Our Mission
Colorín Colorado is the premier national website serving parents and teachers of English language learners (ELLs) in Grades PreK-12. Over the past decade, Colorín Colorado has established itself as a trusted leader in addressing the urgent challenge of helping ELLs around the country succeed. We are currently on track to serve more than 2 million unique visitors this year in English and Spanish.
English Language Learners in the U.S.
One reason for our continued growth is that English language learners now comprise an estimated 10% of the K-12 U.S. school population and their numbers have grown dramatically in the last twenty years. As demographics change nationwide, teaching ELLs has become a fact of life for schools everywhere: in big cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural communities.
Yet ELLs, who often come from low-income households and attend schools with limited resources, are among the most under-served students in our school system. Many teachers have received little or no training in how to work effectively with ELLs, how to accurately identify their students' abilities and academic needs, and how to communicate with ELL parents. A majority of teachers acknowledge that they need much more information and support in meeting the complex needs of these students and their families. Families, on the other hand, may be limited in their experience with the U.S. school system, may not feel welcome at school, or may be juggling multiple jobs during peak "parent involvement" hours.
What does Colorín Colorado offer?
To support these educators and parents, Colorín Colorado offers free multimedia materials such as classroom videos, toolkits, research-based articles, multilingual tip sheets, newsletters, featured books and authors, and social media. We provide information about topics such as reading together at home, creating a welcoming classroom environment, and helping ELLs meet the new Common Core State Standards. Colorín Colorado is a bilingual website in English and Spanish -- and we offer basic parent content in thirteen languages, including Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, and Hmong.
The site has become a lifeline for the teachers and parents of ELLs, and we hear every day from audience members telling us that we're making a difference, including this comment: "Colorín Colorado is a must for every teacher and administrator. It offers guidance, support and excellent strategies that teachers should use and that will benefit all students."
