Newcomer ELLs (English language learners) face a complex and daunting set of challenges. How can educators appropriately provide support to this population? Based on research of the social, emotional, and academic needs of secondary immigrant students, this book is comprised of strategies and techniques for content-area teachers of newcomer ELLs. Additionally, campus and district leaders will gain practical advice about a systemic approach to meeting the needs of this ever-increasing population. Pathways to Greatness for ELL Newcomers: A Comprehensive Guide for Schools and Teachers will highlight several components relevant to newcomer instruction including: cultural proficiency, second language acquisition strategies, scheduling/credits, and effective content-area instruction. It includes over 30 activities for content-area and ESL teachers of newcomers.

Get to know which practices related to curriculum, instruction, and assessment are essential to make learning the goal for every student! You’ll learn how to Create learning targets that are scalable and transferable within and across units Develop instructional scales for each learning target Design non-scored practice activities and assessments Introduce and model skills that will be assessed and design tasks that allow students to use these skills Differentiate instruction and activities based on data from various types of assessments Maintain a gradebook that tracks summative achievement of learning targets, and score assessments accordingly Communicate progress clearly and efficiently with students and families

Challenge traditional grading practices and adopt a new, more effective grading model for students, which will close the gaps in student achievement and content mastery. This book provides the pathway for implementing evidence-based grading practices in schools through a straightforward, five-phase creative model: (1) preparation, (2) incubation, (3) insight, (4) evaluation, and (5) elaboration. Readers will follow a hypothetical curriculum team's journey through each phase of this process. Benefits Confront ineffective grading practices and then overcome traditional biases to apply better grading practices. Reflect on the effectiveness of revisions and improve newly revised grading methods. Give students meaningful information about their progress toward learning targets and expectations. Identify the concepts and perspectives to which curriculum team members must commit, to successfully adopt evidence-based grading practices. Discover the important relationships between learning targets and grading, feedback and instruction, assessment and grading, and gradebooks and learning. Contents About the Author Introduction 1 Preparation 2 Incubation 3 Insight 4 Evaluation 5 Elaboration Epilogue References and Resources Index

All the talk of closing the achievement gap in schools obscures a more fundamental issue: do the grades we assign to students truly reflect the extent of their learning? In this lively and eye-opening book, educator Myron Dueck reveals how many of the assessment policies that teachers adopt can actually prove detrimental to student motivation and achievement and shows how we can tailor policies to address what really matters: student understanding of content. In sharing lessons, anecdotes, and cautionary tales from his own experiences revamping assessment procedures in the classroom, Dueck offers a variety of practical strategies for ensuring that grades measure what students know without punishing them for factors outside their control; critically examining the fairness and effectiveness of grading homework assignments; designing and distributing unit plans that make assessment criteria crystal-clear to students; creating a flexible and modular retesting system so that students can improve their scores on individual sections of important tests. Grading Smarter, Not Harder is brimming with reproducible forms, templates, and real-life examples of grading solutions developed to allow students every opportunity to demonstrate their learning. Written with abundant humor and heart, this book is a must-read for all teachers who want their grades to contribute to, rather than hinder, their students' success.

Aimed at facilitating cross-context dialogue & knowledge exchange, this volume brings together an international roster of scholars to offer theoretical perspectices, research reviews & empirical studies on teaching, learning & language development in immersion education.

This academic English program prepares students to work effectively and confidently in an academic environment. Carefully-guided lessons develop the language skills, critical thinking, and learning strategies required for academic success. --

No matter the content area or grade level, proficiency-based grading puts student growth at the heart of the classroom. Designed for content-area teachers and administrators, Proficiency-Based Grading in the Content Areas details how to implement evidence-based grading and maintain its effectiveness over time. This book equips any educator -- from technical to fine arts -- with the tools to make this shift. Use proficiency-based grading (also known as evidence-based grading) to drive student success: Become familiar with the basic concepts and essential decisions of evidence-based grading that apply to all content areas. Study individual-level and institutional-level grading decisions and how they differ from each other. Become familiar with the steps, paradigm shifts, and pedagogy necessary to implement proficiency-based grading in a particular content area. Study the ways proficiency-based grading differs from content area to content area and the unique benefits it offers to each. Follow a structure that mirrors flow psychology and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's five stages of creativity. Contents: Introduction Chapter 1: Implementing Proficiency-Based Grading With Core Belief Fidelity Chapter 2: Implementing Evidence-Based Reporting in Career and Technical Education Chapter 3: Implementing Evidence-Based Grading in English Language Arts Chapter 4: Implementing Evidence-Based Grading in Fine Arts Chapter 5: Implementing Evidence-Based Grading in Mathematics Chapter 6: Implementing Evidence-Based Grading in Physical Education and Health Chapter 7: Implementing Evidence-Based Grading in Sciences Chapter 8: Implementing Evidence-Based Grading in Social Sciences Chapter 9: Implementing Evidence-Based Grading in World Languages Epilogue: Creating Self-Reliant Learners References and Resources Index