INTRODUCTION

The PaELL Resource Kit for Educators has been distributed to all public school districts in Pennsylvania and is reproduced as closely as possible in the following section of this Web site. It has been designed to assist administrators and teachers to provide programming that is research-based, meets the requirements of educational and civil rights laws, and supports English language learners (ELLs) in becoming successful students. While this compendium of resources does not purport to be an exhaustive or all-inclusive compilation, it should provide a district and its staff with a fundamental grounding in program development, curriculum development, instructional methodologies, and professional development. The Program Development section outlines the creation of an ESL program, including the legal background in state and federal law and judicial decisions, identification and assessment of students, school policies, types of programs that meet legal requirements, and criteria for effective school programs. Also included is the Guidebook for Planning Programs for English Language Learners.

Section two focuses on ESL Curriculum and Assessment. Every district must provide a K-12 ESL Curriculum that includes reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Benchmarks for the proficiency levels of pre-conversational/beginner, intermediate, and advanced must also be addressed for students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. In addition to providing instruction explicit to English language learning, all other content areas should provide instruction that addresses the needs of ELLs. Students must be continually assessed to determine their mastery of the English language and other content area knowledge to ensure they are progressing along the continuum of beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Sample curricula and an ongoing assessment tool are included.

Section three consists of sample lesson plans for content area teachers. It is a major portion of the kit and includes 58 lesson plans across the K-12 spectrum in the curricular areas of reading, writing, listening and speaking, mathematics, science, and social studies. These lessons are aligned with the Pennsylvania Academic Standards and with Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Standards. They may be used as stand alone lessons or as models for the type of adaptations that regular classroom teachers could use to instruct ELLs in academic content.

Section four addresses staff development. Without the necessary professional development for all district employees, an ESL program will not be optimally implemented. The section discusses the content of staff development that is required by the Basic Education Circular (BEC) on ESL and includes cultural sensitivity, second language acquisition, and teaching strategies that are most appropriate for ELLs.