California Works on New English-Language Development Standards

From http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2012/07/california_works_on_new_englis.html

California Works on New English-Language Development Standards
By Lesli A. Maxwell
July 9, 2012

California education officials are moving ahead to revamp the state's English-language development standards so that they are aligned with the academic demands of the common-core standards in English/language arts. The state education agency has published the draft ELD standards for each grade level, along with loads of other supporting documents, and is asking for feedback before final adoption later this summer.

This is noteworthy for a couple of reasons. For one, the sheer size of its English-language learner population—roughly 25 percent of the public school enrollment statewide—often makes California's policies and practices on English-language learners a signal of what other states may do later. Second, California is, once again, part of a group of states seeking to win a multimillion dollar federal grant to design a new assessment of English-language proficiency that will measure the language demands of the common standards.

Read the full article at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2012/07/california_works_on_new_englis.html

Read a related blog post at http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2012/07/07/california-releases-draft-eld-esl-standards and see the draft standards at http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/eldstandards.asp