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Analysis: Educators Say Distance Learning Failed Most English Learners Last Spring. Here’s 10 Ways to More Effectively Serve ELs as Schools Reopen for Virtual and Blended Learning

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By Martha Hernandez, Californians Together Executive Director

American schools’ responses to COVID-19’s sudden interruption to public education varied considerably across the nation as students went from daily classroom learning to stay-at-home orders nearly overnight. Now, a new survey reveals the limits of that patchwork response to the emergency — and indicates key lessons for schools’ reopening this fall.

BARTLETT, ILLINOIS - MAY 01: Seven-year-old Hamza Haqqani, a 2nd grade student at Al-Huda Academy, uses a computer to participate in an E-learning class with his teacher and classmates while at his home on May 01, 2020 in Bartlett, Illinois. Al-Huda Academy, an Islam based private school that teaches pre-school through the 6th grade students, has had to adopt an E-learning program to finish the school year after all schools in the state were forced to cancel classes in an attempt to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Over the past several months, Californians Together, an English-learner advocacy organization, asked more than 650 educators to provide details about their schools’ distance learning plans, focusing particularly on how they served English learners. The results were sobering. Martha Hernandez discusses a 10-point road map for how Local, state leaders, and schools can address inequities as they prepare to relaunch public education in the fall.

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Supporting English Learners in Learning Continuity Plans

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As school districts kick off the 2020-21 school year and address the challenges presented by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, equity must be front and center. Equity in this context means that reopening plans consider the needs of the most vulnerable students and have explicit strategies and investments to ensure that opportunity and achievement gaps are not exacerbated. Given some of the gaps in access to education that have been documented from the spring closures, Californians Together recommends that districts ensure that the needs of English learners are addressed in their Learning Continuity and Attendance Plans. 

Districts have an opportunity to describe their plans for school reopenings and how they will address the needs of our most vulnerable students through the development of their Learning Continuity and Attendance Plans (LCPs), which must be adopted by September 30th. To ensure that the needs of English learners are addressed in their LCP, we encourage districts to provide a clear description and definition of the following factors. 

  1. Designated and Integrated instruction in English language development (ELD). Education Code 43503(b)(5) clearly states that distance learning shall include “Designated and integrated instruction in English language development pursuant to Section 11300 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations for English learners, including assessment of English language proficiency, support to access curriculum, the ability to reclassify as fully English proficient, and, as applicable, support for dual language learning.” LCPs must provide a clear description of how designated and integrated ELD instruction will be delivered within distance learning.
  2. Daily live interaction and synchronous learning time that all students will receive. Education Code 43503(a)(6) clearly states that distance learning shall include “Daily live interaction with certificated employees and peers for purposes of instruction, progress monitoring, and maintaining school connectedness.”  School districts should clearly define what daily live interaction will entail and incorporate expectations for synchronous learning, including the time and frequency expectations for every student, grade level, and the format. In addition, districts should describe any modifications for English learners, students with disabilities, homeless students, foster youth, and socio-economically disadvantaged students.
  3. Support that will be provided to parents and families. This support should be focused on opportunities to learn strategies to help enhance the education of their children at home. In addition, this should also include opportunities for authentic engagement that informs and has an impact on district and school decision-making. All of these support opportunities must be differentiated to ensure the engagement of families whose primary home language is other than English. 
  4. Social-Emotional Supports. Providing students with access to social-emotional supports is critical during this time of crisis. Moreover, districts should detail strategies to ensure that such supports are accessible to all students and that SEL is incorporated within instruction.
  5. Alignment and articulation between early childhood education and early elementary education, with supports for dual language learners and their multilingual families. The first five years are a critical window of opportunity for brain, language, and bilingual development. Therefore support for dual language learners and their multilingual families must start from the earliest years possible (i.e. infant/toddler programs, and preschool). Early childhood education should continue to be included within the planning process and aligned with elementary education so that students have a smooth transition into elementary education. This is of particular importance to dual language learners that can be supported in the development of both their home language and English language as early as possible.

To support districts in incorporating these factors within their LCP’s our EL RISE! Initiative (made possible with the support of an Educator Workforce Investment Grant [EWIG] to Californians Together from the California Department of Education) developed two tools aligned to the English Learner Roadmap. 

We encourage all districts, schools, teachers, and community members to review the recommendations in these resources and to continue to do what they can to close opportunity gaps for English learners. 

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For wide dissemination of the tools and the report, here are social media posts for each of the five factors:

Districts must ensure that time for integrated and designated English Language Development is provided within distance learning. @CalTog through EL RISE! has guidance to help districts develop their Learning Continuity Plans with English learners at heart. https://bit.ly/32Cwq9Y

Students deserve daily live instruction and interaction with teachers. For ELs, these interactions are integral to language development. @CalTog through EL RISE! has guidance to help districts develop their Learning Continuity Plans with ELs at heart. https://bit.ly/32Cwq9Y

During distance learning, families need help to support their children’s education at home. Supports must be available in families’ home languages. @CalTog through EL RISE! has guidance to help districts develop Learning Continuity Plans with ELs at heart. https://bit.ly/32Cwq9Y

Social-emotional supports are important for students during distance learning. These must be accessible to ELs and incorporated within instruction. @CalTog through EL RISE! has guidance to help districts develop Learning Continuity Plans with ELs at heart. https://bit.ly/32Cwq9Y

During distance learning, early childhood education for dual language learners must be incorporated. Articulation between ECE and elementary education is critical. @CalTog through EL RISE! has guidance to help districts develop Learning Continuity Plans. https://bit.ly/32Cwq9Y

A new EL Resource Hub and much, much more!

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Now Available: New Resource Hub Gathers Tools to Bring California’s English Learner Roadmap to Life 

As California leads the way to protect our families and uphold our values in response to COVID-19, it is more important than ever for us to come together and share resources to ensure all of our students, particularly Dual Language Learners and English learners, thrive. We’re proud to partner with leading advocates to advance the California English Learner Roadmap’s vision of honoring equity, ensuring meaningful access and embracing the diversity that makes our state great. In collaboration with six other organizations committed to advancing equity in education, we’ve launched the English Learner Roadmap Resource Hub to translate vision to action across our state. Together, we will harness the power of language to prepare our students to participate in a global, diverse and multilingual world, thus ensuring a thriving future for California.

Stories from the Field

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Photo by Kyo Azuma

The crisis created by COVID-19 has placed a magnifying glass on opportunity gaps faced by many students across California. From access to healthy meals to meeting mental health and education technology needs, communities are depending on public schools to help weather the storm. Of particular concern to Californians Together is the impact on our state’s 1.2 million English learners, multilingual families, and refugee and immigrant students. This crisis has highlighted and amplified the equity challenge to ensure that learning plans meet the needs of English learners (ELs) and their families.

Fortunately, many districts, schools, and educators are stepping up to the challenge and implementing strategies from which we can learn. In an effort to share these practices, Californians Together has been uplifting these stories through Weekly Zooms: Communities of Practice Supporting EL Teachers and Administrators, blog posts, and newsletter articles. Through Alas y Voz,  resources for families are also available in Spanish. 

To further support district, school, and community leaders, we also developed the following four considerations to ensure that ELs continue to have full access to the curriculum (Supporting English Learners Through Distance Learning: Considerations for District and School Leaders). The list and examples are not exhaustive but are meant to help informally assess and guide a conversation about how distance learning is being implemented in your district, school, and community. 

The list is organized into four key areas essential to supporting ELs, including to:

  1. Provide full access to the curriculum, ensuring that designated and integrated ELD are incorporated within distance learning plans.
  2. Meet technology needs, providing students with devices and no cost internet access that support learning in multiple languages.
  3. Proactively engage parents and guardians, disseminating information and  explaining assignments for their children in students’ home languages and implementing a robust plan to reach out to families; and 
  4. Meet the needs of the whole child, ensuring that students have access to essential resources to stay safe and healthy, such as social-emotional supports and meals.

As you review this list and reflect on the progress in your school and district, it is important to continue to celebrate and build on the positive stories from your community. There is not a “one size fits all” approach to ensure that ELs are supported by distance learning, as we know that students and communities are diverse. However, we know that progress in each of the four key areas is important and must be at the forefront of every district and school strategy.

Put together with our Weekly Zooms: Communities of Practice Supporting EL Teachers and Administrators, blog posts, and newsletter articles, you will find many examples of how leaders like yourselves have tackled some of the challenges. We encourage you to share these resources to ensure that ELs continue to be a focus with our communities.

Thank you in advance for your tireless work on behalf of students across California.

Supporting English Learners Through Distance Learning: Considerations for District and School Leaders

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Photo by Kyo Azuma
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With the unexpected school closures due to COVID-19, districts and schools across the state have shifted from in-person instruction to distance learning. This has highlighted the equity challenge to ensure that learning plans meet the needs of English learners (ELs) and their families. This list of considerations includes some of the steps that can be taken by districts and schools to ensure that ELs continue to have full access to the curriculum. The list and examples are not exhaustive but are meant to informally assess and help guide a conversation about how distance learning is being implemented in your district, school, and community. 

Provide Full Access to the Curriculum

Providing ELs with resources and lessons that allows them to make academic progress should be an important consideration for all schools and districts. This means that distance learning plans should provide ELs with designated English language development (ELD) and integrated ELD. Moreover, steps should be taken to ensure that learning plans are relevant, engaging, and enable ELs to have full access to the curriculum.

  • Ensure designated ELD is including within distance learning plans. For example, designated ELD can be part of a distance learning schedule for ELs as a core subject.
  • Ensure that integrated ELD is incorporated within lesson plans for all other subjects. For example, teachers can be provided with a list of tasks for each language domain that can be incorporated within lesson plans.
  • Incorporate project-based learning that allows students to learn from their environment. For example, students can write an article about heroes in their community helping others.
  • Ensure students have access to a minimum number of minutes of direct virtual instruction. For example, setting district guidelines to ensure that all students have access to a minimum number of minutes of instruction for all subjects.
  • Provide culturally relevant enrichment resources and bilingual materials. For example, working with district or city libraries to ensure that students and families can access books, magazines, and other resources in multiple languages.

Meet Technology Needs

Given that ELs come from a variety of backgrounds and many come from low-income households, districts and schools should take steps to ensure that all students have access to the technology and resources they need to access distance learning opportunities.This includes ensuring that all students have a computer at home, a reliable internet connection, and a safe space to learn.

  • Ensure students have access to a device for learning at home. For example, distributing chromebooks to students without a computer at home.
  • Ensure students have access to the internet. For example, negotiating agreements with commercial vendors to provide free access without the need to disclose personal or financial information.
  • Ensure students have a safe space to learn. For example, calling families to discuss strategies for creating a safe place to learn at home.
  • Ensure students have access to the curriculum in their devices in the language of instruction. For example, uploading resources in devices before distribution.

Proactively Engage Parents and Guardians

Parents and guardians are an essential component of effective distance learning. Therefore communications with them in their home language and with staff that are culturally competent is important. Districts and schools must be proactive in reaching out to parents and guardians, both because it provides them with important information but also because these interactions can provide school leaders with important information about the needs of their children.

  • Ensure that all communications are translated in the student’s home language. For example, providing a link for direct translation within the district and school webpages.
  • Plan to reach out to parents and guardians on an ongoing basis to understand the needs of students. For example, having ELD coordinators calling families regularly for support.
  • Provide opportunities for parents and guardians to learn strategies, in the language they understand, to support the education of their children at home. For example, organizing webinars for families on distance learning tips.

Meet the Needs of the Whole Child

This time of physical distancing and disruption to daily lives has an impact on us as humans and can create added stress on children, their families, and communities, It is for this reason that the needs of the whole child must be considered in order for them to be fully prepared to learn. This includes creating partnerships with nonprofits, cities, counties, and other partners to ensure that essential resources are available to families and children.

  • Provide children and families with socioemotional supports. For example, establishing a district hotline to easily connect students and families with social-emotional supports.
  • Ensure students continue to have access to meals. For example, establishing a daily schedule for families to pick-up meals and for meals to be delivered to families without a car.
  • Create a resource list of essential services for families and children. For example, regularly updating a dedicated COVID-19 page within the school and district website that includes information about access to childcare for essential workers, healthcare options, and resources for families facing economic challenges.