English learners in Massachusetts attend schools in which all educators share responsibility for their success, engage effectively with their families, and value and nurture their linguistic and cultural assets. English learners are taught by effective, well-prepared, and culturally responsive educators who hold them to high standards and have the materials and professional learning they need to advance students’ academic and linguistic development simultaneously. English learners have equitable access to meaningful and rigorous learning opportunities that build on their cultural and linguistic assets and the academic, linguistic, social, and emotional supports they need to excel. English learners thrive in high school and graduate with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to be successful in college and/or a career of their choice, and to contribute to civic life in a global community.
The vision statement above depicts the PK–12 experience and outcome all English learners deserve. The Blueprint for English Learner Success deconstructs the vision into four distinct pillars and then goes deeper to identify specific building blocks at the classroom, school, district, and state levels of the education system to reinforce each pillar and the Interactive Blueprint is an online tool to assist districts in supporting the success of ELs. Learn more from this video.
The Multilingual Learning Look-for Tool articulates essential expectations for effective teaching and learning aligned to the DESE Educational Vision, the MA Blueprint for English Learner Success, and the Standards of Effective Practice.
The Look-Fors feature elements of effective instruction for MLs, which are aligned to specific pillars and building blocks from the MA Blueprint for English Learner Success. These pillars and building blocks are prioritized because they are most visible in classroom instruction. There are observable teacher and student actions aligned to each element. These actions break down and make visible culturally & linguistically sustaining practices that are essential across all classrooms that serve MLs, which can include sheltered content instruction, ESL, bilingual/dual language, and should apply across instructional models (push-in, pull-out, standalone, embedded, co-teaching, etc.).
Multilingual Learning Look-for Tool
Last Updated: August 29, 2024