What's The Research On...?

Lack of Research Hinders ELL Teaching
More than 20% of K–12 students speak a language other than English at home, and that percentage is expected to rise to 40% by the year 2030, according to the U.S. Dept of Education. Academic skills are considered critical to students’ future physical, emotional, and vocational wellness. But public school records reveal that English language learner (ELL) students, as a group, attain the lowest academic achievement scores. A lack of academic skills is related to poorer health and increased rates of pregnancy, incarceration, and mental illness. Student-service providers, including school psychologists, want to offer linguistically diverse students the services that are effective and legally required. But they need access to professional guidance, culturally appropriate assessment tools, and effective intervention strategies. Unfortunately, the school psychology literature does not reflect the linguistically diverse demographics of children attending U.S. schools, says UW-Madison education professor Craig Albers. Albers and colleagues conducted a study of peer-reviewed articles published between 1995 and 2005 in leading school psychology and other journals.

ELL Students Benefit from Formative Assessments
The WIDA Consortium (World Class Design and Assessment) helps educators and administrators teach and monitor the progress of ELL students. Now supporting a consortium of 27 states, WIDA designs and helps implement curriculum and assessments for ELL students of all kinds, including those with learning disabilities.

One area of assessment—formative assessment—has recently grown in importance. Formative assessment occurs regularly during the school year and helps teachers and students monitor learning progress. Formative assessments help teachers identify where students are, and where they need to be, relative to learning goals. Teachers and students then address these gaps.