IES Practice Guide Summary

Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction for English Learners in the Elementary Grades
Audience School practitioners such as administra Depending on resources, districts should consider collecting progress monitoring data more than three times a year for English learners at risk for reading problems. Data from screening and progress monitoring assessments should be used to make decisions about the instructional support English learners need to learn to read. Schools with performance benchmarks in reading in the early grades can use the same standards for English learners and for native English speakers to make adjustments in instruction when progress is not sufficient. Provide training on how teachers are to use formative assessment data to guide instruction. 2. Provide intensive small-group reading intervention. Use an intervention program with students who enter the first grade with weak reading and prereading skills, or with older elementary students with reading problems. Ensure that the program is implemented daily for at least 30 minutes in small, homogeneous groups of three to six students. Provide training and ongoing support for the teachers and interventionists (reading coaches, Title I personnel, or paraeducators) who provide the small-group instruction. Training should also focus on how to deliver instruction effectively, independent of the particular program emphasized. It is important that this training include the use of the specific program materials the teachers will use during the school year. But, the training should also explicitly emphasize that these instructional techniques can be used in other programs and across other subject areas.
IES IES PRACTICE PRACTICE GUIDE GUIDE WHAT WORKS CLEARINGHOUSE

tors, curriculum specialists, coaches, staff development specialists and teachers who face the challenge of providing effective literacy instruction for English language learners. District-level administrators who develop practice and policy options for their schools.

Grade level K5. Link http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practiceguides/20074011.pdf Introduction

Major problems in effective instruction of English learners are persistent. The 2005 achievement gap of 35 points in reading between grade 4 English learners and non-English learners was greater than the gap between black and white students. While there have been some significant recent advances in the body of scientific research on effective instructional strategies for teaching English learners, the research is still limited. Several examples in the literature illustrate success storiesboth for individual English learners and for schools. These students, despite having to learn English while mastering a typical school curriculum, have beaten the odds in academic achievement. One major theme of the recommendations in this guide is the importance of intensive, interactive English language development instruction for all English learners. This instruction needs to focus on developing academic language (i.e., the decontextualized language of the schools, the language of academic discourse, of texts, and of formal argument).

Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction for English Learners in the Elementary Grades

NCEE 2007-4011 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Recommendations
1. Screen for reading problems and monitor progress. Districts should establish procedures forand provide training forschools to screen English learners for reading problems. The same measures and assessment approaches can be used with English learners and native English speakers.

3. Provide extensive and varied vocabulary instruction. Adopt an evidence-based approach to vocabulary instruction.

 Develop districtwide lists of essential words for vocabulary instruction. These words should be drawn from the core reading program and from the textbooks used in key content areas, such as science and history. Vocabulary instruction for English learners should also emphasize the acquisition of meanings of everyday words that native speakers know and that are not necessarily part of the academic curriculum. 4. Develop academic English. Adopt a plan that focuses on ways and means to help teachers understand that instruction to English learners must include time devoted to development of academic English. Daily academic English instruction should also be integrated into the core curriculum.

Teach academic English in the earliest grades. Provide teachers with appropriate professional development to help them learn how to teach academic English. Consider asking teachers to devote a specific block (or blocks) of time each day to building English learners academic English. 5. Schedule regular peerassisted learning opportunities. Develop plans that encourage teachers to schedule about 90 minutes a week with activities in reading and language arts that entail students working in structured pair activities. Also consider the use of partnering for English language development instruction.

Related REL Publications

IES PRACTICE GUIDE WHAT WORKS CLEARINGHOUSE

Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade

Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten through Third Grade

(September 2010)

IES PRACTICE GUIDE

WHAT WORKS CLEARINGHOUSE

Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier Intervention in the Primary Grades

Students who read with understanding at an early age gain access to a broader range of texts, knowledge, and educational opportunities, making early reading comprehension instruction particularly critical. This guide recommends five specific steps that teachers, reading coaches, and principals can take to successfully improve reading comprehension for young readers.
NCEE 2010-4038
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

NCEE 2009-4045 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier Intervention in the Elementary Grades

(February 2009)

http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practiceguides/ rti_reading_pg_021809.pdf

This guide offers five specific recommendations to help educators identify struggling readers and implement evidencebased strategies to promote their reading achievement. Teachers and reading specialists can utilize these strategies to implement RtI and multi-tier intervention methods and frameworks at the classroom or school level. Recommendations cover how to screen students for reading problems, design a multi-tier intervention program, adjust instruction to help struggling readers, and monitor student progress.
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practiceguides/ rti_reading_pg_021809.pdf

Doing What Works: Teaching Literacy in English to K-5 English Learners The Doing What Works website provides practical tools for implementing recommendations from IES practice guides.
http://dww.ed.gov/topic/?T_ID=13

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