An ASCD Study Guide for Success with Multicultural Newcomers & English Learners: Proven Practices for School Leadership Teams

Most of the questions contained in this study guide are ones you can think about on your own, but you might consider pairing with a colleague or forming a study group with others who have read, or are reading, Success with Multicultural Newcomers & English Learners: Proven Practices for School Leadership Teams.

For additional information or if you have questions, you may contact Margarita Espino Calderón at mecalde@gmail.com or Shawn Slakk at shawnslakk@verizon.net, or you may go to ExC-ELL.com for inquiries, resources, and blogs.

Chapter 1. Identifying and Getting to Know the Newcomers and English Language Learners in Your School

1. What is your school's process for identifying ELs? How does the classroom teacher know this process has been followed?
2. Who at your school needs to have access to the records of an EL?
3. What does an EL's ELD scores (Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing, Oral, Literacy, and Overall) mean?
4. Who in your school is certified/qualified to teach ELs? At every grade level? In all content areas?
5. How are you ensuring the sucess of Newcomers and ELs?
6. How will the nonacademic needs of ELs be met? The socioemotional needs?

Chapter 2. Assessing Your Students' Academic Needs

1. What is your school's or district's plan for regular assessment and evaluation of the success of Newcomers/ELs?
2. How are all stakeholders—parents, teachers, students—informed of the federal and school service requirements and status of ELs?
3. What bilingual services, beyond the required translation services, does your school offer?
4. What program or type of service do your ELs receive? What method was used to formulate this program?
5. How does a teacher learn and collect data about the ELs in his her class?
6. How will you ensure that Newcomers and ELs receive the same curricular and extra- curricular services and opportunities as their nonEL peers?
7. What extracurricular programs do you offer Newcomers and ELs, and which can you add?

Chapter 3. Understanding Your Students' Social and Emotional Needs

1. What support systems for Newcomers and ELs are in place in your school?
2. What community businesses, health organizations, and other services organizations are working with you? How can you enhance your relationship with these entities or add others?
3. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being "Poor," how would you rate your relationship with and activities for parents of Newcomers and ELs? If rating is 3 or below, draft a plan for improvement.
4. What can teachers do as they work together to provide a classroom and school environment where students feel supported socially and emotionally?
5. What is your school's plan for building student resiliency? Where are you with the SEL competencies—self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills— as a school community?
6. Is there responsible decision making regarding all student support systems?
7. What can school counselors, psychologists, and specialists do to support teachers' efforts?
8. What is your professional development plan (scope, duration, follow-up) for everyone at the school on socioemotional teaching and reaching?

Chapter 4. Staffing Programs and Professional Development

1. Do all EL program, core-content, and special education teachers who teach ELs have the appropriate certification, licensure, or training? If not, how are they working to obtain it within a reasonable period of time?
2. Are EL services adequately staffed with qualified ESL, bilingual, core-content, and special education teachers trained in EL strategies designed to meet the language and content needs of ELs? If yes, how do you know? If no, what changes need to be made?
3. Does the school district or State Education Agency provide supplemental professional learning opportunities to ensure that the EL program is implemented effectively?
4. Do all EL program, core-content, and special education teachers who teach ELs with disabilities receive PD specifically related to teaching dually identified ELs?
5. Are principals or other administrative staff tasked with evaluating EL teachers certified and adequately trained in EL strategies?
6. Are paraprofessionals, staff, volunteers, or others adequately trained to support ELs, and are they working under the direct supervision of qualified teachers?
7. Is there a comprehensive 3- to 5-day PD on EL instruction and follow up coaching for all teachers?

Chapter 5. Schoolwide Programs

1. How do you ensure transfer from training?
2. What does your school's year-long PD on EL instruction look like?
3. What is your school's plan for training everyone in the school? For follow-up coaching?
4. Are Teachers Learning Communities or other collegial activities in place? How will the quality of these activities be maintained?
5. How will the implementation of ESSA guidelines be monitored? Revised, if needed?
6. Plot your status and on-going progress of the whole-school approach on the rubric at the end of chapter 5 that addresses the USDOJ and USDOE requirements.

Chapter 6. Teaching Vocabulary and Discourse

1. Do all ESL and core-content teachers integrate the 12 components of effective instruction into their daily lessons? What data do you have to support your answer?
2. How do teachers select vocabulary (words and phrases) to teach before, during, and after reading? What type of words are selected?
3. How do teachers teach vocabulary? How long does it take to teach each word? What aspects of the teaching process can be refined?
4. How many words are pretaught per lesson? Per day?
5. Why interaction activities are crucial for vocabulary and discourse learning?
6. What are the 12 instructional components that ensure that Newcomers and ELs learn 3,500 to 5,000 words per year?
7. How do you assess vocabulary (without giving a test)?
8. Who provides teachers with feedback on their vocabulary instruction and students' use of vocabulary?

Chapter 7. Teaching Reading Comprehension

1. How do you know if Newcomers and ELs need phonics/basic reading skills?
2. What type of program do you use to help build solid basic reading comprehension in six weeks?
3. What are the nine components that develop reading comprehension skills in all the content areas?
4. What are the benefits of starting with a Think-Aloud in all content areas before students read?
5. Why is it beneficial to use Partner Reading with Verbal Summaries after each paragraph?
6. How is Partner Reading and Summarizing differentiated with Newcomers?
7. How do you help students develop fix-it and close-reading strategies?
8. How is language, literacy, and knowledge anchored in each subject area?
9. Why is Cooperative Learning an effective feature of reading?
10. How can reading comprehension be assessed authentically?
11. Who provides teachers with feedback on their reading instruction and students' reading performance?

Chapter 8. Teaching Writing

1. Why use a mentor or anchor text? What is the purpose and how does it benefit ELs/all students?
2. What are the components that need to be taught before the writing process?
3. What do you feel are the benefits of cooperative writing?
4. Would you find strategies such as Ratiocination and Cut-n'-Grow beneficial? If so, how?
5. Why post team products during each phase of writing?
6. How do you integrate Newcomers into each part of the writing cycle?
7. How does your school plan to train teachers on writing in their content areas?
8. Who provides teachers with feedback on their writing process and students' on-going drafts?

Success with Multicultural Newcomers & English Learners: Proven Practices for School Leadership Teams was written by Margarita Espino Calderón and Shawn Slakk. This 160-page, 8″ × 10″ book (Stock #117026; ISBN-13: 978-1-4166-1666-5) is available from ASCD. Copyright © 2019 by ASCD. To order a copy, call ASCD at 1-800-933-2723 (in Virginia 1-703-578-9600) or buy the book from the ASCD Online Store.