Standards-Based Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners

Provide a superior education for students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds! Education reform initiatives emphasize that all students must be held to the same standards of academic achievement. Yet assessment and instructional practices in American schools were neither created nor designed to be responsive to the range of diversity represented in today′s classroom. Standards-Based Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners explores the issues that must be addressed to ensure the academic success of English Language Learners (ELLs). Providing an overview of what standards-based educational reforms means for the fast-growing population of ELLs in America′s schools, author Mary Ann Lachat offers practical guidelines to help school administrators and classroom teachers implement effective practices for culturally diverse learners. The manual includes useful tools for conducting a schoolwide assessment and designing professional development plans for teachers. Bridging research to policy and practice implications, this unique manual examines The characteristics of ELLs in America′s schools How language and culture affect learning Language development issues for ELLs What teachers need to know about assessment for ELLs Standards-based learning practices that support the success of ELLs Help fulfill our nation′s unprecedented commitment to educate all children to be effective thinkers, communicators, and problem-solvers. In increasingly diverse classrooms, an understanding of standards-based instruction and assessment for ELLs is essential for achieving both excellence and equity in our education system.Designed primarily for principals, classroom teachers, directors of bilingual education, Title 1 coordinators, and other administrators responsible for ELLs, this innovative volume is also an extraordinary resource for bilingual education and ESL teachers.

Table of Contents:
Preface About the Author 1. Achieving Equity Through Standards and Assessments 2. Understanding Today′s English Language Learners 3. Applying Accountability Reforms 4. Implementing Standards-Based Learning With English Language Learners 5. Achieving the Vision of High Standards for All Resource A: Guiding Questions for Determining the Appropriateness of Learning Tasks in Performance Assessments for English Language Learners Resource B: Professional Development That Supports the Learning and Achievement of English Language Learners Resource C: Policies and Practices That Support the Learning and Achievement of English Language Learners References Index

About the Author :
Dr. Mary Ann Lachat is Co-founder and President of the Center for Resource Management, Inc. (CRM), a professional-services firm dedicated to helping schools achieve equity and high quality learning for all students. She has more than 30 years of experience with school reform initiatives at state and local levels, and she has worked extensively with state education agencies and school district teams in addressing issues for diverse learners. Since the late 1990s she has written and presented on standards-based learning and assessment for English language learners. Her work has focused on translat-ing what has been learned in the research into practical strate-gies and guidelines for teachers, principals, and school district administrators. Her publications for the Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University include: Standards, Equity, and Cultural Diversity (1999) and What Policymakers and School Administrators Need to Know About Assessment Reform (1999).