1Center or American Progress | Using No Child Let Behind Waivers to Improve English Language Learner Education
Using No Child Left Behind Waiversto Improve English LanguageLearner Education
Theodora Chang August 31, 2012
Introduction
Te No Child Le Behind law undamenally changed he expecaions and daa haschools should have or heir English language learner sudens. Te landmark 1974 Lau v. Nichols Supreme Cour case concluded ha sudens who speak English as a secondlanguage have a righ o a “meaningul educaion.” Bu No Child Le Behind—a reauhorizaion o he Elemenary and Secondary Educaion Ac—was he rs law o hold schools and disrics accounable or he achievemen o heir English languagelearner sudens. Te law requires disrics and schools o disaggregae and repor daa by suden subgroups, including English language learners, and o ake acion i hey dono make sucien academic progress. A decade aer No Child Le Behind becamelaw, here is sill a large achievemen gap beween English language learner sudens andheir English-procien peers. More han hree imes as many English language learnersudens score below he basic level on eighh-grade naional mah and reading examsas heir whie, English-procien peers.
1
In Sepember 2011 Presiden Barack Obama announced ha his adminisraion would waive cerain Elemenary and Secondary Educaion Ac requiremens in exchange orreorms proposed by saes in our principle areas: –
Principle 1:
Meeing college- and career-ready expecaions or all sudens –
Principle 2:
Creaing sae-developed diereniaed recogniion, accounabiliy,and suppor –
Principle 3:
Supporing eecive leadership and insrucion –
Principle 4:
Reducing duplicaion and unnecessary burden
2
Te Obama adminisraion is argeing several improvemens relaed o English lan-guage learners hrough is process or graning Elemenary and Secondary Educaion Ac waivers. Specically, hose reviewing saes’ waiver applicaions have been encour-
2Center or American Progress | Using No Child Let Behind Waivers to Improve English Language Learner Education
aged o consider he manner in which saes address he needs o English languagelearners in each o hese principle areas, wih he excepion o principle our.
3
Eleven saes applied or and received waivers in early February 2012 as par o he rsround o applicaions. weny-six saes plus he Disric o Columbia applied or henex round o waivers.
4
Te U.S. Deparmen o Educaion is currenly reviewing hoseapplicaions and had approved waivers or 23 saes a he ime o publicaion.In his column we consider he signicance o improving insrucion or English lan-guage learners. In addiion, we ouline he ways in which he waiver applicaion review process encourages saes o address he needs o English language learner sudens aspar o he rs and hird principles relaed o college- and career-ready expecaions ando leadership and insrucion—he issues relaed o principle 2 are oo exensive o delveino in his column and hereore are no discussed a lengh.
5
Finally, we highligh hesae o New York, which submited a very deailed and houghul waiver applicaion wih respec o meeing he needs o is English language learners. As par o our review, we examined all second-round applicaions o analyze how well hey addressed heneeds o English language learners relaed o principles one and hree, hough we oundha mos saes lacked deailed plans. Tus, we ocus on New York in his paper, whichsood ou or is comprehensive approach o he issue.
The need for improving instruction for English language learners
Tere is litle quesion ha all eachers will soon need o have he skills o be successul wih English language learner sudens. In he decade rom 1998 o 2008, he numbero English language learner sudens increased rom 3.5 million o 5.3 million, andresearchers esimae ha 1 in 10 public school sudens in he Unied Saes is an Englishlanguage learner suden.
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Tis means ha general educaion classroom eachers, whomay be accusomed o working primarily wih sudens who speak English fuenly, willneed o adap heir eaching echniques o reach sudens who have varying levels o English language prociency. A recen sudy ound ha eachers who received specialized insrucional rainingor eaching English language learners made a signican impac on heir sudens’learning.
7
Ye ew eachers acually receive his kind o suppor. Naionally, eacherpreparaion programs vary widely in erms o providing in-deph raining on insruc-ional sraegies or English language learners and mehods o addressing he needs o sudens wih varying levels o language prociency.
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Once in he classroom, eachersoen nd ha heir disrics and schools do no include he proessional developmenha is specically designed o address he needs o English language learner sudens.Furhermore, here are inconsisencies across sae cericaion requiremens when icomes o he required knowledge and skills ha all eachers should have or eaching
3Center or American Progress | Using No Child Let Behind Waivers to Improve English Language Learner Education
English language learners. eacher observaion sysems, which are increasingly used omeasure eacher eeciveness, also end o vary in how hey assess eachers in meeinghe needs o English language learner sudens.
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Te Elemenary and Secondary Educaion Ac waivers oer saes an opporuniy o pressahead wih eors ha improve insrucion or English language learners. Te waiverapplicaion and review process encourages saes o consider how heir sae sandardscan suppor learning and insrucion or English language learners and how eacherand leader evaluaion sysems can improve he qualiy o insrucion or hese sudens. Accounabiliy, oo, plays an imporan role in improving insrucion and is a key area hasaes mus address in heir waiver applicaions. For he purposes o his column, however, we ocus solely on he principles relaed o sae sandards and leadership and insrucion.Elsewhere we have examined sae plans or heir accounabiliy sysems.
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What makes a high-quality waiver application for English languagelearners and their teachers?
Te U.S. Deparmen o Educaion issued guidance o direc reviewers as hey consid-ered saes’ waiver applicaions and o help saes develop “high-qualiy requess” or waivers.
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Te Educaion Deparmen denes a high-qualiy reques as being “compre-hensive and coheren in is approach and … clearly indicaes how his fexibiliy willhelp … improve suden achievemen and he qualiy o insrucion or sudens.”
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Tereview guidance promps reviewers and saes o consider how he needs o Englishlanguage learners are being addressed under each principle.
States are encouraged to ensure that English language learnershave the opportunity to achieve state college- and career-readystandards at a minimum by:
•
Analyzing the linguistic demands o their college- and career-ready standards and using results to develop or revise existingEnglish language profciency standards
•
Providing proessional development and other support toprepare incoming and current teachers to help all students,including English language learners, meet expectations set bythe standards
•
Developing and disseminating high-quality instructional materi-als aligned to the new standards that support the teaching andlearning o all students, including English language learners
•
Working with institutions o higher education and otherteacher and leader preparation programs to better preparenew teachers and leaders to teach all students, includingEnglish language learners
Principle 1: Meeting college- and career-ready expectations for all students
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Using No Child Left Behind Waivers to Improve English Language Learner Education
Theodora Chang discusses the benefits of No Child Left Behind waivers for English language learners and English as a second language teachers.
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