Parental involvement is a crucial part of a child’s educational road map. But this can be tougher to achieve for parents of English learner (EL) students. Communication is a large component of effective engagement and it’s up to educators to ensure that a positive discourse is reached between the school and the parents of EL students. There are a variety … Read More
Measuring Parent Engagement for Success
Parent engagement helps students to succeed academically and helps schools to serve students more effectively. Encouraging, assessing, and measuring parent engagement are all important elements of a successful parent engagement initiative. Parent engagement can be measured in various ways; through parent surveys and questionnaires, measurements of attendance counts at family-school events, and assessments of the number and quality of these … Read More
Suggestions for Connecting Art and Literacy with English Language Learners
Using art to communicate is an ancient, international, and powerful practice. Visual art experiences offer opportunities for students who are learning English to express their knowledge in symbolic ways, which builds their personal and academic confidence and their ability to make connections between concepts, images, and texts. For example, if a teacher who is leading a unit on the life … Read More
Why Teaching in Two Languages Makes Sense for Programs with Hispanic Parents
Teaching in two languages can provide Hispanic parents with the peace of mind that they need to successfully engage in the education of their children. Family literacy programs that include parents in the curricula help to stymie the fears and lack of confidence that Hispanic parents often feel when it comes to reading to their children. They may not feel comfortable reading … Read More
State of Colorado ELL Support and Programs
At an approximate tally of 114,415, roughly 13.3% of the Colorado public school system is comprised of English Language Learners as of the years 2012-2013. School District 1 in Denver County comes in 12th in the country for the largest concentration of ELL students with 31.4% of that district’s student population. Among these students, a majority of them speak Spanish, with … Read More