Abstract
One of the top five factors influencing student achievement is the development of a curriculum that ensures all students have an equal opportunity to learn (Marzano, 2003). Many schools today do not have a comprehensive plan for the education of English Learners (ELs) blended or aligned to the mainstream content classroom. The authors have developed a process to create a designated English Language Development (ELD) curriculum which uses content area academic standards as its foundation. The benefits of a designated ELD curriculum reach beyond the individual ELD specialist’s lesson planning. School administrators and key stakeholders in the community will be able to see the effective integration of academic language into the targeted ELD instruction. The resulting benefit of designated ELD curriculum for ELs is to increase their English proficiency and simultaneously improve their academic success. With fidelity to a well-written ELD curriculum, ELs will progress in a more predictable pattern which leads to enhanced access to the full curriculum. This article presents a 3-step process to develop a specifically-designed ELD curriculum by creating coordinated 1) ELD curriculum maps, 2) ELD instructional units, and 3) ELD lesson plans. In schools where this process has been used, content teachers have found that their ELs are better equipped to access classroom instruction as a result of additional ELD instruction aligned to content. Without a designated written ELD curriculum, ELs are prevented from reaching their fullest academic potential.
Recommended Citation
Wolf-Greenberg, M., Horvath, T., & Krimmel, E. F. (2022). Three Steps to Create a Designated ELD Curriculum Aligned to Academic Content. Journal of English Learner Education. (14)1.
Retrieved from https://stars.library.ucf.edu/jele/vol14/iss1/6
Included in
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Elementary Education and Teaching Commons, Indigenous Education Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons, Other Educational Administration and Supervision Commons, Secondary Education and Teaching Commons
