Education Research Helps Teachers Cope With the Challenges of the New Arizona Law
Arizona has implemented one of the most restrictive educational language policies in the nation, affecting students, teachers, classrooms, and teacher educators and contributing to a persisting achievement gap between ELLs and non-ELLs (Rumberger & Tran, 2010; Losen, 2010; Garcia, Lawton, & Diniz de Figueiredo, 2010).
In light of this restrictive reality, the Institute for Teachers of English Language Learners (ITELL) was created. It represents a collaboration between a major university in Arizona and three school districts from the Phoenix metropolitan area. The aim was to construct and present a research-based model (within the confinements of the current policy) that addresses ELLs’ learning of academic English, utilizing the resources of students and families and extended educational opportunities, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the students’ academic achievement. To achieve this purpose, ITELL focused on three objectives:
(1) Provide professional development combining state-of-the-art technology with teaching methods that reflect best practices in ELD. Rationale: Direct link between ELLs’ achievement and the expertise/experience of their classroom teacher (e.g. Garcia, 2002; Garcia, 2005).
(2) Increase opportunities for children to participate in before/after-school and/or summer school programs. Rationale: Expanding ELLs’ opportunities to learn is a prerequisite for increasing their academic achievement, particularly in Grades 1–4 (National Task Force on Early Education for Hispanics, 2007).
(3) Implement PIQE, Abriendo Puertas, and other programs whose effectiveness in promoting parental engagement is well documented. Rationale: Parental engagement of ELLs is positively associated with academic performance (Jensen, 2007).
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