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October 8, 2020 Edition

In This Issue Serving English Learners During COVID-19 – School Leadership and Teacher Support  Language Development in the Virtual Classroom Supplemental Bilingual Early Childhood Curriculum

‌	English Language Arts Webinar Series Free Webinars on Education for Immigrant Families

More resources and trainings for teachers, school administrators, families and communities are on our Learning Goes On website. See Spanish-language version of this edition.

Policy Update

Serving English Learners During COVID-19 – School Leadership and Teacher Support

As schools work to balance virtual and in-person instruction, English learners, their families and teachers face unique challenges in access, teaching and learning. A number of years ago, IDRA conducted a national study to identify the practices in schools that enable students to grow academically and socially in their native language as well as English. The study resulted in IDRA’s rubric, Good Schools and Classrooms for Children Learning English, to help people in schools and communities evaluate five dimensions that are necessary for success: school indicators, student outcomes, leadership, support, and programmatic and instructional practices. Those dimensions are just as important today in virtual settings. This issue of Learning Goes On provides recommendations for the dimensions related to school leadership and support.

Supporting Excellent Programs for English Learners

In-person student engagement with teachers is ideal for listening, speaking and other social interactions that are critical parts of language development. But virtual platforms and limited in-person engagement caused by COVID-19 precautions hinders such engagement. Recommendations for supporting English learners’ social and academic development include: Schools can provide increased instruction, tutoring and one-on-one support time for English learners. These additional supports should rely on virtual adaptations of best practices for English learner programs (IDRA, 2015; Robledo Montecel & Cortez, 2001). As schools phase-in bringing students back into classrooms, educators should focus first on students who most need in-person support, including English learners. State and local education agencies should provide professional development for teachers focused on culturally-sustaining instruction and other research-based ways to support English learners.

Facing Teaching and Assessment Challenges for Schools and Families

Many teachers and families report difficulty and confusion with teaching and assessment systems for English learners. Some families say they are unsure if their child(ren) even passed courses from the last school year after COVID-19 closures. Some districts report that, early in this school year, significant numbers of students are already struggling with assessments. Recommendations for more effecting teaching and learning systems for English learners include: School districts should use frequent, formative virtual and in-person assessments that enable teachers and families to evaluate learning over time and respond immediately to student needs. School districts should provide families with accessible translation services and translated classroom materials, virtual platforms, instructions, assessment and curriculum information, and updates so that parents who do not speak English can support their students and connect with teachers. State and local education agencies should create special virtual platforms or similar non-virtual support systems and hire dedicated personnel to provide training and resources to support teachers and English learner students and families.

Addressing Digital Divide Challenges

Many families face digital divide challenges in three major areas: connectivity, access to devices and user knowledge of specific technologies. The digital divide deeply impacts communities of color, including families of English learners, and communities with lower incomes and wealth disproportionately. Additionally, some English learners may be, or have family members who are, immigrants. Immigrant families, particularly Latino-led immigrant families, are less connected than other families with limited incomes and are more likely to have mobile-only internet access (Rideout & Katz, 2016). Some families report receiving devices, like tablets, from their schools, but not enough for each child to use. Some solutions to these access issues include: State legislatures should ensure affordable internet access for all communities, recognizing connectivity as a public utility necessary for school, work and other types of engagement. School districts and local government agencies should ensure access to devices through community spaces and identify ways to provide devices to each student in a family. Families can work with their schools and local non-profit organizations to create community-based connections that encourage technology mentoring between college students/professionals and families.

Building Family-School Engagement

Even without the digital divide, systemic shortcomings in how many schools engaged with families before COVID-19 were magnified in recent months and prevented important communication from happening as schools reopen. Weeks after schools began instruction for the fall, some school districts still report lost contact with students and families. And, data show that schools are less likely to have consistent contact with Black and Latino families, including families of English learners, even controlling for connectivity issues. To address these challenges, school districts should do the following: Increase the number of family support specialists in schools who can communicate with parents in the district. Ensure staff have the capacity to send all messages, updates and other communications to families in multiple languages. Do not enforce punitive truancy measures. Retrain truancy officers or shift funds for those positions to bilingual family support specialists, counselors, social workers and other well-trained professionals who can meaningfully engage with families. Increase staff and budgets for school district family engagement departments. Expand the community schools approach to build connections between families, community-based organizations and schools.

Assume a virtual extension of the protections in Plyler v. Doe. Schools should not do anything, including through online platforms, to deny or chill access to schools for immigrant students or families. Schools should not penalize students who do not feel comfortable turning on video cameras that may show their homes or families. Expand ethnic studies course offerings, training in culturally-sustaining pedagogy, and access to curricula that promotes safe, supportive and welcoming schools for all families. To learn more about IDRA’s policy recommendations, check out our Policy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement website and our COVID-19 policy primer, Ensuring Education Equity During and After COVID-19. And see our Web-based Technical Assistance Package on Family Engagement by the IDRA EAC-South.

References  IDRA. (2015). A Framework for Effective Instruction of Secondary English Language Learners. San Antonio, Texas: Intercultural Development Research Association.   Rideout, V., & Katz, V. (2019). Opportunity for all? Technology and learning in lower-income families. A report of the Families and Media Project. New York: The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop.  Robledo Montecel, M., & Cortez, J.D. (August 2001). Successful Bilingual Education Programs: Criteria for Exemplary Practices in Bilingual Education, IDRA Newsletter.

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Instructional Tools

Language Development in the Virtual Classroom

Equitable and rigorous education today remains a challenge for teaching unique populations, including English learner students. Challenges range from technology access and connectivity, to designing instructional plans that meet the individual needs of English learner students via distance learning. However, the disruption of traditional education due to COVID-19 can also offer some unexpected benefits. Strategies to support students’ language and literacy development during remote and hybrid learning Staying in contact with students should be a major priority: Teachers should connect via phone, text or live video with students on a routine basis to provide support or necessary instruction. Many students rely on school as a place of stability. Distance can be challenging for many of them. Teachers should ensure that they are always communicating with their students and families in a language they can understand. Educators can set up consistent meetings, office hours, or check in one-on-one as necessary. Focus on maintaining supportive relationships with students and their families, beyond instructional content.  Consider multiple ways to make content interactive and engaging: Teachers can provide individualized learning experiences utilizing accessible materials and multiple modalities. This could include PowerPoint, YouTube, photos and illustrations, sentence strips, a small whiteboard, and common household items. Develop projects that provide differentiated options for students and families, to foster engagement, creativity, and build on student strengths. Design tasks that focus on the connecting next steps for growth related to students’ English language development.   Identify relevant materials to send home: This can include student textbooks, worksheets and any aids they may need to do their work. Educators should determine if the current curriculum has a digital integrated or designated EL component and prioritize using this curriculum (TNTP, 2020). Provide families with multilingual prompts for conversations they can have with their students about what they are learning (Skibbins, 2020). Ongoing conversations with families should involve educators setting time aside to communicate with them and gathering constructive feedback so that they can continue to refine their students’ learning experiences (Robertson, 2020).   Educators should be proficient in online tools: An important step for helping students learn remotely is to understand how different virtual tools and resources can assist learning, especially when not all students necessarily understand how to use these programs on their own. The focus should be on how tools can best support teaching and learning, not on the tools themselves (Robertson, 2020).

Sample activities for English learner students and teachers in virtual learning environments  Have students upload a video of themselves reading a book to the classroom space or film themselves explaining how they solved a math problem. The teacher then responds with a short feedback video with comments or questions from the class.  Have students interview a family member and create a presentation to share. Students can present the content in both English and in their home language, including photos or videos from the family member. Classmates can comment in both English and the student’s home language.   Strategies for teachers of English learners during hybrid or remote learning  Create presentations in multiple languages using captions or an online translation tool. Allow students to respond orally or in writing.   Produce a Google Slides presentation with visuals on a content topic and include resource links for students to use to learn more about the topic and add to the subject within a shared document. Alternatively, assign students a topic related to the unit and then get together with their peers to create a group presentation to share with the class.   Additionally, some parents may not have the technological proficiency that would enable them to easily communicate with their student’s teachers. Staying in touch will require patience, persistence, and understanding. Use this time as an opportunity to find multiple ways of communicating with parents of your English learner students to maximize learning during this time of remote instruction. Teachers, students and families are in this together!

Tools Distance Learning for ELLs: Planning Instruction By Kristina Robertson, Colorín Colorado 6 Key Considerations for Supporting English Learners with Distance Learning By Heather Skibbins, SEAL Supporting Multilingual Learners (MLLs)/English Language Learners (ELLs) During the COVID-19 Shutdown TNTP

Supplemental Bilingual Early Childhood Curriculum

Semillitas de Aprendizaje offers a unique bilingual set of early childhood materials.The classroom set includes Teacher Guide (Manual de Maestro) 10 Big Books (abridged) 10 Storybooks (unabridged) 15 Math Books 20 Cartitas - Letters Home, with activities related the Semillitas de Aprendizaje stories Storytelling & Storyreading Videos DVD

See video clips from the DVD with examples of storytelling in Spanish and story reading in English for one of the 10 Semillitas de Aprendizaje stories.

Learn more about IDRA's Semillitas de Aprendizaje curriculum including sample classroom lessons and scope and sequence

Webinars On-Demand

English Language Arts Webinar Series

Part 1: Journal Writing About the Present for the Future Lead your students as they create a primary source for future historians. In Part 1 of this three-part webinar series, trainers outline literacy lessons adaptable for all grades as students use journal writing to record their responses to a pandemic that has upended their school year.

See Part 1

Part 2: From Journaling to Personal Narratives  In the second of this three-part webinar series, trainers demonstrate a process where students select one of their journal entries to expand it into a fully developed personal narrative, reflecting the significance of the COVID-19 event.

See Part 2

Part 3: From Journaling and Personal Narratives to Letter Writing   In the final installment of this three-part webinar series, trainers present steps for students to select from their journal entries one issue important to them. Students expand their writing into a letter to someone in authority suggesting how the issue and its outcome could have been improved upon.

See Part 3

See more free webinar recordings available for viewing at your convenience.

See Webinar Hub

Free Webinars on Education for Immigrant Families IDRA and the Consulate General of Mexico in San Antonio have been partnering to help Mexican and Mexican American families navigate the U.S. education system and learn about important educational opportunities in both countries. While the consultate was closed due to the COVID-19 crisis, IDRA's Ventanilla de Orientación Educativa (VOE) in San Antonio launched a portal with bilingual materials and videos for families. This resource is provided, in part, through the IDRA EAC-South and IDRA's Re-energizing Leadership to Achieve Greater Student Success project. Seminarios Web en Español Derechos de los Estudiantes Inmigrantes en Pre Kinder-Secundaria Navegando por el Sistema de Educación K-12 en EE. UU. Oportunidades de Ayuda Financiera Universitaria para Inmigrantes Oportunidades Educativas para Adultos en Español Oportunidades Educativas en México para Mexicanos en Ambos Países Webinar Episodes in English Rights of Immigrant Students in PreK-12 Schools Navigating the U.S. K-12 Education System College Financial Aid Opportunities for Immigrant Students Adult and Community Education Opportunities in Spanish Educational Opportunities in Mexico for Nationals Living in Both Countries

See VOE Webinar Hub

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The Intercultural Development Research Association is an independent, non-profit organization. Our mission is to achieve equal educational opportunity for every child through strong public schools that prepare all students to access and succeed in college. IDRA strengthens and transforms public education by providing dynamic training; useful research, evaluation, and frameworks for action; timely policy analyses; and innovative materials and programs.   IDRA works hand-in-hand with hundreds of thousands of educators and families each year in communities and classrooms around the country. All our work rests on an unwavering commitment to creating self-renewing schools that value and promote the success of students of all backgrounds.