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.
District of Columbia
View below:
As of the 2007-2008 school year, the District of Columbia's schools were home to more than 5,100 English language learners (ELLs), which marks a 1.8% increase from the 1997-1998 school year (NCELA, 2010). The top five languages or language groups spoken by ELLs in the District of Columbia are Spanish, Bengali, African languages, Chinese, and French (EPE, 2009).
The District of Columbia is a member of WIDA (World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment), joining in 2003. WIDA is a consortium of states dedicated to the design and implementation of high standards and equitable educational opportunities for English language learners which offers states programming for identifying and annually assessing the English language development of its English learners.
District ELL Resources
District Agency: District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS)
ELL Website: DC ELLs Program and Support
ELL Policy: The District of Columbia Office of Educational Programs and Title 5 — Board of Education, Chapter 31 — Education of Language Minority Students adopted October 1, 1993 established that it would implement policy and programming* (PDF) for its English learners that would be inclusive of identifying, annually assessing, and instructing its English learners. Its school superintendent governs the District of Columbia public schools' education of English learners.
ELL Identification
Home Language Survey: The Superintendent's "directive 421.2 — Compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for Limited English Proficiency Students, April 27, 1992" states that every parent will be given a home language survey to identify who should be assessed to identify the district's ELs.
Placement Exam: WIDA-ACCESS Placement Test (W-APT)
ELL Instruction
The District of Columbia offers a variety of programming for its identified English learners including:
- Content-Based ESL
- Dual Language
- Secondary Newcomers Literacy Programming
- Sheltered Content
ELP Standards & Assessment
ELP Standards: WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards
ELP Assessment: WIDA-ACCESS ACCESS for ELLs
Statewide Standards-Based Assessment
Assessment: DC Comprehensive Assessment System
ELL Accommodations: Guideline for Inclusion of Students with Disabilities and English Language Learners
Additional Information
NCELA: Title III Information
WIDA: DC Contact Information
Common Core State Standards: Yes
District of Columbia State Parent Information Resource Centers
The D.C. Parental Information Resource Center provides leadership, coordination, and services that enable parents, educators, and the Washington, DC community at large to be partners and work collaboratively to improve student academic achievement and the quality of schools for all students through such partnerships.
The Refugee Experience Series is a group of volunteers in the Washington, DC area dedicated to raising awareness of the refugee experience through films and discussions.
University of the District of Columbia Faculty Association/NEA
University of the District of Columbia Faculty Association/NEA is a National Education Association State Affiliate that regularly lobbies legislators for the resources schools need, campaigns for higher professional standards for the teaching profession, and files legal actions to protect academic freedom and the rights of school employees.
WATESOL is the Washington, D.C.-area association for teachers of English to speakers of other languages.
The Washington Teachers' Union is the Washington, D.C.-based affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers.
References
Editorial Projects in Education (EPE). "Most Common Non-English Languages Spoken by ELL Youths, by State." Perspectives on a Population: English-Language Learners in American Schools (Education Week's Quality Counts 2009 Report). Pg. 13. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2009/01/08/index.html. January 2009.
Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students. District of Columbia Rate of EL Growth (1997/98-2007/08). Compiled July 2010 and retrieved from http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/t3sis/state/dc/data.
* To view this file, you'll need a copy of Acrobat Reader. Most computers already have it installed. If yours does not, you can download it now.
Search Colorín Colorado
The whole website is awesome!
~ Marianne G.
