Asset-based Content and Language Instruction for Multilingual Learners in the Secondary Grades Institute Integrated and Designated ELD in conjunction with culturally and linguistically sustaining practices are the foundational components of effective and responsive secondary schools for meeting the needs of English Learners. Participants become acquainted with the guidance provided in key California Department of Education resources,  including the English Learner Roadmap, ELD Standards, ELA/ ELD Framework, and the newly published Improving Education for Multilingual and English Learner Students: Research to Practice. 

Developing and Strengthening Programs and Services to Meet the Needs of LTELs  It has been nearly ten years since Reparable Harm: Fulfilling the Unkept Promise of Educational Opportunity for California’s Long Term English Learners shed light on the needs of Long-Term English Learners and called on education leaders to provide solutions for these students.  Californians Together continues its work with a new report focused on how schools, districts, and the state can best meet the needs of Long-Term English learners, which will be released June 2021.  Using the new report as guidance, this institute will include an overview of what the data says about LTELs across California, a summary of research and key policy changes over the past ten years, findings from a landscape survey of districts across California, examples from districts with promising practices, and key policy recommendations for education leaders.  The institute will provide templates and guidance in shaping inquiries into your own LTEL population, and will acquaint participants with resources for developing and strengthening programs and services.

Integrated and Designated ELD Strand for Secondary Teachers This two-year series is framed by the four Principles of the English Learner Roadmap policy and focuses primarily on deepening knowledge about and implementing quality teaching and learning practices for EL students.  The Strand will feature guidance provided in key California Department of Education resources, including the English Learner Roadmap policy, ELD Standards, ELA-ELD Framework, and Improving Education for Multilingual and English Learner Students: Research to Practice. 

English Learner Roadmap 101 for School Board Members

This session for School Board Members provides a basic overview of the comprehensive and visionary English Learner Roadmap state policy.  It is designed to address the role of local governing bodies in supporting and overseeing planning, resource allocation, and implementation of responsive and effective programs and services for English learners that are aligned with the state policy.  What questions should you be asking? What opportunities does this assets-oriented and visionary state policy open up for your schools?  How can you ensure your schools are enacting the vision, mission and principles of the EL Roadmap?  Sign up and gain answers and tools for being a school board member that centralizes the needs of your English learner students. 

Leading School Improvement with English learners at the Heart: The English Learner Roadmap for Administrators Strand of Five Modules Administrators are the linchpin of implementation - the leader who articulates urgency, the ears and eyes to assess what needs to be done for English learners, the supporter for teachers and staff engaged in the hard work of changing practices, a cheerleader and critical friend, a reminder to keep the focus on students, and the manager of critical resources needed to support the work. This series of five modules (over a two-year period) is designed to support district and site administrators as they take up the challenge of doing all of this to enact the comprehensive English Learner Roadmap policy.

Each module of the Leadership/Administrator Strand involves participants in specifically examining their role in leading improvement processes and supporting evidence-based practice and results in a plan for inquiry and implementation to pursue before the next module. Each module also provides a volume of The EL Roadmap Administrators Toolkit with tools, readings, resources, and activities.  The five modules together provide a solid and comprehensive learning and support structure preparing administrators to lead implementation of research-based, assets-oriented programs and services for English learners.

Meeting the Unique Needs of Newcomers in the Classroom

California’s newly arrived students from other nations face a particular set of unique needs. This institute, designed for K-12 educators, begins with an overview of who these newcomers are, and their cultural and social needs.   The institute will then focus on the academic needs of these students to help them succeed in the classroom and beyond.  Participants will receive strategies and practical resources they can use right away to create a welcoming environment for newcomer students and facilitate their learning.

Structuring District and School Site Programs to Meet the Needs of Newcomers Students 

It has been nearly ten years since Reparable Harm: Fulfilling the Unkept Promise of Educational Opportunity for California’s Long Term English Learners shed light on the needs of Long-Term English Learners and called on education leaders to provide solutions for these students.  Californians Together continues its work with a new report focused on how schools, districts, and the state can best meet the needs of Long-Term English learners, which will be released June 2021.  Using the new report as guidance, this institute will include an overview of what the data says about LTELs across California, a summary of research and key policy changes over the past ten years, findings from a landscape survey of districts across California, examples from districts with promising practices, and key policy recommendations for education leaders.  The institute will provide templates and guidance in shaping inquiries into your own LTEL population, and will acquaint participants with resources for developing and strengthening programs and services. 

Preparing to Lead Integrated and Designated ELD Creating a comprehensive ELD program is a central priority for effectively serving English learners.   By planning before the academic year begins and carefully nurturing the program during the first weeks of school, administrators can create schools that accelerate learning for English learners.  This three-hour session focuses on how administrators can enact Principle 2 of the English Learner Roadmap policy in their virtual or in-person school.  Participants will learn specific skills and strategies to lead staff, assess instructional materials, and guide a strong Integrated and Designated ELD program.  

Centralizing the needs of English Learners: English Language Development (ELD) for Elementary Teachers and Administrators Institute (4 session series) Equitable access to a comprehensive education including both Integrated and Designated ELD instruction is a civil right for English Learners. These four sessions, with embedded pre-work, will support teachers in designing responsive Designated ELD lessons that build upon students’ knowledge across the disciplines. Teachers will expand their understanding of backward planning to identify English Learners’ strengths and needs to provide targeted language instruction. Scaffolds and supports presented in these sessions include language functions, graphic organizers, differentiated frames, language transfer strategies, and formative assessments that ensure students to effectively engage with complex texts and tasks.  Through this work, teachers will develop the tools needed to create the academic conditions students need to flourish.

To support deep learning and application of concepts,  the County Office of Education will facilitate two Communities of Practice (CoPs) to develop a network of practitioners in order to engage in discussing, sharing, applying, and reflecting best practices to build a repertoire of resources and ideas that apply to your local context.  These CoPs will take place in between synchronous learning sessions. 

Centralizing the needs of English Learners: English Language Development (ELD) for Elementary Teachers and Administrators Institute (6 session series) Equitable access to a comprehensive education including both Integrated and Designated ELD instruction is a civil right for English Learners. These four sessions, with embedded pre-work, will support teachers in designing responsive Designated ELD lessons that build upon students’ knowledge across the disciplines. Teachers will expand their understanding of backward planning to identify English Learners’ strengths and needs to provide targeted language instruction. Scaffolds and supports presented in these sessions include language functions, graphic organizers, differentiated frames, language transfer strategies, and formative assessments that ensure students to effectively engage with complex texts and tasks.  Through this work, teachers will develop the tools needed to create the academic conditions students need to flourish.

To support deep learning and application of concepts,  the County Office of Education will facilitate two Communities of Practice (CoPs) to develop a network of practitioners in order to engage in discussing, sharing, applying, and reflecting best practices to build a repertoire of resources and ideas that apply to your local context.  These CoPs will take place in between synchronous learning sessions.

Creating Conditions for Dual Language Learners to Thrive In Early Education This Professional Learning Series (PLS) for early educators is designed to improve educator effectiveness in meeting the needs of Dual Language Learners (DLLs) and their families in the foundational years of preschool. 

The sessions will focus around four themes critical to DLL success: Partnering with Families, Complex Oral Language, Making Languages Visible & Tangible, and Early Literacy & Engaging with Text. Participants will begin by exploring how to affirm children’s home language, culture and identities in the school community, in order to make learning more relevant, meaningful and successful. Teachers will learn to model expressive language and create environments where rich vocabulary and concepts come to life. They will learn how to use visuals to help children make meaning and provide critical scaffolds. Finally, teachers will learn strategies to provide access to and authentic opportunities to engage with interesting, complex and rich text. In addition, because language develops deeply when it is embedded in and through thematic content, these sessions will be organized around a thematic unit that will be shared with participants. 

Participants will engage in synchronous and asynchronous activities during and after sessions, which will allow them to enact and utilize strategies to enhance learning.

The Elementary Dual Language Pedagogy Institute for Elementary Administrators/Leaders is a four-part series designed to support planning, implementing, strengthening, and sustaining dual language programs. It draws from a “hot off the presses” chapter written by Dr. Laurie Olsen from the recently released CDE book, Improving Multilingual and English Learner Education: from Research to Practice. New research findings, updated case studies, and promising practices will engage participants in key strategies to implement and expand effective, transformative, and sustainable dual language programs and pathways that center and elevate English learners. Administrators and leaders will engage in workshop style sessions that will address: matching a model to context, whole school versus strand, how to recruit and support teachers and effective instruction, how to engage families in bilingual school partnerships, how to build assessment systems that honor biliteracy, and how to be an advocate and champion of dual language. Participants will leave with concrete, actionable protocols and activities they can replicate with site teams to build their own effective programs.

Dual Language Pedagogy Institute for Elementary Teachers Creating an inclusive, linguistically, and culturally affirming dual language classroom community is a central priority for effectively serving English Learners. The Elementary Dual Language Pedagogy Institute for Teachers is designed to develop the foundation and strategies that teachers need in order to implement effective, transformative, and sustainable dual language programs. Based on a new chapter written by Dr. Laurie Olsen from the recently released CDE book Improving Multilingual and English Learner Education: from Research to Practice, the four Institute sessions will provide bilingual teachers with specific skills and strategies for:

• grounding their work in bilingual pedagogy, 

• strategically coordinating authentic literacy instruction,

• facilitating learning that capitalizes on cross language connections and the power of the bilingual brain, and

• leveraging their students and families cultural and linguistic assets.

To support deep learning and application of concepts,  the County Office of Education will facilitate two Communities of Practice (CoPs) to develop a network of practitioners in order to engage in discussing, sharing, applying, and reflecting best practices to build a repertoire of resources and ideas that apply to your local context.  These CoPs will take place in between the four synchronous learning sessions.

Elementary English Learner Roadmap 101 Family Webinar TOT Families play a crucial role in the success of their children’s academics. Ensuring they are informed about the English Learner Roadmap will serve as an important bridge to foster stronger school relationships, personal investment, and robust implementation of the English Learner Roadmap. In this session, district and/or site personnel will be prepared to deliver English Learner Roadmap workshops to their families so they are:

• Familiar with the English Learner Roadmap context, policy, and principles

• Poised to understand their role in effective implementation of the English Learner Roadmap at their child’s school

All print and media resources will be provided so district and/or site personnel are able to empower families to support schools in centralizing the needs of English Learners. 

Elementary Coaching to Enact the English Learner Roadmap Instructional coaches play a critical role in creating classrooms and communities that respond to our students’ strengths, needs, socio-emotional health, and identities. This three-session webinar series, with embedded pre-session work and follow-up reflection and application, focuses on how coaches can support teachers in enacting the English Learner Roadmap policy. Participants will learn specific skills and strategies for supporting their teachers in leveraging students’ and families’ cultural and linguistic assets, harnessing formative assessment to guide instruction, and facilitating intentional, collaborative planning of integrated and designated ELD using the ELD standards. 

Integrated and Designated ELD: Elementary Teacher as Language Coach How can teachers easily and effectively build language proficiency for their EL/DLL students throughout their daily lessons? This two-hour interactive webinar, including one hour of pre-session asynchronous work, provides teachers with a construct and set of practices that can be quickly integrated into existing lessons and practices, including Designated ELD. Aligned to Principle 2 of the English Learner Roadmap policy, participants will learn to effectively identify and address the strengths and needs of English learners by providing targeted scaffolds and supports to actively deepen students’ use of sophisticated academic language for speaking and writing, tapping into their linguistic genius. Teachers will be prepared with tools and resources that can be implemented the next day in their virtual and in-person classrooms. Our students’ brilliance shines through when we create the conditions for educational equity and access.

Leveraging Elementary Academic Texts to Deepen Language Proficiency How can elementary teachers leverage academic texts to deepen their English learner’s language proficiency? This two-hour webinar, with embedded pre-session work and follow-up application, will equip teachers to select high quality mentor texts in order to build students’ ability to effectively express themselves in written and oral formats. Teachers will learn how to guide their students to effectively make meaning by analyzing texts and text excerpts for critical text features. Then, through whole-group integrated ELD and small group designated ELD, students practice and incorporate these sophisticated language structures into their repertoire, thereby increasing proficiency in English. Through the process, English learners develop critical skills to engage with and produce academic language and texts, to both leverage linguistic strengths and address needs.

The English Learner Roadmap Elementary Teacher Strand  Over two years participants will engage in five learning modules constructed to follow the four principles of the English Learner Roadmap.  The teacher strand focuses on classroom practices, on teaching and learning, and specific instructional strategies.  Module I is guided by Principle #1, teachers will engage in understanding the typologies and diversity within the English learner population and implications for classroom practices.  Modules 2-4   will focus on Principle #2, teachers will hone in on integrated and designated ELD, immersion in the ELD standards, understanding integration of language development and content knowledge, planning responsive designated ELD, and learning high-leverage instructional strategies that build comprehension, and a focus on all four domains of language. Principle  #3 and Principle #4 will be shared in module 5 in the series focusing on formative assessment, collaborative and reflective teacher practice.

The English Learner Roadmap Dual Language Elementary Teacher Strand Over two years participants will engage in five learning modules constructed to follow the four principles of the English Learner Roadmap.  The teacher strand focuses on classroom practices, on teaching and learning, and specific instructional strategies.  Module I is guided by Principle #1, teachers will engage in understanding the typologies and diversity within the English learner population and implications for classroom practices.  Modules 2-4   will focus on Principle #2, teachers will hone in on integrated and designated ELD, immersion in the ELD standards, understanding integration of language development and content knowledge, planning responsive designated ELD, and learning high-leverage instructional strategies that build comprehension, and a focus on all four domains of language. Principle  #3 and Principle #4 will be shared in module 5 in the series focusing on formative assessment, collaborative and reflective teacher practice. 

English Learner Master Plan Institute: Designing Local Policy Aligned to the California English Learner Roadmap

This interactive institute will help LEA teams create a plan to develop a district-wide English Learner Master Plan aligned to the research-based California English Learner Roadmap policy. Participants will engage in discussions to guide planning for the development of visionary policies, programs, and services that ensure equitable opportunities and outcomes for English learners. Participants will receive resources included in the Center for Equity for English Learners’ English Learner Master Plan Playbook to develop a strategy for beginning or refining their approach to writing their EL Master Plan. Alignment with EL Roadmap principles and elements will be highlighted.

English Learner Roadmap Aligned LCAP Toolkit Workshop: Using Research-Based Tools to Promote Equity for English Learners  This interactive workshop will help LEA teams design an LCAP that is aligned to the research-based CA English Learner Roadmap policy and focuses on identifying actions, services, programs, and resources that ensure equitable opportunities and outcomes for English Learners. Participant will engage with the resources included in the Toolkit and explore the ways they might be used to identify and analyze the needs of their English Learners. Alignment with EL Roadmap principles and elements will be highlighted. Moreover, the training will help LEA teams to identify the pitfalls inherent in the Dashboard data that mask the achievement of ELs, and more effectively understand the achievement and statues of their Els.

Higher Education Institute: (Re)Designing Educator Preparation Focused on Equity for English Learners/Multilingual Students 

 We invite higher education colleagues who prepare future teachers, counselors, and

administrators to engage in collaborative reflection and redesign processes to well-equip their

candidates to serve culturally and linguistically diverse students in P-12 settings.

• learn about the Center for Equity for English Learners (CEEL) English Learner Roadmap Toolkit for Institutions of Higher Education developed to support credentialing programs in the areas of teaching, counseling, and administration to better align with the recently passed California English Learner Roadmap policy for TK-12 students (2017)

•  engage with IHE teams to use the resources included in the Toolkit to develop a strategy for (re)designing preparation programs or coursework to address the teaching and learning needs of future educators.

Establishing a Data Culture that is Centered around Equity for Multilingual Learners It is our collective professional responsibility to move beyond compliance and establish systems where multilingual learners thrive. A robust EL data culture is essential to actualizing the California English Learner Roadmap Policy. This interactive virtual, three part series builds the capacity of Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in developing a data culture, systems, and processes that are aligned to all four principles of this critical and aspirational policy. 

Institute for English Learners/ Emergent Bilinguals The California English Learner Roadmap Policy in Action National Resource Center for Asian Languages presented a series of institutes to develop and share best practices for teaching English learners / Emergent Bilingual students of Asian languages and/or students in Asian language programs.  The sessions were guided by the four principles of the English Learner Roadmap Policy, and included presentations by in-service teachers and facilitated discussions. 

Improving Outcomes for English Learners with Disabilities Imperial County Office SELPA, the state Lead on English Learners with Disabilities, provides LEAs customized offerings. 

Moving the California English Learner Roadmap Forward: Lessons Learned From EL RISE!

This report summarizes key findings from the three-year statewide capacity-building effort, shares conclusions about what it will take at all levels (state, county office, local district, school sites, and classrooms) to meaningfully implement the EL Roadmap, and offers recommendations for continuing work to give life to the promise of the California EL Roadmap policy.

Read the report

Bright Spots: Five Districts Move the English Learner Roadmap Forward

This Bright Spots publication is comprised of selected examples that illustrate what it looks like to implement the English Learner Roadmap from TK to 12 at a district level. Although the contexts and journeys of these dive districts differ, this publication highlights visionary leadership, investments in professional learning and capacity building, and the development of district-level systems for coherence and sustainability, as common threads.

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Moving the California English Learner Roadmap Forward: The Pivotal Role of County Offices of Education

This publication tells the story of one of the Sacramento County Office of Education, and its three-year journey that would deepen understanding and ownership for addressing and embracing English learners throughout the departments and functions of the COE.

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