A grant from the California Department of Education (CDE) has been awarded to Californians Together (a coalition championing communication and literacy skills in more than one language), in partnership with the Sobrato Early Academic Language (SEAL) Program and the Center for Equity for English Learners (CEEL) at Loyola Marymount University. The $5 million Educator Workforce Incentive Grant will help to support the implementation of the California English Learner Roadmap Policy.
Put in place by the State Board of Education in 2017, the Roadmap is designed to improve education for the 1.2 million English learners who attend school in California. The goal is for English learners from early childhood through grade twelve to attain high levels of English proficiency, master grade-level standards, and have opportunities to develop proficiency in multiple languages.
Over the next three years, the grant recipients—in a partnership called EL RISE! (English Learner Roadmap Implementation for System Excellence)—will help county offices of education implement the English Learner Roadmap Policy.
The EL RISE! partnership will facilitate local teams to help each county become familiar with the Roadmap. EL RISE! will provide job-specific training for administrators, teachers, and bilingual/dual-language educators. It will focus on overall systems change, providing sessions to help local educational agencies develop English learner-aligned LCAPs, master plans, data dashboards, and more. The partnership will also host institutes for board members, parents, and higher education faculty, focused on topics like improving classroom practice, creating an asset-oriented school climate, and EL demographics in California.
Partners
Offices of education in the following counties will collaborate with the grant recipients: Butte, Contra Costa, Imperial, Kern, King, Los Angeles, Merced, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Stanislaus, Tulare, Ventura, and Yolo. Collectively, the 20 county offices of education serve 76.7% of California’s English learners.
“We are honored to be part of EL RISE! and the EL Roadmap implementation. English learners bring so much to the educational field, and educators work so hard to achieve equity for our language learners,” said David W. Gordon, Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools.