For this assignment, you will write a paper about teaching and assessing English Language Learner (ELL) students.

Steps

1. Read the following statistics:
2. To date, 45 states have adopted the "Next Generation Core Content State Standards" for both English/Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics. One state, Minnesota, has adopted only the ELA Standards. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, "The percentage of public school students in the United States who were English learners was higher (10 percent, or an estimated 4.7 million students) than in 2002-03 (9 percent, or an estimated 4.1 million students).
3. "In 2010-11, states in the West had the highest percentages of ELL students in their public schools. In 8 states, 10 percent or more of public school students were English learnersOregon, Hawaii, Alaska, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, and California (California data was imputed from 2009-10 data)with ELL students constituting 29 percent of public school enrollment in California. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia had percentages of ELL public school enrollment between 6 and 9.9 percent. In addition to the District of Columbia, these states were Oklahoma, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Carolina, Virginia, Arizona, Utah, New York, Kansas, Illinois, Washington, and Florida. The percentage of ELL students in public schools was less than 3 percent in 13 states; this percentage was between 3 and 5.9 percent in 16 states. The percentage of ELL students in public schools was higher in 2010-11 than in 2009-10 in just over half of the states (28 states), with the largest increase in percentage points occurring in Nevada (3 percentage points) and the largest decrease in percentage points occurring in Minnesota (2 percentage points)."
4. Write a 2-3 page paper describing what you believe might be some of the instructional and/or assessment challenges that teachers and English learners may encounter. Remember that the Next Generation Core Content State Standards apply to most public school students in the United States. Conclude by identifying instructional strategies you might consider when teaching English learners who are also identified as learners with special needs.