Newsletters and Special Offers!
The State of Texas has the second largest ELL enrollment at 773,732 students in the public school system as of years 2012-2013. The state is second only to California with a 15% ELL share among all students enrolled in grades K-12, but first in the nation with respect to the percentage of ELL students who speak Spanish at 90%. Spanish … Read More
Instructions for Teachers Working with ELLs
Classrooms throughout the United States are reflecting an increasing collection of students from diversified backgrounds, as an estimated 11.2 million limited English proficient children are now enrolled in classes from grades K-12. With such a large segment of the school population at often widely disparate levels of English language comprehension, it has become crucial that teachers are cognizant of the … Read More
Understanding Basic Terms and Definitions for English Learners
Understanding Basic Terms and Definitions for English Learners The following are some terms that you’ve no doubt heard before, but you may be unclear on the definitions that are associated with each of them. This primer should help to better delineate between the most commonly used acronyms and jargon that parents and teachers alike might find confusing. ESL: English as … Read More
Story Time in Public Libraries Grows in Popularity
The lines are getting longer at public libraries across the country as parents and their children queue up for Story Time. According to a report in the New York Times, “Story time is drawing capacity crowds at public libraries across New York and across the country at a time when, more than ever, educators are emphasizing the importance of early … Read More
A New Framework for Hispanic Parent Programs
A New Framework for Hispanic Parent Programs Now that Parent Involvement is such a strong national focus, it is important to provide teachers with a whole new framework for Hispanic Parent Programs, if we want parents and kids to become life long readers. Harris County Department of Education formed the Cooperative for After-School Enrichment, or CASE, in 1999 to mobilize … Read More
What is Cultural Competence in the Classroom?
As defined by the National Education Association, cultural competence is “the ability to successfully teach students who come from a culture or cultures other than our own. It entails developing certain personal and interpersonal awareness and sensitivities, understanding certain bodies of cultural knowledge, and mastering a set of skills that, taken together, underlie effective cross-cultural teaching and culturally responsive teaching.” … Read More
The White House Selects The Latino Family Literacy Project™ for Bright Spot in Hispanic Education
The White House announced on September 15, 2015, that The Latino Family Literacy Project™ is one of the Bright Spots in Excellence for Hispanic Education. The Project was selected because it offers a culturally relevant and bilingual approach to parent involvement for English-language learners, and promotes early learning, English-language development, home family reading routines, and college awareness. “There has been … Read More
The Power of Parent Involvement
We review research on parent involvement on an ongoing basis. In reviewing the research, major educational studies, and overviews of the evidence, it is clear that parent involvement works and is a powerful determinant in whether or not a child succeeds in school. The overwhelming research also concludes that the collaboration between parents and schools is the way to academic … Read More
Family Phonics™: A New ELL Parent Engagement Tool
Family Phonics™ is a new program and tool for engaging English-language learner (ELL) parents helps schools provide a fun and effective approach for Parent Engagement with the parents of English Learners. Family Phonics™ is our newest program that helps ESL teachers who work with Spanish speaking parents so that parents can learn basic phonemic awareness, in order to help their … Read More
Illinois Has Surge in Spanish Speaking English Learners
Illinois Has Surge in Spanish Speaking English Learners Over the past few years, Illinois has experienced a surge in the number of English Learners enrolled in public schools. In an analysis of Illinois’ Latino Demographic by Rebecca Vonderlack-Navarro, a PhD Research and Policy Analyst for the Latino Policy Forum, the state has experienced a 25% increase of English Language Learners from 2004 … Read More