John Goncalves

English Language Learner Profile & Development: Challenges, Observations &

Recommendations

In today’s public education system, there is no doubt that teaching language-minority

students to be literate in English is an earnest intellectual and practical challenge. Therefore,

uncovering the relationship between literacy, spoken language, and academic achievement, in

order to improve problems that exist in the classroom, is one of the most pressing issues of our

time. Why is it important to gauge what we know about English Language Learners? First, of

course, is that ALL students deserve access to effective teachers and a high-quality education

that takes into account their individual backgrounds, abilities and needs. Furthermore, in this day

and age, good reading and writing comprehension capacity is essential to gaining content

knowledge, success on the tests and challenging courses, and ultimately graduation and higher

education. Thus, it is in our best interest as teachers, policy-makers and practitioners to develop

effective curricula to engage English language learners and also help reduce the achievement gap

and other inequities that contribute to academic failure. In total, the purpose of this paper is to

synthesize and review some of the research on English language learners, to provide a first-hand

case-study observation on the development of a child dealing with the experience of being an

English language learner, and finally provide recommendations on what strategies could be used

to help similar students to ultimately succeed academically.

Definition of Literacy
 For the last couple of decades, there have been several attempts to put forward an

umbrella definition of the word “literacy.” Nevertheless, shifting conceptual definitions and a

lack of consensus have made it difficult for us to maintain a solid and all-encompassing

connotation for the word. Definitional controversy as well as different (and sometimes

contradictory) formulations on what the word “literacy” means exactly have certainly affected

the approach and design of planners, educators, organizations and bureaus that have crusaded

against illiteracy. Despite clashing and conflicting opinions, many literacy planners and

educators have still gone forth classifying the standard for what is “literate” and “non-literate”

and implemented strategies without establishing what the true reality of illiteracy is. This has not

only made it more challenging to fix the problem, but also served to perpetuate it.

In essence, the basic definition of literacy has always been at stake. The reason being is

that the nation’s dominant form of literacy is neither non-permanent nor absolute. Instead it is

contingent on contemporary ideas, the changing economy, production, technology etc. Thus,

there are different forms of literacy spanning from computer literacy, to mathematical literacy,

artistic literacy, or trans-cultural literacy. Conventional English literacy, otherwise the quality or

state of being able to read, write and orally communicate the language effectively, is, as we

know, critical for educational success in the United States school system. And to have these

skills and linguistic abilities requires the development of literacy level over time. For instance, a

child in the emergent literacy level stage may have meaningful experiences with books and
writing materials, but will not be fully fluent or developed in terms of literacy until they have a

well-developed vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, listening comprehension and can

effectively express ideas orally. Besides literacy’s linguistic, cognitive, and developmental

dimensions, literacy's socio-cultural dimension arguably calls for the greatest focus, especially in

the context of an ethnic melting pot, as diverse as the U.S.

Literature Review on English Language Learners

In contemporary America, children of immigrant families are the most rapidly growing

proportion of the entire child population of the states. Currently, one in every five children in the

United States comes from an immigrant family and 40 percent of all school-aged children in

America are expected to be language minority students by the 2030s (Hernandez, 2004; Thomas

& Collier, 2002). What’s even move striking is that the students of this decade and beyond will

continue to exhibit greater linguistic, ethnic and class diversity than ever before in America

history (Portes & Rum baut, 1996). Despite the unique assets that immigrant families bring with

them, they continue to face unprecedented challenges in America. In general, children from

immigrant children must navigate the course of acculturation from a place of social disadvantage

whether it is familial or institutional. Delving in more specifically, children in immigrant

families are far more likely to experience low levels of parental educational attainment, which in

turn has major implications on their well-being and development. For instance, parents with

minimal education are less able to foster their children’s success. Furthermore, parents find
themselves on the bottom side of the wage gap, while also facing other educational obstacles.

Among children in immigrant families in the United States, 72% speak a language other than

English at home. Adding on, immigrant children contend heavily with discrimination and racism.

Even with parents' high hopes for their children's future, and very active roles in their children's

development of educational, moral, and cooperative social values, ethnocentric attitudes can

result in pessimistic conclusions about the schools’ limited effectiveness in providing their

children with elevated opportunities (Ada & Zubizarreta, 2001). Moreover, in school settings

with fewer resources and lower teacher expectations, children can perceive school as a form of

institutional oppression resulting in the development of negative attitudes of scholastic

achievement (Shields & Behrman, 2004; Haskins, Greenberg & Fremstad, 2004). Poverty and

other risk factors only accentuate these issues and may greatly undermine a child’s personal and

academic development.

Tying in “English language learners”, one cannot doubt the vast connection between

immigrant families, levels of education and literacy. While the broad phrase “English language

learner” (EEL) hardly captures the diversity of the immigrant population and the remarkable

number of languages and dialects they speak, we do know that these groups grapple with intense

language barriers. Compared with native English speakers, English language learners display

significant academic achievement gaps and high school dropout rates (Waxman & Tellez, 2002,

Ruiz de-Velasco, Fix & Clewell, 2000). Unfortunately, if they are unable to read and become

fluent readers by age nine the tendency to drop out increases dramatically (Moats, 1999; Snow,

Burns, & Griffin, 1998).

 Irrespective of this, ELL’s demonstrate several strengths that are very applicable to their

ability to learn English. For instance, many studies show there is positive correlation between

learning English and literacy in the native language (Clay, 1993; New York State Education

Department, 2000). Furthermore, knowledge, concept and skills learned from a child’s native

language are very instrumental in terms of providing a foundation for phonological awareness,

oral language development, reading and writing in a second language. Further, given that ELL’s

are a richly heterogeneous group, they bring a range of life and educational experiences to

classroom that truly enrich the learning of all students. English language learners are likely to

take risks in learning a new language and also likely to view English as a supplement to their

native language. Respect, literacy and confidence of the first language coupled with learning of

additional languages also better prepare ELL’s to participate in a global society. The impending

question is: how do teachers tap into the rich knowledge, experiences and resources that ELLs

already possess to enhance their literacy and their academic success?

Observation of the Classroom

In 2007, the Providence Public School District pushed forward on an agenda towards new

instructional programs and the comprehensive implementation of the new Common Core State

Standards (Providence Public School Website). The Impetus for the plan was to lack of student

achievement and the hope that they could raise the bar for all students, particularly those who are

English learners. In the spring of 2011, the Providence Public Schools reviewed the school
district's programs and monitor over 100 schools for evidence indicating that the district was

pursuing systemic and integrated instructional approaches and developmental strategies for all

students. According to the study, ELL enrollment in the Providence Schools is around 15 percent

of total district enrollment and in 2009-2010, the 3,672 active students in ELL programs

collectively spoke a total of over 30 languages with Spanish ELLs accounting for 87 percent

(3,198) of that. Findings revealed several areas of concerns regarding ELL students in

Providence Public schools. First, only two out of seven grade levels exhibited considerable

improvements between 2009–10 and 2010–11 on NECAP state states, with grades 3 through 5

EELs performing better on reading exams than students in middle and high school. The next

concern was that the school board did not explicitly articulate how the school system would meet

the instructional needs of ELLs and provided little direction or strategy on how to raise the

achievement of ELLs. On top of the lack of clearly defined program goals, the school board did

not receive nor asked for regular reports on efforts to improve academic attainment for ELLs.

From my observation of the Vartan Gregorian elementary school in Fox Point,

Providence, RI, much of this still seems to remain true. The school, which has an enrollment of

333, is described as a high performing Title I Distinguished School. Its ethnic distribution in the

school is 34.8% Hispanic, 34.2% White, 26.1% Black, 4.2% Asian/Pacific Islander and 0.6%

other. 63.1% of the students are economically disadvantaged. Considering these unprecedented

socio-economic, ethnic, racial, and in turn linguistic differences, there is no doubt that many

teachers are attempting to address the needs of their highly diverse classrooms by implementing
the school system’s broader instructional reforms (e.g. core reading and math programs,

differentiated instruction, assignment of appropriate work, student engagement, high

expectations and instructional rigor). Unfortunately, in observing my 5th grade classroom, it was

hard to gauge whether instructional practices were meeting the needs of ELLs specifically. In

working one on one with a child of an ELL background, I was able to assess the student’s

literacy progress in light of what lessons or programming the teacher provided, and also in light

of what ELL instructional practices I was able to use to further help the child in their literary

development. Attempting to build on the child’s prior knowledge, drawing from their diverse

linguistic, familial and socio-cultural background, was instrumental in facilitating the learning

and growth of the child over the semester. It also allowed me to be critical of the materials and

strategies (or lack of) already being implemented in the classroom and think about

recommendations for improvement.

Methodology & Child Observations

Since day one of my observations, I sought to record and monitor the skills, knowledge and

attitudes that student George Zarcarias brought to the table as an English Lanugage Learner. As

research indicates, these are presumed to be important developmental precursors to conventional

forms of reading and writing (Sulzby, 1989; Sulzby & Teale, 1991; Teale & Sulzby, 1986).

Asking George relevant questions about environments he was usually exposed to was also

important to get a sense of social spaces that might have supported his developments overtime,
especially with an emphasis on Teacher Subject’s classroom. To break it down more simply, I

observed for:

1) Experiences that have and may continue to affect the child’s development of emergent

literacy. More specifically, student socio-cultural background (e.g. home life, family,

cultural values regarding school, exposure to school)

2) Characteristics of child that related to his reading and writing

3) Practices already used in the classroom to help the child increase literacy and useful

social interactions

Student Profile

Over the course of the semester, I worked closely with an English Language Learner Student A.

Student Ae is a 10-year-old Dominican student in Grade 5. He was born in the Dominican

Republic, and entered the United States seven years ago when he was three. As far as I was able

to pick up, Student A received free lunch at school (which are available to students unable to pay

the full price of meals according to criteria based on household size and income) and was the

second youngest of his four-person single-parent household. I was unable to determine his

mother’s level of education or occupation but I was able to find out that that his sister had

difficulty coping with schooling demands and currently is employed at a local Subway

Restaurant and that his little brother is learning how to walk. When asked about his career

aspirations, Student A mentioned that he would like to be a police officer one day to protect his
family and community. Him and his family now live off of Broad Street, a low-income

neighborhood in South Providence, Rhode Island.

Socio-Cultural Background

Student A comes from a home where English is not the main spoken language. Second, the

members of his family have received little formal education here in America. However, from

probing a little further, I was able to sense that his mother believes as though education is the

most significant way to improve their status in life. From a very young age she has instilled in

him values and attitudes that place a great importance on the role of education in the United

States. He also tells me that his mother has high expectations for his eventual academic

performance and achievement and often “runs her mouth” to extended family networks about

how smart he is. Despite the high educational aspirations his mother holds for him, according to

Student A she cannot help him with his homework and in fact needs him to help explain things.

Regardless, this acculturation related stress does not stop her from placing a strong emphasis on

his education and also Catholicism as they attend Saint Teresa of Avita Church on Manton St.

every weekend. Moving on, although he seems set on being a police offer now, Student A

believes that education can open the gates to his career goals and advance his and his family’s

fortune in the United States. His consistent mention of family indicates that his immediate

relatives are incredibly important to him and his goal to protect and provide for the entire family
in a sustainable way one day also indicates that their needs take precedence over his individual

needs.

School History

There is no doubt that Student A has faced many challenges in his educational adjustment.

Student A has attended Vartan Gregorian since kindergarten and tells me he had difficulty

learning English during his first few years of elementary school. Student A is able to speak in

Spanish and can read and write in English. He did however adjust to school a bit late and is

currently on a third grade reading level, according to Teacher Subject. At home, he speaks

Spanish most of the time and exhibits a speaking proficiency equivalent to that of an educated

native speaker. In the school setting, he is shy and reserved and appears to have a limited level of

experience with the English language unless you get him to open up. Luckily, he is able to

understand all basic questions and speech, but may need to be told twice about something. His

school experience has given him a large enough vocabulary to communicate, but he also is prone

to making minor punctuation and grammatical mistakes in writing of the language. Still, he

seems to have a fairly confident control of English grammar, and verbally has as an accent,

which is quite intelligible.

Language
Language is arguably the most important thing in literacy acquisition. Phonological sensitivity

and vocabulary are also very important. To reiterate, Student A’s experience in school thus far

has given him a large enough vocabulary to communicate effectively. With learning new words,

I noticed that Student A does a good job at decoding letters into corresponding sounds and

linking those sounds to the word. For instance, when learning the spelling and pronunciation of

“palindrome”, Student A approached the word by sounding out each syllable as follow

/pal/ .../in/ .../drone/. The fact that he wasn’t stumped by sounding out this word and other

words similar in nature indicates that Student A understands this phonological rendering and can

sense the letters and corresponding sound pretty rapidly. Still, this instance, like many in which

Student A was learning new words, was one in which no semantic representation to which the

phonological code could be mapped. To his defense, palindrome may be a word that most fifth

graders are learning the meaning to for the first time. At the same token, other words such as

“moisten”, “required”, “covered”, and “nearly” (to name a few) were completely new to Student

A. The inability to understand the meaning of certain vocabulary, as well as Student A’s current

semantic and syntactic abilities have implications in the sequence of learning to read, when he is

reading for meaning. Later I will touch on his development with this over time. This also ties

into Student A’s understanding of text. At the beginning of the semester, I was able to observe

that Student A had trouble comprehending and breaking down story narratives. Much of this I

think is testament to the fact that some of the content given by the instructor conveyed novel
information that Student A, who perhaps only shared limited background knowledge of, was

removed from the events described. For instance, a short excerpt on a child going to the

amusement park and not being able to bungee-jump because they didn’t meet the height

requirements was a concept that was a bit foreign to Student A. Other students, on the other hand,

who have had exposure to these experiences or place talked about in the reading quickly

indicated their knowledge, excitement and immediate feedback. Nevertheless, Student A

understood and easily decoded English text conventions such as reading in the left-to-right and

top-to- bottom direction on each page, the meaning of advanced elements of punctuation etc.

Reading

Continuing on with reading, I’ve always sensed that Student A is patient and takes his time.

When reading out a loud, it appears that he knows most words by sight but does struggle with

some words. In comparison to his classmates, Student A does a bit more conscious decoding or

using phonics to figure out the pronunciation of certain printed words. His reading can at times

be very choppy at times with him reading word by word rather than piecing words together into

meaningful phrases that would make the reading a lot smoother. While it seems as though he

generally understands the meaning of the text one time through, he still may have to slow down

and carry out decoding processes when running into a vocabulary word that’s unfamiliar.

Depending on the context of the entire sentence and how critical the unfamiliar word is to the

entire meaning, Student A can either get tripped up or fully comprehend and continue reading on.
Therefore, while Student A is certainly not spending most of his cognitive ability trying to

decode, or decipher the meaning of words in the text, there are many instances were he can hit a

dead end and must take a step back to focus on specific words and meaning. Student A is fluent,

and fluency as we know is a precondition for comprehension. Accordingly, Student A has no

problem comprehending and through activities can anticipate outcomes, synthesize and pick out

main ideas. The question is whether it is on a fifth grade reading level, which it’s not. In this

arena, Student A still needs to achieve greater levels of fluency and comprehension required to

support more complex forms of identification and absorption. More specifically Student A can

use work on handling increasingly complex vocabulary, sentence structures, and the relatively

automatic and accurate flow of an average fifth grader.

Writing

As far as writing goes, Student A has mastered the art of extending his understanding to include

symbolic forms that are used to capture his thoughts and speech. As a writer, he is a risk taker.

He knows punctuation and not to do things like mix upper- and lowercase letters in his writing.

Furthermore, his writing is fairly readable and he can spell out most sight words. More difficult

words he spells the way they sound. For example, he spelled the word “forward” as “fourword.”

So here, he is using phonics-based spelling for words he finds advanced. Moreover, whenever he

engages in invented spelling he tends to use more consonants than vowels; (given consonant

sounds are more prominent and easier to hear). At this point, I think his vocabulary could use
some major development. While most words he is spelling correctly and developing an

understanding of root words, compound words, and contractions, there have been numerous

cases of him misspelling easier words, which can take a toll on his entire writing.

Teacher and Classroom Routine

Every day the activities and calendar are discussed by the teacher and the students in each class.

The teacher Teacher Subject, a Caucasian women in her early 50s, outlines the activities and in

most cases allows students to have autonomy in how they approach individual assignments.

Outside that, group or full class reading projects are also very common and instruction follows a

“model” and “try” philosophy. A simple example of this is the teacher reading something out

loud to the class and then having students read out loud to their peers or reading buddies.

Moving forward, I was able to monitor a significant balance between independence and structure.

From early on I was able to observe the teachers ability to make lessons explicit and explain why,

what, when.

Current Instructional Strategies Used In The Classroom

Teacher Subject is a veteran teacher. When visiting her class during their literacy block, there

were several things I was able to observe about her teaching and instructional strategies. To put

it simply, I have broken down several strategies Teacher Subject utilizes in her classroom for

teaching reading and writing in the bullets below:

 • In sum, Teacher Subject follows a three-step process of guided instruction: explanation

(setting purpose and telling students what to do), demonstration (showing them how to do

it) and practice (modeling the process and guiding students until independence is

attained).

• First, before engaging in a new lesson, Teacher Subject breaks down unfamiliar topics

and concepts in small parts and teaches it to the class as a whole.

• Not only does she provide a structured framework for how they should approach the

work, but she also models skills and behaviors for students on the board. She does this

through explaining the process out loud and through working/demonstrating the problem

with students.

• Many activities are implemented to enhance students’ efforts to understand words,

decode text, comprehend and construct meaning of text and stories.

• These activities include graphic and semantic organizers (venn diagrams/story boards),

question and answer prompts, summarizing etc.

Teacher to student one on one interaction was very limited throughout the semester. Furthermore,

instruction was entirely in English. Reading Street Grade 5 by Scott Foresman was used directly

in every lesson as the premise for lesson instruction. According to the author, Reading Street “is

designed to help teachers build readers through motivating and engaging literature, scientifically
research-based instruction, and a wealth of reliable teaching tools. The reading program takes the

guesswork out of differentiating instruction with a strong emphasis on ongoing progress

monitoring and an explicit plan to help with managing small groups of students. In addition,

Reading Street prioritizes skill instruction at each grade level, so teachers can be assured they

will focus on the right reading skill, at the right time, and for every student.”

Student Standing & Development Over Time

While Student A primarily speaks Spanish at home and is nowhere near illiterate (or straggling

in terms of English Language proficiency for that matter), I think there are many ways in which

he can develop. While it may appear as though he is on a good track and didn’t need much help,

I think there is a deliberate reason why the teacher paired him with me. First, he is on a third

grade reading level. Second, there are large gaps in his vocabulary knowledge. Even though

Student A doesn’t seem to be adversely affected by this now, it’s important to note that

vocabulary is important in learning grade-appropriate content knowledge and even more

important when it comes to success on the tests increasingly being required for promotion and

graduation.

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been able to implement many of the strategies learned in

class to assist Student A in class activities. There is no doubt that I think Student A could have

been okay without me there to assist him. However, many of the strategies he’s been able to

learn through me are those that allow him to break down, conceptualize certain things, and solve
problems. For example, seeing as vocabulary is one of his concerns, using a semantic

web/concept map was critical in helping him to pull out words in the reading, replace them with

synonyms and put them back into the text for comprehension. This is also an example of

instructional scaffolding. Modeling the task allowed him to implement it in the future and to also

make further connections between the vocabulary and content. Such cognitively demanding

strategies, such as looking up keywords and semantic mapping, can surely lead to higher

retention in memory in comparison to shallow activities such as verbal repetition. I’ve also seen

his processing skills, and ability to predict the meaning of words, and in turn analyze text

improve slightly as well.

Now, instead of blindly looking at a word, I think Student A is using strategies for using

information from context, from morphology, and from cognates to infer word meaning. Through

contextual cues, morphological information, and cognate knowledge, he has less trouble in

encountering novel or unfamiliar words and can actually engage more in authentic and

motivating texts. I’ve also encouraged him to write down, look up, and really “get to know” all

new words that he’s encountered in meaningful text via using aids such as dictionaries and

glossaries (which I’m surprised he hasn’t been heavily encouraged to already do). “Getting to

know” a word is seeking to identify many things about the word—its literal meaning; its

syntactic constructions; its morphological options; its various connotations and rich array of

semantic associates, including synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms etc. Really “getting to know a

word” requires learning and encountering over and over again these countless aspects of its
meaning. These simple yet tiny nudges I believe can have a great impact on improving a child’s

second-language reading vocabulary and comprehension outcome. Additionally, our one-on-one

sessions have helped Student A identify what strategies they actually use. Had I not been there

throughout the semester or helped Student A become aware of what he could be doing better, I

don’t think the teacher would have set him up with these individual strategies to improve his

literacy. Although he has acquired oral English vocabulary quickly, he remains well behind

children who have been exposed to oral and literate English since birth. Student A seems to have

full command of the English language and grammar, but he isn’t quite exactly where he needs to

be as his teacher is aware. Unfortunately, he is afraid to speak up if he doesn’t know a word or is

unfamiliar about something. This could be detrimental especially if teachers assume that he is

improving in his ability and do little to further address his individual needs.

Luckily, I think Student A has an immense passion for learning and show’s great levels of

interest and attention. He’s also exhibits great enthusiasm and initiative. Overall, over the course

of the semester, I think working with me has helped his confidence and also provided him with

more efficient strategies and approaches on talking the issues he has difficulties with.

Implications & Recommendations

The previous section is very telling in terms of what can be done better to identify what ELL

students do and do not do, and how teachers can help them choose and explore strategies that
seem suitable to them to increase their ability to approach language learning more effectively,

and ultimately self-direct their learning. Throughout observing Teacher Subject’s class this

semester, it seemed as though there wasn’t at all a focus in curriculum on serving ELLs or

providing them with specific learning strategies for the development of their literacy. As we

know, enhanced teaching in the arena of English literacy could be very beneficial and

advantageous to English-language learners. While the number of ELLs in this particular

classroom wasn’t that significant, complex and innovative programs/efforts in improving the

literacy for language-minority students should certainly not be overlooked. Especially when

there are students like Student A, who without greater individual attention and training could fall

behind very quickly.

This is not to say, however, that Teacher Subject isn’t a superb teacher. In fact, her quality of

teaching was extremely effective in many ways whether it be content coverage, methods used to

support language growth, or thoroughness of instruction and preparation. However, I think she

fell short on the literacy end in terms of providing a variety of instruction methods that could be

tailored to different learning styles, or support ELLs by building on their strengths and needs.

Yet this is a fundamental concern that’s happening all across America. Yes, instruction of the

key components of literacy across the board is necessary – but that alone is clearly not sufficient

enough considering the diversity of oral, reading and writing proficiencies, not to mention the
differences between Language-minority students and native English speakers in the classroom.

Thus, we must ask, how can teachers (in these types of settings, like Teacher Subject) deliver

innovative instruction with effective professional development that allows them to better serve

language-minority students?

First, I think a clear vision needs to be communicated, reiterated and enforced – both in the

classroom and district – on the defining ELL program goals and professional development

concerning acquisition of English language. What I did not see in Teacher Subject’s class was a

curriculum that explicitly included or determined “the language objective” that is associated with

the content learning objectives and instructional aims geared specifically at ELLs. Without this,

it’s hard for teachers and administrators alike to hold themselves accountable.

Second, there needs to be a greater and more overt focus on English Language Learners and their

learning. This includes include intentional involvement, interaction, and engagement of students

coming from ELL backgrounds or those whose English proficiency levels require greater rigor

for cognitive learning, and engagement. This also includes learning materials for ELLs that

focuses on building their English proficiency, such as vocabulary development.

Third, I think teachers; especially Teacher Subject in this case, should focus more time on

instruction and lesson designs that include practices and strategies particularly effective and

important for working with ELLs. In this, lessons, tasks and activities should be crafted around
what ELLs bring to the table, in terms of on their prior knowledge, or diverse linguistic and

cultural background, and what research indicates can further engage them in building rigorous

conceptual understanding. Teacher activities and materials should also include specific

scaffolding and instructional practices that support English language learning. Finally, these

should be applied to individual students, such as Student A, who could use the extra attention in

order to improve in his learning and development.

Conclusion

In sum, this paper reinforces the fact that teaching language-minorities and English Language

Learners is an extremely difficult and demanding challenge. Throughout this paper, I

synthesized and reviewed some of the research on English language learners, provided a first-

hand case-study observation on the development of a child dealing with the experience first-hand,

and finally provided recommendations on what strategies could be used to help in this given

situation. Nonetheless, there is a lot more to be done in the classroom, local, national and policy

level when it comes to teaching and developing our youngest, culturally-rich and brightest

students, especially English Language Learners. With all of our contribution, efforts, and tireless

work in the near future, I hope that we are able to make a great deal of difference in American

schools and get to a place where ALL students, regardless of their differences, can receive access

to effective teachers and the high-quality education they so rightfully deserve.

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