The California Department of Education (CDE) has announced that the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) is the recipient of a $2.5 million state grant called the Educator Workforce Investment Grant for Effective Language Acquisition Programs (EWIG-ELAP). The grant will support the implementation of effective language acquisition programs for English learner students. A total of four county offices of education were selected to coordinate professional development across the state.
Grant funding, which extends through the 2024–25 fiscal year, will help provide professional learning for early educators, teachers, paraprofessional educators, school leaders, and school counselors in public schools. The training will be aligned with the state’s Quality Professional Learning Standards (QPLS).
The training effort will be called “EPiCC” (English Learner Roadmap Power in Collaboration Across California), and is an extension of a previous project called “EL RISE!” EPiCC will be deployed in four regional zones (A, B, C, and D) with SCOE a 35-county “Zone A.”
“EPiCC is about emphasizing research-based language acquisition programs, culturally responsive environments, and quality linguistic and academic development across the whole curriculum,” said SCOE Curriculum Specialist Graciela García-Torres, M.Ed. “The project will support implementation of programs and systems that will help multilingual-English learner students thrive.”
EWIG-ELAP Grant Objectives
The EWIG-ELAP grant aligns with the Statewide System of Support (SSOS), a program designed to help education agencies meet student needs, focusing on addressing local disparities in opportunities and outcomes. The grant is also designed to follow the state’s Quality Professional Learning Standards (QPLS) for implementing effective language acquisition programs for English learner students. These may include:
- Language development within and across content areas (integrated English language development, designated English language development, and/or language development in addition to English)
- Development of bilingual and biliterate proficiency
- Building and strengthening capacity to implement policies related to the California English Learner Roadmap
Learn More
For more information about the rollout of the EPiCC professional development, email gtorres@scoe.net.