Teachers who work with English as a Second Language learners will find ESL/ESOL/ELL/EFL reading/writing skill-building children's books, stories, activities, ideas, strategies to help PreK-3, 4-8, and 9-12 students learn to read.
Extended Learning Time for ELLs
A Race Against the Clock: The Value of Expanded Learning Time for English Language Learners
Author: Melissa Lazarin; Center for American Progress
Summary: This report examines time as the main factor to expand learning during the school year by providing longer school hours, after school and weekend assistance, and other after school activities that can improve the quality of education in students at all grade levels. This report also list a number of programs that are already implementing expanded learning hours to improve the level of education provided to all students. According to this report, time in school can directly and positively impact the current data showing English Language Learners as the population who is less likely graduate. Report also available in Spanish.
Tags: Curriculum; Instructional Programs; Intervention;
Target Population: Preschool, Elementary, Middle, High School, Post-Secondary, and public in general.
Research Questions the Report Poses: This report analyzes the importance of time as the determining factor to close the educational gap that exists in minority groups — especially Latinos/Hispanics— and their peers.
Findings:
- Expanded learning time initiatives hold great promise for the rapidly growing population of school-aged English language learners.
- Among the schools profiled above that expanded learning time schoolwide, school staff stressed that the additional time was indispensable for their English learners, but that expanded learning time offers benefits for all students. The lengthened school day and week allowed for individualized or small-group instruction to target learning gaps depending on students' needs.
- Some of the best practices that have been identified to meet these challenges and support expanded learning time at the high school level are distance learning and apprenticeships, internships, and career academies that provide opportunities to earn money and school credit.
- Research on expanded learning time is limited, particularly as it pertains to English language learners. Yet initiatives and academic achievement outcomes at the schools highlighted in the report suggest that additional learning time as a whole-school reform strategy merits strong and careful consideration, particularly among schools with a large English language learner population.
Policy Recommendations:
The Center for American Progress recommends:
- the implementation of expanded learning time as a schoolwide strategy for all students.
- consideration of issues that are unique to ELLs and expanded learning, such as support of late-entrant ELLs in high schools
- support for high schools facing some unique hurdles in implementing an expanded day and year, such
- as supporting students who work after school, on weekends, and during the summer; or
- accommodating students who want to participate in extracurricular activities
- increased opportunities for distance learning, apprenticeships, internships, and career academies that provide opportunities to earn money and school credit.
To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
John Neurohr, Deputy Press Secretary
202-481-8182 or jneurohr@americanprogress.org
Lazarin, Melissa. (2008). A Race Against the Clock. Washington, D.C. Center for American Progress.
Lasting Consequences of the Summer Learning Gap
Author: K.L. Alexander, D.R.Entwisle, & L.S. Olson
Summary: "Lasting Consequences of the Summer Learning Gap" by Alexander, Entwisle, and Olson examines the long-term effect of differences in summer learning, which tend to be associated with family socioeconomic level. The researchers found that achievement during the first nine years of school is related primarily to school-year learning; however, the achievement gap between high-SES and low-SES students at 9th grade is more closely associated with differences in out-of-school summer learning during the elementary school years.
Tags: Intervention; Motivation; Struggling Readers; Transfer of Literacy Skills;
Target Population: Elementary, Middle school
Research Questions the Report Poses: What are the long-term educational consequences of summer learning differences based on family socioeconomic level?
Findings:
- Prior to high school, the achievement gap by family SES traces substantially to unequal learning opportunities in children's home and community environments.
- With learning gains across social lines more nearly equal during the school year, the experience of schooling tends to offset the unequalizing press of children's out-of-school learning environments. Schooling thus appears to play a compensatory role, though there may still be unequal access to resources or opportunities even in school.
- Summer learning differences during the foundational early grades help explain achievement-dependent outcome differences across social lines in the upper grades; this includes the transition out of high school and, for some, into college, which is oftentimes determined by whether a student is in on a college-prep track, which itself is determined by class placement based on freshman test performance.
- Since it is low SES youth specifically whose out-of-school learning lags behind, this summer shortfall relative to better-off children contributes to the perpetuation of family advantage and disadvantage across generations.
- The fact that achievement gaps are smaller during the school year than the summer shows that 2 common assumptions are false: that minority students have less ability to achieve and that school systems are failing.
Policy Recommendations:
- Early interventions to keep the achievement gap from opening wide in the first place should be a high priority, and the earlier the better, with the kinds of preschool compensatory education initiatives that have proven effective.
- Once in school, disadvantaged children need year-round, supplemental programming to counter the continuing press of family and community conditions that hold them back.
- Create summer schools that incorporate so-called best practice principles that target disadvantaged students specifically.
- An accountability system that monitors progress fall to spring, perhaps relative to an expected summer gain baseline be more appropriate for gauging a school's effectiveness. The current arrangement under NCLB is useful for identifying need, but little more, and certainly not for apportioning blame.
Alexander, K.L., Entwisle, D.R., & Olson, L.S. (2007). Lasting consequences of the summer learning gap. American Sociological Review, 72. Retrieved from http://brettberk.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/april07asrfeature.pdf
Making Summer Count: How Summer Programs Can Boost Children's Learning
Author: McCombs, J.S., Augustine, C.H., Schwartz, H.L., Bodilly, S.J., McInnis, B., Lichter, D.S. and Cross, A.B. RAND Corporation
Summary: Despite long–term and ongoing efforts to close the achievement gap between disadvantaged and advantaged students, low–income students continue to perform at considerably lower levels than their higher–income peers in reading and mathematics. Research has shown that students' skills and knowledge often deteriorate during the summer months, with low–income students facing the largest losses. Instruction during the summer has the potential to stop these losses and propel students toward higher achievement. A review of the literature on summer learning loss and summer learning programs, coupled with data from ongoing programs offered by districts and private providers across the United States, demonstrates the potential of summer programs to improve achievement as well as the challenges in creating and maintaining such programs. School districts and summer programming providers can benefit from the existing research and lessons learned by other programs in terms of developing strategies to maximize program effectiveness and quality, student participation, and strategic partnerships and funding. Recommendations for providers and policymakers address ways to mitigate barriers by capitalizing on a range of funding sources, engaging in long–term planning to ensure adequate attendance and hiring, and demonstrating positive student outcomes.
Tags: Curriculum; Intervention;
Target Population: All
Research Questions the Report Poses:
- What is the nature of summer learning loss?
- Are summer learning programs effective in improving student achievement?
- What are the elements of effective summer programs?
- How much do summer learning programs cost?
- What are the facilitators and challenges to implementing summer programs?
Findings:
- Summer learning loss, which is disproportionate and cumulative, contributes substantially to the achievement gap.
- Students who attend summer programs have better outcomes than similar peers who do not attend these programs.
- Strategies for maximizing quality, enrollment, and attendance to achieving benefits.
- Cost is the main barrier to implementing summer learning programs.
- Districts question the cost–effectiveness of summer learning programs, and many have discontinued them in response to budget cuts.
- Partnerships can strengthen summer learning programs.
- Developing and sustaining district-based voluntary summer learning programs is challenging but feasible.
Policy Recommendations:
- Invest in highly qualified staff and early planning.
- Embed promising practices into summer learning programs (such as smaller class sizes, involving parents, individualized instruction, maximizing attendance, aligning school and summer curricula, etc)
- Consider partnerships when developing summer learning programs.
- Think creatively about funding.
- Extend the research base: (study multiple outcomes beyond academic performance, cost-effectiveness, how to attract consecutive attendees, etc)
- Support consistent funding sources for summer learning programs.
- Provide clear guidance regarding the use of scarce funds.
To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
To order RAND documents or to obtain additional information, contact
Distribution Services: Telephone: (310) 451.7002;
Fax: (310) 451.6915; Email: order@rand.org
McCombs, J.S., Augustine, C.H., Schwartz, H.L., Bodilly, S.J., McInnis, B., Lichter, D.S. and Cross, A.B. (2011) Making Summer Count: How Summer Programs Can Boost Children's Learning. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1120.
School Readiness, Full–Day Kindergarten, and Student Achievement
Author: Vi–Nhuan Le, Sheila Nataraj Kirby, Heather Barney, Claude Messan Setodji, Daniel Gershwin. RAND Corporation
Summary: This study uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 (ECLS–K) to examine how children's skills and knowledge at kindergarten entry predict their achievement in later grades. It extends previous research by examining longer–term achievement outcomes, namely test scores at the end of fifth grade, and gives an indication of how other nonacademic areas of school readiness (i.e., physical and socioemotional development) may be related to test performance.
Tags: Curriculum; Intervention;
Target Population: Preschool, Early Education
Research Questions the Report Poses:
- What is the relationship between children's school readiness skills at kindergarten entry and reading and mathematics achievement through the fifth grade?
- What kindergarten program factors predict the development of nonacademic school readiness skills?
- In particular, is attendance at a full–day program related to nonacademic school readiness?
Findings:
- After controlling for nonacademic readiness at kindergarten, children who had attended a full–day program at kindergarten showed poorer mathematics performance in fifth grade than did children who had attended a part–day kindergarten program.
- Attendance in a full–day kindergarten program was negatively associated with attitudes toward learning, self–control, and interpersonal skills, and was positively related toward internalizing (measured by a scale indicating presence of anxiety, loneliness, low self–esteem, and sadness) and externalizing behaviors.
- With the exception of class size (the effect of which was counterintuitive), few kindergarten program features were related to nonacademic readiness skills.
- Instead, positive home background factors, such as higher income and higher parental involvement with the school, were associated with all five dimensions of nonacademic school readiness skills.
- Higher income and more parental involvement were positively related to a child's attitudes toward learning, self–control, and interpersonal skills and negatively predictive of internalizing and externalizing actions.
- Our analyses reinforce the findings of earlier studies that suggest that full–day kindergarten programs may not enhance achievement in the long term. Furthermore, our study raises the possibility that full–day kindergarten programs may actually be detrimental to mathematics performance and nonacademic readiness skills.
- Our results also suggest that investments in the development of nonacademic school readiness skills may not only raise overall achievement but may also narrow the achievement gap between minority and white students. Indeed, on average, white students enter kindergarten with better nonacademic skills than do blacks and Hispanics.
Policy Recommendations:
- This suggests that interventions that aim to improve family circumstances, including programs designed to enhance parenting may be one way of improving children's academic success.
- Focus on enhancing nonacademic readiness skills of minority students in order to narrow the achievement gap.
- Ultimately, the decision of where policymakers should direct funds needs to be guided by a cost–benefit analysis that compares investments in full–day kindergarten programs with investments in other potential types of interventions, such as those that promote nonacademic readiness skills.
To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
To order RAND documents or to obtain additional information, contact
Distribution Services: Telephone: (310) 451.7002;
Fax: (310) 451.6915; Email: order@rand.org
Le, V., Kirby, S.N., Barney, H., Setodji, C.M., Gershwin, D. (2006). "School Readiness, Full–Day Kindergarten, and Student Achievement." Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.aecf.org/upload/publicationfiles/ec3624j67.pdf.
Summer Reading Loss
Author: Mraz, M. and Rasinski, T.V.
Summary: Children who do not practice their reading skills during the summer often return to school in the fall reading at a lower level than when they left for summer vacation. In Summer Reading Loss, Maryann Mraz and Timothy Rasinski point out that children from low-income families are particularly at risk for summer reading loss, which serves to widen the achievement gap between these children and children from middle-class families. In this article, the authors provide a brief review of existing research on summer reading loss, and they discuss what schools and families can do to combat this problem.
Tags: Books and Other Reading Materials; Libraries; Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA; Reading; Struggling Readers;
Target Population: Elementary
Research Questions the Report Poses:
- How does summer loss affect students' reading achievement?
- Why does summer reading loss occur?
- What can be done to curb summer reading loss?
- What elements contribute to family literacy participation?
Findings:
- While reading and academic gains during the school year are comparable among student groups, studies and tests show that reading loss is much more significant in low-income students, which ultimately contributes to a widening achievement gap as they progress into higher grades.
- Summer reading loss seems to have its greatest impact on low-achieving students and at-risk students-those who can least afford to fall further behind.
- Access to reading materials is a vital element in enhancing the reading development of children, but low-income students experience several barriers to reading at home.
- It is not enough to simply tell parents that it is important to read to children. Parents, particularly lower socioeconomic-status parents, need concrete, specific programs, suggestions on how to participate in family literacy, and support.
Policy Recommendations:
- Parent workshops just before summer break.
- Schools should coordinate with the local public library for their summer reading program.
- Required summer reading list of 3-5 proven favorites for children, with adequate access to them for all students.
- Reading Millionaires Program
- TV programs and movies based on books can encourage reading; Parents can turn down the volume and turn on the captions so kids have to read.
- Use daily routines as reading activities such as cooking, web surfing, reading directions in a manual, etc.
Mraz, M. and Rasinski, T.V. (2007). Summer reading loss. The Reading Teacher, 60(8). International Reading Association. 784-789.
The Effect of Attending Full–Day Kindergarten on English Learner Students
Author: Jill S. Cannon, Alison Jacknowitz, Gary Painter
Summary: A significant and growing English learner (EL) population attends public schools in the United States. Evidence suggests they are at a disadvantage when entering school and their achievement lags behind non–EL students. Some educators have promoted full–day kindergarten programs as especially helpful for EL students. We take advantage of the large EL population and variation in full–day kindergarten implementation in the Los Angeles Unified School District to examine the impact of full–day kindergarten on academic achievement, retention, and English language fluency using difference–in–differences models. We do not find signficant effects of full–day kindergarten on most academic outcomes and English fluency through second grade. However, we find that EL students attending full–day kindergarten were 5 percentage points less likely to be retained before second grade and there are differential effects for several outcomes by student and school characteristics.
Target Population: Early Education
Research Questions the Report Poses: What is the impact of full–day kindergarten on the academic achievement and English language acquisition of ELLs?
To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
To access the full article one must subscribe to the journal or a database that features it.
Cannon, J.S., Jacknowitz, A., Painter, G. (2011). "The effect of attending full–day kindergarten on English learner students." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 30 (2): 287–309. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pam.20560/abstract.
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