 native languages in three schools in a large urban school district in southern California. Observations and interviews in four classrooms across two consecutive years were compared to first-grade…