English Language Learner KnowledgeBase for Administrators & Teachers

Getting Ready for College: What ELL Students Need to Know

This AdLit article focuses on college-bound ELLs. For ELLs, the challenges of going to college and finding the right opportunities can be overwhelming, but ELL teachers can play an important role helping students apply to college and preparing for the application process as well. This article offers some great ideas for ways that you can support ELL students as they consider their future plans.

Dear Colleagues Letter and Guidance: English Language Learners and Limited English Proficient Parents

This Dear Colleagues letter developed by the Office of Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice, describes the responsibilities of districts and schools to provide equal educational opportunities to language minority students. This site offers this document in alternate languages.

OCR PAR Issues Brochure - Exit Criteria Guidelines

This document contains the exit criteria section from the OCR Region VII office's Profile, Assessment, and Resolution (PAR) Region pilot project. The brochure provides guidance on exiting ELL students.

Guiding Federal Court Cases on Equal Educational Opportunity

There are several federal court cases that establish the legal foundation for providing equal educational opportunity to students with limited English proficiency, Brown v. Board of Education, Lau v. Nichols, Castaneda v. Pickard, and Plyler v. Doe. A summary of each decision is offered.

Brown v. Board of Education

https://www.oyez.org/cases/ 1940-1955/347us483

Lau v. Nichols

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1973/72-6520

Castañeda v. Pickard

https://openjurist.org/781/f2d/456/castaneda-castaneda-v-am-pickard

Plyler v. Doe

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/plyler-v-doe-public-education-immigrant-students

Office for Civil Rights Memorandum

There are two key guiding memoranda issued by the Office for Civil Rights that address the issue of equal educational opportunity for children with limited English proficiency. Links to the May 25, 1970, and September 27, 1991, memoranda are provided.

Tracking the Progress And Exit of ELLs

LEAs should establish rigorous monitoring systems that include benchmarks for expected growth and take appropriate steps to assist students who are not adequately progressing towards those goals.

SEAs must monitor LEAs to ensure that they are providing ELs meaningful access to grade level core content instruction and remedying any academic deficits in a timely manner.

NCES Assessments for Early Childhood Longitudinal Program (ECLS)

The ECLS-K questionnaires are available on this National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) website to view, download, and print as PDF files. 

Programs for ELLs - Transition from ELL Services

This document from the Office for Civil Rights provides guidance on establishing programs for ELLs. This reference offers questions that may be used as a checklist in developing a description of the transition procedures.

Serving ELLs Who Opt Out of the English Learner Programs

LEAs must continue to monitor the English language proficiency (ELP) and academic progress of students who opt out of ELL programs and service.