Promoting Academic Achievement Among English Learners

Claude Goldenberg, a native of Argentina, is Professor of Education at Stanford University. He received his AB from Princeton University and PhD from UCLA′s Graduate School of Education. Goldenberg has taught junior high school in San Antonio, TX, and first grade in a bilingual elementary school in the Lennox School District near Los Angeles. Goldenberg was a National Academy of Education Spencer Fellow and a recipient (with Ronald Gallimore) of the Albert J. Harris Award from the International Reading Association. He was on the Committee for the Prevention of Early Reading Difficulties in Young Children (National Research Council) and the National Literacy Panel (NIH and U.S. Department of Education), which synthesized research on literacy development among language-minority children and youth. He is author of Successful School Change: Creating Settings to Improve Teaching and Learning (Teachers College, 2004). His research focuses on improving achievement for language minority students, particularly those from Latino backgrounds. Rhoda Coleman is Senior Research Fellow and Professional Development Specialist at the Center for Language Minority Education and Research at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). She received her BA and EdD from University of Southern California, has a master′s in Reading and Reading Specialist Credential from Loyola Marymount University, and a master′s in Administration from California State University, Los Angeles. Coleman taught elementary school in grades 1 through 6 for 29 years in the Lennox School District near Los Angeles where she taught EL students transitioning into English. She was then a Language Arts consultant for Los Angeles County Office of Education providing K-12 professional development to school districts throughout California and writing and producing over 25 teacher-training videos. She currently teaches in the teacher credential program at CSULB. Coleman was a California Teacher of the Year, recipient of the Milken National Educator Award, and California Social Studies Teacher of the Year.

"Given the number of English learners already in our schools and the rate at which this population is growing, effectively educating language-minority students is one of the greatest challenges schools face. To meet this challenge, as Goldenberg and Coleman forcefully argue, we need to be guided by the best research available. In this lucid, concise, and reader-friendly review of the research on teaching English learners, the authors present the information that teachers, curriculum specialists, and policy makers need to create the strongest possible instructional programs. But this book is more than a review of research—it also includes specific recommendations that follow from the research. I highly recommend this excellent book to everyone concerned with the education of language-minority children.”

• List of Tables and FiguresAcknowledgmentsAbout the Authors1. Why This Book?2. The Role of the Home Language3. Literacy Instruction in a Second Language4. Promoting English Oral Language Development5. Academic Instruction in a Second Language6. School and District Role: Focus and Coherence7. Social, Cultural, and Family Influences8. The Research Goes to School9. Conclusion: What′s Next?GlossaryIndex