English Learners

A newcomer student is a recent immigrant to the U.S. who has little or no English proficiency and is in their first 12 months of attending school in the U.S. They may have varying levels of preparedness in their native language, with some being on grade level and others below. They may arrive with different levels of transferable credits or no transcript records. Newcomer students make steady progress through an English Language Development (ELD) sequence and may benefit from special orientation and transitional classes. They may be part of a newcomer class or program that offers high quality literacy-focused ELD curriculum. Newcomer students may spend an extended time in a five or six-year high school program and may have access to home language academic content classes. Instruction for newcomer students includes learning how English works and becoming proficient in using it, as well as direct instruction for language to access and comprehend information and to participate in activities, tasks, and processes of learning. Newcomer students also face a cultural transition as they adjust to life in a new country.

Newcomer students can be further classified as Well Educated Newcomers and Underschooled Newcomers.
Well Educated: an individual who has recently immigrated to the U.S. and is within their first year of attending school, typically with excellent schooling in their native country, strong literacy skills in their home language, and a fast progression through English language development programs. These students often excel academically, have high motivation, and are on track to graduate in four years. It is important to provide appropriate support and resources for these students, including avoiding placing them in classes that repeat content they already know, offering high-level academic courses in their home language, and providing instruction to improve their English skills within the context of academic content.

Underschooled/SLIFE (student with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education): An underschooled newcomer student is a student who has been in the U.S. for several years or less and has little to no English language proficiency or literacy in their native language. They may have had interrupted, inadequate, or no schooling in their native country, leading to being three or more years below grade level in math. They may struggle in academic content classes, have slow acquisition of English, and lack credit accrual over time. These students require an intense focus on English, extended time in high school, age-appropriate curriculum with content support, additional content support as needed, special orientation and transitional support, social/emotional support, and deliberate instruction within the context of content to learn how English works and become proficient in using it. They also need direct instruction for language to access and comprehend information, as well as to participate in activities, tasks, and processes of learning.

An At Risk student of becoming Long Term English Learner (LTEL) is a student who has been enrolled in US schools for 4 or five years, scored at Level 1 or 2 on a language proficiency test, and in grades 4 to 9 scored at the “Standard Not Met” level on the prior year CAASPP-ELA. These students may struggle with areas such as motivation and engagement, academic language, rigor, study skills and goal setting. They may also benefit from deliberate instruction within the context of content to learn how English works and become proficient in using it, as well as direct instruction for language to access/comprehend and participate in activities, tasks, and processes of learning.

A long-term English learner is a student who has been enrolled in US schools for six or more years (grades 6-12) and has either remained at the same language proficiency level for 2 or more consecutive prior years, or has regressed to a lower English language proficiency level. These students typically score at the "Standard Not Met" level on the prior year CAASPP-ELA test, are usually orally fluent in English, but struggle with reading and writing below the level of their native English-speaking peers. They may also have a bi-modal academic performance, with some excelling and others struggling.

Some long-term English learners may have literacy in their primary language, while others do not, and may have been in bilingual programs or not. There is often a mismatch between the student's perception of their academic achievement and their actual grades or test scores, as well as a mismatch between their perception of their language abilities and reality.

To support long-term English learners, it is important to focus on motivation and engagement, academic language development, rigor, study skills, goal setting, and maximizing graduation credits and A-G requirements. These students may benefit from a specific program or class for long-term English learners, as well as deliberate instruction within the context of content to learn how English works and become proficient in using it. Direct instruction for language to access/comprehend and to participate in activities, tasks, and processes of learning is also essential for these students.
 

A Redesignated Fluent English Proficient (RFEP) student is a student who originally entered U.S. schools classified as an English Learner, but has since been reclassified as fully English proficient. Despite being fluent in English, RFEP students are allowed to receive English Learner supports and services as needed and must continue to be monitored for 4 years to ensure they are participating meaningfully in the standard instructional program at a level comparable to their peers who were never classified as English Learners.

A struggling RFEP (Re-designated Fully English Proficient) is a student who was once limited in English proficiency but has been re-designated as fully proficient. However, they are currently receiving at least one D or F in core academic classes and have experienced a decline in grades and achievement since re-designation. To support this student, interventions may focus on improving reading fluency through academic vocabulary, encouraging regular participation in academic conversations, ensuring they understand graduation credits and A-G requirements, providing deliberate instruction on how English works in the context of content, offering direct instruction to access and comprehend language, and teaching language skills to actively participate in learning activities, tasks, and processes.

Once a student has been reclassified, the student can’t go back to being an EL. However, an RFEP student may receive any EL supports and services as needed.
 

The San Diego County Office of Education has created this website as a resource to further assist local educational agencies' journeys in implementing the California Department of Education’s English Learner Roadmap.

The Discussion Cards consist of powerful questions organized by subject area to get students thinking and talking about text. They are designed to be used with any text that students read, listen to, or view in order to learn how to build knowledge of the field of study. 

Discussion Cards Page

The ELD standards, ELD video series, information, and resources to assist local educational agencies design, implement, and enhance integrated and designated ELD instruction for students learning English. View the ELD standards.

The State Board of Education adopted the English Language Arts / English Language Development (ELA / ELD) Framework at their July 9, 2014, meeting. This is the final, edited digital version of the ELA / ELD Framework, published July 2015.

This toolkit provides a collection of effective protocols for student interaction and collaboration embedded in and connected with strategies and tasks for each of the three modes of communication (Collaborative or Interpersonal, Interpretive, and Productive or Presentational).   

Oracy Toolkit Page

Educational Experiences of Students who are English Learners

You have their test scores, grades, and English proficiency levels, but do you really know what their educational experience looks like and sounds like? What about how often they communicate during class time and how they feel about their learning?

The Student Shadow Project provides the structure and support for your district or school team to be immersed in the perspective of students who are learning English for the purpose of enacting systemic change for their success.   

By following students who are learning English through a portion of their academic day, your team experiences how it feels intellectually, emotionally, and physically for these learners.  It helps your team tackle the barriers to equity and access by providing a front row seat to all the little things that are difficult to see, but critical to address.

Why Shadow a Student?
If your students who are learning English aren't making the academic strides you expect, and you're ready to shine a light on their needs, then take a walk in their shoes. Follow them from class to class and gain invaluable insight.  Hear what they have to say about their learning, their challenges, and their goals.

Create an urgency in your administrative team, lead teachers, counselors, board members, and principals to prioritize the needs of your students who are English learners through the Student Shadow Project.

The project was adapted from ELL Shadowing as a Catalyst for Change by Ivannia Soto for K-12 students who are designated English learners.

Research reveals that students who are learning English are given few opportunities in class to engage in meaningful conversations with their peers, even though developing academic oral language is fundamental to their success. Program participants are tasked with paying specific attention to their students' academic speaking and listening opportunities in the classroom to reveal patterns and trends.

About the Program
The three-day Student Shadow Project begins with an overview of the shadowing process, including a deeper dive into the research on effective practices for English learners, the rationale for shadowing, and how to report and record your observations.

The student shadowing begins on day two of the program with two to three hours of observation, which includes tracking the students' academic speaking and listening. It is followed by a study and analysis of the collected observations and other available data, then a general conversation on next steps.

Day three is time for your district or school program participants to begin planning or refining professional learning and structures to address the newly-uncovered issues.

Shadowing often uncovers the lack of academic speaking opportunities and the need for more student-to-student interactions. Many times, it also reveals unintended consequences of structures in place, such as a student placed in an inappropriate class or group, or a need for more strategic staffing to meet the needs of English learner students.

When your empathy expands with the Student Shadow Project, your eyes are opened to the invisible hurdles that prevent students who are English learners from reaching their fullest potential.

While it was created for students who are English learners, the Student Shadow Project is easily adapted to gain insight into the perspective of any student subgroup on your campus.

What Project Participants Have Said
"This project significantly impacted my awareness of patterns of instructional strengths and weaknesses impacting the academic language development of our English learner students. It created a sense of urgency in me and prompted me to reflect on our current systems and mind-sets."

"Being 'in the shoes' of an English learner student was really eye-opening. It's clear that even though we may stress the need for collaborative conversations, we need to provide teachers with solid professional learning in this area."

"It has provided another very powerful tool in triangulating data to assess how our system is meeting the needs of our students."

"The project has really forced me to think strategically about how to facilitate academic conversations in all classrooms that involve all students. Specifically, that a quiet room is not necessarily conducive to English development."`
 

Curricular resources, instructional strategies, assessment tools, and professional learning opportunities to support ELD instruction for classroom teachers and TOSAS.

• View comprehensive ELD resources for LEAs on Padlet
• Latinx Education Achievement Report / Informe del Progreso de la Educación Latinx

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