ELL Clearinghouse Contract Target of Education Department Corrective Action

From blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2013/01/english-language_learners_more.html

ELL Clearinghouse Contract Target of Ed. Dept. Corrective Action
By Lesli A. Maxwell
January 7, 2013

One of the remaining key functions of [the Office of English-Language Acquisition], which lost its authority over Title III funds in 2007, is the oversight and management of the National Clearinghouse for English-Language Acquisition. NCELA, as it's best known, is a nearly 40-year-old federally funded information clearinghouse that is supposed to be the go-to source on language instruction and research related to English-language learners. It's supposed to be the place to turn to for reliable, up-to-date data on the number of ELLs in schools, for example, and the latest research on what instructional strategies work, or don't, for English-learners.

But, as several people I interviewed told me, NCELA has not been viewed in the field as the most useful source of information and support for Title III programs in a long time.

The Education Department last June opted not to re-up the NCELA contract with George Washington University—which has managed the clearinghouse for years with a team of researchers and consultants at the education school—and opened up a brand new competition to interested bidders. The department's rules for the competition made it clear that it wanted a small business to be the lead contractor.

Read the full article at blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2013/01/english-language_learners_more.html