Secretary Duncan and the U. S. Department of Education released guidelines for the expenditure of billions of dollars to reform schools and districts to shrink the achievement gap and turn around low performing schools.  Californians Together suggests that to reform the nation's schools and particularly California's schools, the new initiatives need to focus on English learners.  Attached is the input provided to the U. S. Department of Education on the Race to the Top, School Improvement Grant guidelines, NAEP Uniform Guidelines for Testing ELs and testimony given at a hearing on state consortia developing and implementing high quality assessments aligned to the new common core standards.  Dr. Magaly Lavadenz from Loyola University and Dr. Barbara Flores appeared before a panel to present our recommendations in Denver, December 2, 2010.

The Seal of Biliteracy is an award given by a school, school district or county office of education in recognition of students who have studied and attained proficiency in two or more languages by high school graduation.  Appearing on the transcript of the graduating senior, the Seal of Biliteracy is   a statement of accomplishment for future employers and for college admissions.

We are looking for school districts and schools that want to implement the Seal of Biliteracy Program.  The attached brochure gives direction and support for establishing this program.  Contact our office for more information 562-983-1333.

 

During the spring and summer of 2008 representatives of the Californians Together attended two California Department of Education trainings for the Instructional Materials Advisory Panel members and had over seventeen experts observe the textbook deliberations. Each of the observers learned much about the process and the materials and was impressed with the commitment of the panel members, the commissioners and staff. More importantly, the observers walked away with a better understanding of the adoption process, and the challenge of selecting instructional materials that best serve the instructional needs of all students, including English learners.

Based upon our observations of the work of the advisory panels, Californians Together offers the attached findings on the process, criteria and content of the materials with recommendations.

Twelve organizations are urging the State Superintendent of Instruction and the President of the State Board of Education to clarify the intent of categorical funds.  State law and court cases lay the legal foundation for guaranteeing that categorical funds are to supplement the base program and not supplant the services guaranteed to English learners.  The following letter should be shared with all stakeholders.

We are interested in knowing how the implementation of No Child Left Behind and state accountability measures for schools that are identified as low-achieving, are placed in Program Improvement Status, or in a High Priority Schools Grant Program may be impacting English Learners and English Learner programs. Please take a moment to complete one of our on-line surveys listed below. Please share this with colleagues who could help provide us with this information. Thank you for your valuable input.

DISTRICT LEVEL SURVEY
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=763132959205

SCHOOL LEVEL SURVEY
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=466072959293

SPANISH SURVEY

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=18913078180

Norm Gold Associates and the San Diego County Office of Education
This report profiles successful bilingual education programs at six schools in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Ventura, California. It was designed to show that bilingual schools are capable of providing opportunities for students to achieve and sustain high levels of academic excellence even when faced with challenges such as poverty and a lack of students' English proficiency upon entering school.

This document provides rationale, a position and criteria for guidelines for state reclassification criteria.

A report published by the Education Policy Analysis Archives and authored by James Grissom of the California Department of Education challenges the assumption that improvements in the reclassfication rate and academic achievement of English learners has taken place since the passage of Prop. 227. The report is based on statewide data from three different cohorts tracked across four years. Based on the data, Grissom concludes that Prop. 227 has had no effect on reclassfication rates or test scores. To read the full report, visit

Not until significant numbers of CELDT tests were administered to new students for initial assessment did the problem of prematurely identifying IFEPs materialize.  This document makes recommendations for modifying aspects of the CELDT to produce accurate language proficiency designation. 

This article reviews the conditions of schools for California’s English learners and argues that there are seven aspects of schooling of ELs where students receive an education that is demonstrably inferior to that of English speakers.

These two reports document policies promulgated by the California State Board of Education and legislature that were hostile to the continuation and support of bilingual programs and appropriate resources for all services to English learners.

Dr. Maria Quezada, CABE
This presentation calls for bold new leadership in leadership and resources for programs for English learners.

This document underscores the need for a statewide English Language Proficiency test and makes recommendation to improve content and administration of the CELDT.

Since the passage of Proposition 227 new education policy has affected every aspect of schooling for English learners.  This is a brief chronology, by category, of the challenges and barriers to implementing an equitable and accessible education for English learners.                                                                                                                                  

Dr. Robert Linquanti,  Policy Report, UC Linguistic Minority Research Institute, Volume 10, Number 4, Summer 2001. 
This report documents the important role of the reclassification criteria as a monitoring tool for services to English learners.  

Dr. Norm Gold, Californians Together
This document reports that 63 schools with bilingual education programs did better on tests of academic achievement in English than over 1,000 similar schools that provided instruction to most of their students only in English.

Dr. Norm Gold, Californians Together
A review of Spring 2000 Math and Reading SA -9 data from ten elementary schools with large enrollments of English learners (ELs)