Bilingual Special Ed

My latest article “English Language Learners and Response to Intervention (RTI): Referral Considerations” was just published in Teacher Exceptional Children a journal from the Council for Exceptional Children in the May/June 2008 issue. In this article my goal was to provide a description of how to address the needs of ELLs going through the pre-referral and special education referral process within an RTI model. I include a figure of the RTI model for ELLs, guiding questions to distinguish between a language difference and a learning disability, and an actual case study. I would welcome any feedback.

This information was forwarded to me and I think its a great resource for teachers and parents to help guide ELL/Bilingual Spanish Speaking students with navigating the higher education maze.

Esta informacion que acabo de recibir ayuda a estudiantes de bachillerato a entrontrar opciones apropiadas para universidades en los EEUU. (lea mas aboajo para mas informacion en Espanol o escoga el link a la pagina de web).
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?md=1
The U.S. Department of Education announces the release of a new Spanish
language version of its college search tool, College Navigator.

College Navigator is a free consumer information tool designed to help
students, parents, high school counselors, and others get information about
nearly 7,000 postsecondary institutions in the United States. It provides a
wide range of information — such as programs offered, retention and
graduation rates, prices, aid available, degrees awarded, campus safety,
athletics, and accreditation — in a user-friendly tool.

Mas en Espanol:
El Departamento de Educación de los Estados Unidos anuncia la publicación de
la nueva versión en Español de su herramienta de búsqueda estudiantil,
College Navigator.

College Navigator es una herramienta de información gratis diseñada para
ayudar a estudiantes, padres, consejeros estudiantiles, y otros a obtener
información sobre casi 7,000 instituciones pos secundarias en los Estados
Unidos. Provee una variedad de información — como programas ofrecidos,
índices de retención y graduación, costos, ayuda disponible, grados
ofrecidos, seguridad en el campus, deportes, y acreditación — en una
herramienta fácil de utilizar. College Navigator permite a los usuarios:

Buscar

* Buscar programas y grados ofrecidos, tipo de institución, selectividad,
distancia desde hogar, tamaño de institución, misión institucional
(instituciones y universidades históricamente Afro-Americanas, de un solo
género), oportunidades de aprendizaje extendidas para adultos (programas de
fines de semana y noches), y programas atléticos intercolegiales ofrecidos.

* Modificar o cambiar su búsqueda desde cualquier parte en la página
cibernética.

*Utilizar una manera simple e intuitiva de seleccionar palabras claves para
buscar entre programas a un nivel general (comunicaciones, periodismo, y
programas relacionados), navegar por un menú para un nivel moderado de
detalles, e identificar cursos de estudio específicos (comunicación de la
salud).

Comparar

* Hacer comparaciones de hasta cuatro instituciones en una versión
imprimible, y mantener una lista de instituciones favoritas de búsquedas
diferentes.

Guardar

*Guardar sus sesiones y recibir un correo electrónico con un enlace que los
regresa a donde terminaron su búsqueda.

Exportar

*Exportar resultados de búsqueda en formatos fáciles de utilizar, como
Excel.

El College Navigator fue desarrollado por el National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES) dentro del Institute of Education Sciences. Money Magazine
lo nombró como una de las 28 páginas principales de la revista y uno de los
mejores lugares para comenzar una búsqueda universitaria. En promedio, la
herramienta de búsqueda recibe 30,000 visitantes por día.

Visite la version en Español de College Navigator;
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?md=1

The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) just publish a great teacher and parent resource on what Response to Intervention (RTI). It compiled the most pressing articles published in the area from explaining RTI to how to refer ELL for special education academic difficulties.

My most recent article in this book titled “English language Learners and Response to Intervention: Referral Considerations” provides guidelines and considerations for referring ELLs to special education with a focus on potential learning disabilities. It provides a RTI model that address progress monitoring for ELLs, a case study exemplifying the process recommended, and a worksheet with questions that guide decision-making on eligibility for special education services or language differences.

ISBN 9780865864399
or you can acess directly from the Teaching Exceptional Children webpage. Teaching Exceptional Children, Vol. 40(5), pp 6-14.

One of my articles has been recently published by Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal Vol 6(1), pp. 71-86, (2008).

The study looked at 234 Spanish-speaking bilingual preschoolers from pre-k to 1st grade. We wanted to predict whether skills they learned in preschool impacted their academic reading skills in 1st grade. Our results say YES! English vocabulary, English recalling skills, Spanish vocabulary and Spanish word reading skills all significantly contributed to the children ability to read in 1st grade. SO WHAT does this mean?

Don’t let the Spanish go in exchange for English. The more they know in Spanish the more they know in English and the less problems in school, home and the community. Be proud!!!

To access the article and read more details on the study please visit their website at www.ldworldwide.org

Dear Readers,

I received this great short article about new trends happening in bilingual education in young children. What I like is that it address bilingualism as a benefit and as a desired for all children. Please go the link to read from Education.com

Do you think there is a “best” way to introduce a second or third language to children?
Education.com, an online resource for parents and educators of kids in preschool through grade 12, has a great article on this topic. You can see it here: http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Case_Bilingual_Child/?&page[21]=1

Feel free to share with your readers and let me know if there are any topics you’d like to see covered on Education.com.

Catchy title!!!
Here is a recent program developed specifically for bilingual/English Language Learners (ELLs) who need improvement in vocabulary instruction. It provides a step by step guide for the teacher with a video for parents as well. It was developed for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade when it is crucial for bilingual students to enhance and enrich their vocabulary skills as they more and more reading to learn than learning to read.

Vocabulary Improvement Program for English Language Learners

Once again, I found a great resource dealing with ELLs and their educational outcomes. The following link takes you to a webcast presentation conducted by leading figures in the field of early childhood education, bilingual education and special education.

http://www.colorincolorado.org/webcasts/reading#bios

Nonie Lesaux
Sharon Vaughn and others

Talk about latest research findings of what works with bilingual children with and without learning disabilities

I am happy to present the new look of my blog.

The Institute of Educational Sciences and the National Center for Educational Evaluation and Regional Assistance has publish the latest report based on research for literacy and children who are English Language Learners (ELL)

Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction for English Language Learners in the Elementary Grades by Gersten, R, Baker, S. K., Shanahan, T., Linan-Thompson, S., Collins, P. & Scardella, R. (2007).

The report is free and can be accessed
This following blog provides a good and quick description on the programs address in this report.

http://educationresearchreport.blogspot.com/2007/01/english-language-learning-reports.html

Dear readers back in September I posted about a new initiative I am implementing at an elementary school. We implemeted a Response to Intervenion (RTI) Model for reading k-5th grade. Universal screening data using DIBELS oral reading fluency identified the school as having only 50% of the populatipn at benchmark for their particular grade level for September. Since then, we have been doing monthly progress monitoring CBAs and the October data showed an increased from 50% to 68% of students performing at benchmark. November data shows and increase from 68% to 74%. In terms of special education referrals, there has only been 1 up to now. As you can see this is a very exciting time for the school and for me as the researcher. The December benchmarking is coming!! I will post then.