Archived Information

Educator Services Teaching & Learning Curriculum Resources
2009 Professional Development Institutes

English Language Learners

Content-Based ESL Curriculum Development and Instruction

For ESL and content area teachers; teams are encouraged
Prerequisites: None

The Office of English Language Acquisition is offering a two and one-half day professional development workshop this summer entitled Content-Based ESL Curriculum Development and Instruction. The workshop will serve as an introduction to the tools that the Department has developed over the last several years to assist districts and ESL teachers in developing ESL curricula and curricular units based on academic content. These tools are based on the ESL curriculum framework, the Massachusetts English Language Proficiency Benchmarks and Outcomes (ELPBO). The goal of this workshop is to assist teachers in developing plans for content-based ESL instruction that are strategically designed to help students meet learning outcomes as set forth in the ELPBO. Participants will leave the final meeting with a useable product that can be piloted during ESL instructional time in the upcoming school year.

To accommodate teachers throughout the state, there will be two workshop sections offered. Priority will be given to teachers from low-incidence districts, or districts that enroll less than 100 limited English proficient students, as reported in the district's March 2009 SIMS report. Teachers are encouraged to apply in teams. For further details on this professional development opportunity, as well as other offerings for summer 2009 from the Office of English Language Acquisition, please visit http://www.doe.mass.edu/ell/

Assessing English Language Learners (ELL) with Disabilities

For School personnel involved in the special education evaluation process, including special educators, diagnosticians, school psychologists and speech/language pathologists; all grade levels
Prerequisites: None

This institute will focus on research-based professional development for 25 Massachusetts educators involved with assessment who will learn together how to better identify and implement sound evaluation procedures and assessment measures for students with disabilities who are ELL. The ultimate goals are: (1) to reduce over-identification and over-representation of linguistic minorities in Special Education; (2) to increase the number of assessment professionals who are better qualified and who can improve the assessment practices used with ELL students; and (3) to improve pre-referral practices.