This document provides tips for school administrators to support teachers of English learners. It summarizes the results of a survey of 76 teachers, which identified their top 5 concerns. These concerns include wanting more parental involvement, learning updated classroom strategies, receiving valuable feedback from evaluations, making sense of student assessment data, and ensuring all teachers provide English language instruction. For each concern, the document provides tips, such as building the foundation for parental involvement, sharing information on professional development opportunities, tailoring teacher evaluations, discussing the purpose of assessments, and promoting the idea that every teacher is responsible for English language development. The document aims to help administrators address the needs of EL teachers.
9. 9
Parent-teacherconferences
Volunteeringintheschool
Helpingwithhomework
Readinglettersfromtheschool
Returning/makingphonecalls
Parentsmakingsuretheirchildrenmakeit
toschoolontime
Providing breakfastfortheirchildren
Purchasingschoolsupplies
Traditional
P A R E N T I N V O L M E N T
Non-Traditional
P A R E N T I N V O L V E M E N T
10. 10
Time constraints
Lack of transportation
Fear of the unknown
Language barrier
They do not feel welcomed
Unfamiliar with mainstream
culture
Why are some
parents of ELs
not involved?
Parental involvement is a
foreign concept
Undocumented immigrant
They don’t know what they
don’t know
The importance of
parental involvement
11. Organize a general school orientation session
for parents of ELs
Use headsets and an interpreter
Use separate rooms
Connect with other parents
Teach crafts or dance
1.ArrangeaTouroftheSchool
3.HoldMeetingsinDifferentLanguages
4.RecruitParentVolunteers
Prepare for Parent
Involvement
11
2.ConnectParentstoBilingualStaff
Share list of names and phone numbers of
bilingual staff in the school and district
How your school works, teacher/school expectations
Parent nights
5.EducateParents
12. 12
Parents and teachers interpret ACCESS scores
Engage in conversations about language
programs, language learning, and student
progress
Provide parents with a voice in decisions
impacting language instruction
Discover the families’ perspectives on
bilingualism
Discuss what role the home language plays in
English language acquisition
1.StudentDataNight
2.ProgramEvaluationTeams
3.HomeLanguageDiscussions
Parent
Involvement Ideas
13. 13
“I would like to
learn strategies
that are more
up to date to
use in my
classroom”
Concern #2
14. 14
Tip #2
Share
information
about teacher
professional
development
Professional
Development
The Center: Resources for Teaching and
Learning—Illinois Resource Center (IRC)
Illinois TESOL Bilingual Education (ITBE)
Paridad
Professional Learning Board (Online PD)
WIDA Climbs
Read en Español, Inc.
Aurora University—Bilingual/ESL
Department
Northern Illinois University—Bilingual and
ESL Department
15. 15
Key Strategies
1. Create a friendly atmosphere
in the classroom, and
encourage students to
personalize the classroom
environment
2. Create situations in which
students feel accomplished
3. Encourage students to set
their own short-term goals
4. Develop students’ confidence with
pair and group activities
5. Connect language and learning to
students’ interest outside of the
classroom
6. Provide students with multiple
opportunities to practice language
(reading, writing, listening and
speaking)
17. 17
1. Use uniform rubrics with specific
examples of practice
2. Provide additional training for
evaluators in specific instructional
areas
3. Use pre-observation conferences
to share key information
4. Utilize experts with relevant
instructional knowledge to
support evaluation
Tip #3
Provide
ESL/bilingual
teachers with
valuable
feedback
Guidance on Building Teacher
Evaluation Systems for Teachers of
Students with Disabilities, English
Learners, and Early Childhood
Students (ISBE, 2014)
20. 20
Identify students that need
additional resources
Determine student program
placement
Evaluate programs
Improve instructional practices
Assess student learning
Set school improvement goals
Align curriculum
Purpose of
Assessments ACCESS
MAP
Only assesses English language proficiency
Provides a measure of students’ academic
content growth in reading and math
PARCC
Assesses academic content knowledge in
English language arts and math
Searves as an “educationa GPS system”
assessing current performance and pointing
the way to what students need to learn in
order to be college and/or career ready
21. 21
“ELLs are not
given specific
language
instruction by
all of their
teachers”
Concern #5
22. 22
1. Build awareness on the unique
cultural characteristics of ELs
2. Describe the role that
ESL/bilingual teachers play
3. Set expectations for collaboration
between teachers
4. Incorporate language objectives
in every lesson plan
5. Provide co-teaching training
6. Get content teachers on board
with best practices
WIDA Can Do Descriptors
Tips #5
Promote the idea
that every
teacher is a
teacher of the
English language
to ELs
Create a Plan
23. 21
Support
Teachers of ELs! Build the foundation for parental
involvement
Share information about teacher
professional development
Provide ESL/bilingual teachers with
valuable feedback
Promote the idea that every teacher
isa teacher of the English language
toELs
Discuss the purpose and importance
of student assessments
5
4
3
2
1
25. Sources
• Calderón, M. E., & Minaya-Rowe, L. (2003). Designing and implementing two-way
bilingual programs. A step-by step guide for administrators, teachers and
parents. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
• Gottlieb, M. (2006). Assessing English language learners: Bridges from language
proficiency to academic development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
• ISBE Performance Evaluation Advisory Council. (2014, August). Guidance on
building teacher evaluation systems for teachers of students with disabilities,
English learners, and early childhood students. Retrieved from:
http://www.isbe.net/PEAC/pdf/guidance/14-3-teacher-eval-sped-ell-preschool.pdf
• Karaoglu, S. (2008, June) Motivating language learners to succeed. Retrieved
from: https://www.tesol.org/read-and-publish/journals/other-serial-
publications/compleat-links/compleat-links-volume-5-issue-2-(june-
2008)/motivating-language-learners-to-succeed
• Kilman, C. (2009, Spring) Lonely language learners? [Web log post]. Retrieved
from: http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-35-spring-2009/feature/lonely-
language-learners
• NWEA. (n.d.) Measure student progress with MAP. Retrieved from:
https://www.nwea.org/assessments/map/
• NYC Department of Education (2014, March). Specific considerations for teachers of
English language learners (Draft). Retrieved from:
http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/04D90E09-0E02-4EEE-9988-
C7B7CD81D676/0/SpecificConsiderationsforTeachersofELLs.pdf
• PARCC. (2015). Assessments. Retrieved from:
http://www.parcconline.org/assessments
• Wisconsin Center for Education Research. (2015, September) WIDA Focus on family
engagement. University of Wisconsin. Madison: WI. Retrieved from:
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wida.us/get.aspx%3Fid%3D1861&sa=U&
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cse&usg=AFQjCNEXUgQUJf_Y--xSRyB-k9FC6Uco7w
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bilingual children (pp. 49–69). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.