The EdResearch for Action "Overview Series" summarizes the research on key topics to provide K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students. This research brief breaks down what is known about multilingual students classified as English Learners (ML-ELs), how…

The Comprehensive Assessment System (CAS) Framework presents a vision for a system of assessments for English Learners in secondary grades that brings assessment closer to the classroom and fully involves teachers in assessment development and validation. The CAS Framework is intended to signal a new and equitable direction and to provoke…

Success in reading is essential throughout a student's school career and into adulthood. Recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessment shows that approximately one-third of all fourth-grade students are not meeting basic reading standards. When results are broken out by racial and student subgroups, the…

The number of English learners (ELs) in Alabama has increased significantly in recent years. English learners include U.S.-born children whose first language is not English, newcomers to the U.S., and other students developing English proficiency. These children are in Alabama schools, acquiring academic English instruction that promotes mastery…

Improving student performance, especially that of those learners who experience poverty, disabilities, language barriers, or some combination of these factors, is an ongoing challenge for many, if not all, school districts. It can be particularly so for smaller or more geographically isolated districts that, compared to their larger urban…

Region 14 Comprehensive Center and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) are collaboratively implementing projects to address high leverage problems such as instructional leadership professional development, school-based mental health supports, and evidence-based reading instruction. This profile provides a summary of these selected projects and an…

The authors present evidence-based digital literacy practices and resources for teaching and learning English as an additional language in two different educational contexts where these practices have been applied successfully with adolescent learners.

Evidence-based writing is a complex standard in the Common Core State Standards that has taken center stage in the writing curriculum. Students must demonstrate proficiency in making claims based on evidence and explain how the evidence supports their claim. This is a challenging task for all students, but for English learners, it can be…

English language learners are often at risk for communication and language delays--crucial elements in the foundation of early literacy skills. Studies have shown that preschool children involved in sociodramatic play demonstrate greater proficiency and interest in language development and reading. The manuscript shares evidence-based strategies…

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are experiencing the exciting challenge of serving increasing numbers of English Language Learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools. When ELLs struggle in school, they may be overreferred for speech-language services. SLPs are routinely expected to differentiate a language difference based on cultural, linguistic, and…

School leaders have the unique opportunity and responsibility to play a crucial role in creating a culture of high expectations and an environment of support so that ELLs can succeed and continue to enrich the fabric of our country. "What School Leaders Need to Know About English Learners" offers school leaders the foundation, the ideas,…

The ethnic and racial diversity of the residents of the United States of America is one of our country's unique strengths. However, Black, Latinx, Pacific Islander, Native, and certain Asian American workers face wide racial inequities in educational attainment, employment, and income. Immigrants and English learners, the majority of whom are…

In school districts and charter school networks nationwide, instructional leaders are developing plans to address the enormous challenges faced by their students, families, teachers, and staff over the past year. To help kick-start the planning process, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute presents "The Acceleration Imperative," an…

As students move through the grades, content area learning becomes increasingly significant for reading, writing, and speaking tasks. One research-evidenced approach to actively engaging adolescent learners in acquiring, remembering, and using academic vocabulary in reading, writing and speaking tasks across disciplines is multisensory structured…

The 2015 federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) affords states flexibility in adopting accountability measures that assess opportunity to learn, and requires that state and district leaders use evidence-based interventions to address any inequities. For English learners (ELs) at the secondary level, one important measure of opportunity to learn…