Nearly one in four California students is officially classified as an English learner (EL), meaning that the student entered school speaking a language other than English and has yet to demonstrate proficiency in English. Many ELs also come from low-income families and attend high poverty schools. Some are recent immigrants, while others have attended California schools since kindergarten. The academic challenges these ELs face are as varied as the students themselves. To successfully address these challenges requires not just “good schools” and “good instruction” in general, but also a set of resources, instructional strategies, and supports designed specifically to meet the needs of this diverse population. School districts have a fundamental responsibility to ensure that their EL students have equitable access to these needed resources and conditions—a responsibility that was underscored by the passage of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) in 2013. Because of the California Collaborative’s focus on reducing opportunity gaps, support for California’s substantial EL student population has been a consistent thread running through all our work. However, several meetings have focused specifically on strategies for meeting the needs of English learners, and insights from these meetings might be instructive as districts pursue their LCFF equity goals.
The California Collaborative’s June 2015 meeting in Whittier Union High School District gave district leaders the opportunity to provide feedback on the first official administration of California’s new Smarter Balanced assessments in English… Read More