ABOUT THIS EPISODE
How well do you actually know the ELD program on your campus? When we’re evaluating multilingual learners, we’re trying to answer a complicated question: are the difficulties we’re seeing related to learning a new language, a disability, or something else?
Without understanding the instruction a student has actually received, we could be missing an important part of the picture.
In this episode, I’m talking about knowing your school’s language program, observing ELD instruction in action, talking with the people providing those services, and comparing progress thoughtfully.
Because before we interpret the scores, we need to understand the student’s instructional history and the support happening around them.
Highlights:
(01:30) - Over-identification or under-identification? Why multilingual learner evaluations can get complicated
(03:19) - Before you interpret those scores, do you know the student’s actual instructional history?
(05:03) - If language is part of the question, why aren’t we observing during language instruction?
(06:20) - Everyone was thriving with the strategy except ONE student, and that told me something
(08:05) - Numbers matter, but the language service provider can fill in a much bigger picture
(10:10) - This week’s challenge: pick one campus and actually learn how its ELD program works
Need some support working with multilingual learners? Check out the Prepared School Psych community: https://jennyponzuric.com/prepared-school-psychologist/
The information and advice provided are for guidance purposes only, and all listeners are required to follow federal and state law, as well as their school district guidelines and policies.
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