Aida Walqui, Director of the Teacher Professional Development Program at WestEd, recently co-authored the report Changes in the Expertise of ESL Professionals: Knowledge and Action in an Era of New Standards.
English Learners
Aída Walqui, Director of the Teacher Professional Development Program at WestEd, delivered a keynote speech at two recent symposia about the needs of English Learners (ELs) in the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Walqui set the context for the day’s conversations with a discussion of the literacy skills required to participate in today’s evolving workplace and democracy.
Kenji Hakuta, Professor of Education at Stanford University, has announced the launch of a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for teachers called “Constructive Classroom Conversations: Mastering the Language of the Common Core”. Through this course, educators will gather, analyze, and share examples of student discourse from their classrooms in order to better understand existing talk.
The Understanding Language initiative has launched a new website and online community atell.stanford.edu.
Aida Walqui, Director of the Teacher Professional Development Program at WestEd, presented two papers at the American Educational Research Association 2013 Annual Meeting. In Domains of Teacher Expertise for Working with English Learners, Walqui presented a conceptual framework for the teacher expertise used by Quality Teaching for English Learners, a professional development program for secondary teachers which counters the traditional view that teaching and learning must be simplified for English Learners. Her second paper, Formative Assessment as Contingent Communication:
The Working Group on ELL Policy, which includes California Collaborative members Patricia Gándara, Kenji Hakuta, and Jennifer O’Day, released a detailed question and answer style document addressing the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The document focuses on five key areas of ESEA policy that can promote improved educational outcomes for English language learners.
The Working Group on ELL Policy, which includes California Collaborative members Patricia Gándara, Kenji Hakuta, and Jennifer O’Day, released a policy brief with recommendations for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The document focuses on four key areas of ESEA policy that can promote improved educational outcomes for English language learners.
California Collaborative member Kenji Hakuta will co-chair a two-year effort to develop a framework for the English-language demands of the Common Core State Standards. With $2 million in support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the group will build an open-source platform of resources for teachers of English Language Learners in an effort to link English language proficiency with content standards and assessments. California Collaborative member Aída Walqui will be a member of the project team.
Rose Owens-West is the Director of the Region IX Equity Assistance Center at WestEd. The center, launched in October 2011, is one of 10 federally funded centers across the United States. Drawing from the many resources within WestEd, Rose is responsible for coordinating with managers and staff in programs across the organization to address equity issues related to STEM, English Learners, and the school environment.