Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

How edtech is transforming bilingual education in the U.S.

Key points:

Millions of students within the United States public school system are non-native English speakers. As this figure continues to grow year over year, true bilingual education is becoming more vital to equitably support student success.

How do we ensure students achieve proficiency with the English language while receiving a rich and comprehensive education? One that affirms and celebrates their identities and helps them learn about and understand others?…Read More

6 tips for communicating with emergent bilingual families

Key points:

Experienced educators understand that students thrive when their families are actively engaged in their education.

This is particularly crucial as we navigate the challenges of helping students recover from the disruptions caused by the pandemic. One demographic that warrants special attention in terms of family communication is emerging bilingual (EB) families. Federal data reveals a significant shift in K-12 enrollment, with EB learners comprising 10 percent of K-12 students in 2020 (and closer to 20 percent in California and Texas), a number projected to keep rising. In terms of impact on teachers, 64 percent have at least one EB student in their classroom.…Read More

Frog Street Pre-K Curriculum Linked to Improved School Readiness

DALLAS (PRWEB) — Frog Street, an early childhood education company designed around the latest science in early brain development, has announced the results of a study conducted by the  Johns Hopkins School of Education evaluating the efficacy of the Frog Street Pre-K curriculum with students in Texas. The study found that using  Frog Street Pre-K curriculum was associated with positive gains in critical early learning domains and increased kindergarten readiness. Frog Street provides a bilingual pre-K curriculum organized into five subjects, five skill-content areas and supports for social-emotional development.

“Ensuring that children are prepared for kindergarten is crucial for their future academic success,” emphasized Jessica Bobo, Head of Product at Frog Street Press and a former Texas early childhood educator and leader. “The data speaks for itself: our students are developing a love for learning and building a strong academic foundation that will serve them well for years to come.”

The study analyzed approximately 78,000 Pre-K students from 316 school districts in Texas who were instructed using Frog Street Pre-K curriculum as their primary curriculum during the 2021-2022 academic year, compared to students who used a different Pre-K curriculum. The researchers assessed the performance of both sets of students in areas like reading, writing, language, health, and mathematics domains using the CIRCLE assessment from fall 2021 to spring 2022. Key findings include:…Read More

Carnegie Learning Adds Multilingual Math and Literacy Tutors in Gadsden ISD

Pittsburgh, PA – Carnegie Learning, a leader in K-12 education innovation, high-quality products and services, and AI, announced today that the company has added new multilingual and bilingual certified math and literacy instructors to the high-dosage tutoring team in Gadsden County, New Mexico, to meet the needs of students in the state’s fourth-largest school district.

“It’s gratifying to see improvements in student proficiency and attendance as well as increasing parent participation in the Gadsden Independent School District (ISD),” said Courtney Lewis, Vice President of Tutoring Services at Carnegie Learning. “The results are impressive. We have been able to fulfill 100% of the requests from students and families in Gadsden ISD who requested a bilingual tutor. We’ve also appointed a bilingual tutor as a liaison to answer questions from families in their native language. Families have a direct dial number to call the liaison directly for support.” 

Lewis recently presented a webinar on how to partner with a high-dosage tutoring provider to launch an effective summer school program.…Read More

Emergent Bilingual Students Using Lexia English Scored Higher than Their Peers on California’s English Language Proficiency Assessment

BOSTON (March 9, 2022) – A 2020 report from the U.S. Department of Education stated that the number of Emergent Bilinguals – also known as English language learners – in U.S. public schools has increased by more than a million since 2000. A recent study on the Lexia® English Language Development ™ (Lexia English) program found that emergent bilingual students who used the program scored an average of 15 points higher than nonusers on the English Language Proficiency Assessment for California (ELPAC) test.

The study focused on 2,034 emergent bilingual K-5 students across 21 schools in a mid-sized northern California district. During the 2020-21 school year, the district used Lexia English as part of a hybrid or remote instruction, primarily in English Learner (EL) or English as a Second Language (ESL) instructional periods.  Across all student groups, Lexia English users scored higher than non-Lexia English users. Compared to non-Lexia English users, Lexia English users scored higher regardless of their gender, race or ethnicity, eligibility for free-or-reduced price lunch, or language spoken at home.

All emergent bilingual students using Lexia English benefited from its culturally relevant pedagogy as well as its support of English language development through academic conversations. By focusing on the assets that each student brings to the classroom and having already mastered one language, they are able to build new language skills in a timely manner. In addition to their overall score being 15 points higher, on average, than peers who did not use the program, Lexia English users scored an average of 18 points higher on the ELPAC’s oral domain than nonusers. These results are consistent with Lexia English’s emphasis on speaking and supporting students’ English language development through academic conversations.…Read More

Curriculum Associates Updates i-Ready® with New Lessons and Assessments to Further Support Dual-Language Classrooms and Spanish-Speaking Students

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass., September 23, 2021—To further support Spanish-speaking students in dual-language or transitional-bilingual programs, Curriculum Associates recently added new lessons and assessments to its award-winning i-Ready program. All of these resources—including authentic Spanish Reading lessons for Grades K–2, new Spanish versions of Mathematics lessons for Grades K–6, and a new Assessment of Spanish Reading for Grades K–6—are all designed for students to see themselves in the learning materials as they work to meet ambitious goals this school year.…Read More

Three tips to conquer bilingual barriers in the classroom

More than 10 percent of students in the United States are English language learners (ELLs) – that’s more than 4.8 million children nationwide. While these children don’t learn any differently than their native-English-speaking classmates, they do have educational needs that should not be overlooked or go unmet.

From a teacher’s perspective, it’s difficult not to notice how challenging navigating educational environments is for a child for whom English is not their native language. They often walk into the classroom feeling intimidated and afraid, struggle to communicate even the most basic needs, and avoid interacting with peers and teachers due to the language discrepancy. As teachers, it’s our responsibility to help bridge that gap to not only support students as they learn English, but help them navigate their education in the meantime.

Thankfully, we’re not up to the task alone. There are many solutions to the most common teaching challenges, all of which serve to enrich the lives of students, streamline communication between parents and teachers, and help kids learn how to communicate and excel in everything they do.…Read More

5 ways to integrate ELL instruction into teaching and learning

As a curriculum and learning specialist at an elementary school in Verona, Wisconsin, l have the opportunity to work with amazing educators and students of all cultures; as a prior bilingual resource and two-way immersion Spanish teacher, I like to honor the language learners in our classrooms.

I work with all teachers and all students. I help teachers find resources to help support their curriculum and often that entails helping them find new ways to include their English Language Learners in their lessons. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, an average of 9 percent of students in U.S. public schools are English Language Learners (ELLs); that number is closer to 14 percent in cities.

Here are five ways you can integrate ELL instruction into teaching and learning. These are simple strategies and some resources that are not very time-consuming, and best of all, they will help all the students in your class feel included and able to access the curriculum.…Read More