by Emily Lynch Gómez

Introduction
Common questions about ESL standards
1. What are the ESL standards?
2. Who can use the ESL standards and how?
3. What can I, as the parent, do to help my child attain the ESL standards?
4. What do the ESL standards say about using a student's native language?
5. How can the ESL standards help my child on standardized tests?
6. How can teachers use the ESL standards?
7. How can I tell if my child's teacher is using the ESL standards?
8. What is a standards-based curriculum?
9. How can my school administrator(s) use the ESL standards?
10. How are the ESL standards organized?
11. What additional resources are available to parents to help their children in school?
12. How can I order the ESL standards and other supporting materials?
Parent Guide: Appendices

Introduction

In 1997, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) published ESL Standards for Pre-K-12 Students. Some parents want to know what these ESL standards mean for their child who is learning English as a second language. How will this document affect their child's education? How can it be used to improve the services the school district offers to their child? Are there negative consequences to implementing these standards? This guide will answer these questions and more for the parents and educators of English as a second language (ESL) students.*

* ESL means English as a second language. ESL is the name of a course for students to learn English as a new language. It is also sometimes the name of a program of studies for these students. In this document, we refer to students who are learning English as ESL students.

1. What are the ESL standards?

• The ESL standards are statements that describe what students learning English as a second language (ESL) should know and be able to do as a result of their ESL classes. They are voluntary, national, content standards.
• They are intended to provide a bridge to specific standards in content areas such as math, science, and social studies, expected of all students in the United States.
• The ESL standards highlight the special instructional and assessment needs that ESL students may have.
• The three broad goals focus on the development of social language, academic language, and sociocultural knowledge. Each goal is followed by three standards describing what students should know and be able to do.
• They were developed by ESL teachers and other educators from around the country for use with ESL students in pre-K-12 schools.

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2. Who can use the ESL standards?

• ESL, bilingual, classroom, and content area teachers can modify their instruction for ESL students by using ideas from the ESL standards.
• Administrators can use the ESL standards to hold all school personnel accountable for improving the education of ESL students.
• Schools, districts and states can use the ESL standards in their curriculum and assessment development efforts, and for the professional development of teachers.
• Colleges and universities can use the ESL standards to prepare teachers to work with ESL students.
• Parents and members of the community can use the ESL standards as an advocacy tool to improve their children's access to high quality education.

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3. What can I, as the parent, do to help my child attain the ESL standards?

• Continue to speak and read to your child in your native language. Read picture books to your child. The local library may have books in your native language. Talk with your child and help him or her develop reasoning skills through your native language. Research on learning a second language suggests that students who learn to read in their native language perform better in school, are more likely to be judged as competent readers in the second language, and transfer the ability to read well in the native language to English.
• Remember that you are your child's first teacher. Encourage your child to do well in school. You can have a great impact on your child's success in school, especially if you are supportive of your child's education by visiting the school and keeping in touch with the child's teachers. Attend Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings, read information that comes home, and volunteer in the child's classroom. When your child sees that you value education, he or she will also.
• Support your child's English language development. Help your child learn English by using a variety of resources in the community, including the library's English language resources, the community center's recreational resources, and of course, the resources available through the school.
• Make sure that your child's teacher is familiar with the ESL standards. All teachers can get good ideas for teaching ESL students from the ESL standards book. (See Question 6 below for more information on this topic.) If your child's teacher is unaware of the ESL standards, tell him or her how to get a copy. The ESL standards volume is available online or for purchase by contacting TESO Publications at 301-638-4427 or toll-free at 888-891-0041. Tell the teacher that ideas for assessing the ESL standards can also be found in Scenarios for ESL Standards-Based Assessment, also available from TESOL Publications.

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4. What do the ESL standards say about using a student's native language?

Students who can read in their native language usually learn to read better in English and have better academic achievement than students who cannot read in their native language. TESOL fully supports native language instruction, where possible. TESOL also recognizes the benefits of bilingualism and supports effective bilingual education programs. However, the ESL standards do not directly provide strategies for native language development. The ESL standards are intended for use in ESL classes, which are always a part of any welldeveloped bilingual education program.

In the introduction to the ESL standards volume (p. 5, 8), the importance of developing and maintaining the native language is discussed.

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5. How can the ESL standards help my child on standardized tests?

• ESL students who can meet the ESL standards will be better able to meet the other educational standards that the school, district, or state requires them to meet.
• By improving their English language skills and in particular by meeting the standards for academic language development, students will be better able to acquire the content knowledge that standardized assessmentsmeasure.

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6. How can teachers use the ESL standards?

• Teachers can encourage their school district to develop an ESL standards-based curriculum and assessment system. A curriculum and assessment system that is aligned to the ESL standards will make the ESL program more uniform. Students and teachers alike will have common expectations of what ESL students should know and be able to do as a result of their ESL classes. A variety of materials are available to help educators use these standards. In particular, see the series entitled Integrating the ESL Standards Into Classroom Practice and Implementing the ESL Standards Through Teacher Education.
• Teachers can participate in curriculum development efforts. Such efforts provide excellent professional development opportunities and allow teachers to explore the ESL standards and standards-based instruction more deeply. When teachers develop curricula, they decide what standards ESL students should meet in specific grades and at specific levels of proficiency in English.
• Teachers can initiate professional development activities in their schools using the ESL standards as a starting point to discuss with other teachers ways to improve the academic achievement of ESL students.
• Teachers can use the ESL standards in their own instructional program.
  1. They can implement various instructional strategies found in the vignettes in their classrooms.
  2. They can use the descriptors and sample progress indicators to measure the effectiveness of their own teaching. To do so, teachers could develop lessons that provide students with opportunities toperform the activities described in the descriptors and sample progress indicators.
  3. Teachers can develop assessments or checklists that measure how well their students are attaining the ESL standards.

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7. How can I tell if my child's teacher is using the ESL standards?

• Ask your child's teacher if he or she is implementing the ESL standards in class. If the school, district, or state has not developed a curriculum that is aligned to the ESL standards, your teacher can still modify lessons to address the ESL standards, as discussed in Question 6.
• Help your child's teacher acquire a copy of the ESL standards so he or she can recognize the importance of this document and utilize it. It can be read and downloaded online or purchased from TESOL Publications (toll-free 888-891-0041 or 301-638-4427).

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8. What is a standards-based curriculum?

A curriculum is a road map for teachers that outlines the topics they should be teaching, the goals they should have for student learning, and the resources they should use in their instruction in a specific class. A standards-based curriculum is one that draws from the content or performance standards for that subject area (in this case, the ESL standards) to describe what the students should be learning in a specific grade or level. Teachers then use the standards-based curriculum to decide on what and how to teach the content in the class. The curriculumoften includes skills for students to learn, recommended materials, and instructional and assessment approaches that may enhance the instructional program.

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9. How can my school administrator(s) use the ESL standards?

In the introduction to the ESL standards, TESOL has described its vision of effective education for ESL students. These statements, found below, can be used by administrators to guide their policy on educating ESL students.

• Effective education for ESL students includes nativelike levels of proficiency in English.
• Effective education for ESL students includes the maintenance and promotion of ESL students' native languages in school and community contexts.
• All educational personnel assume responsibility for the education of ESL students.
• Effective education also calls for comprehensive provision of first-rate services and full access to those services by ALL students.
• Knowledge of more than one language and culture is advantageous for all students.

Administrators can take the lead in ensuring that these vision statements are implemented in your child's school. By including some of these ideas in the school's mission statement, for example, principals can encourage all personnel to expect high standards of achievement from ESL students and to share in the responsibility of educating ESL learners. Administrators should recognize that ESL students can contribute to the school community by sharing their language and culture with the English-speaking population. Administrators can use various means to demonstrate the belief that all students benefit from knowing more than one language and culture. See also School Administrator's Guide to the ESL Standards and other resources.

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10. How are the ESL Standards organized?

Goals The ESL standards are organized under three broad goals focusing on an ESL student's ability to use English for social and academic purposes and to use English in socially and culturally appropriate ways. Nine standards, three per goal, describe what students should know and be able to do.   Standards The standards are presented in three grade-level clusters, pre-K-3, 4-8, and 9-12. The grade-level clusters are similar to those used in other national content area standards, such as math or science, and are tied to national testing practices. The standards are explained fully in Question 1.   Descriptors Each standard in the document is illustrated by descriptors. These descriptors represent behaviors and skills that students are expected to demonstrate when they meet a standard. For example, under Goal 1, Standard 1, "To use English to communicate in social settings: Students will use English to participate in social interactions," one descriptor is "sharing and requesting information." Students who meet Goal 1, Standard 1 must be able to demonstrate that they can share and request information when using English for social purposes.   Sample Progress Indicators To help teachers in particular, each standard also includes sample progress indicators (SPI). The SPIs are observable, assessable activities that teachers can include in their lesson plans to determine whether or not students are making progress toward meeting a standard. The SPIs are cumulative so that as the grade level increases, additional SPIs are added to accommodate the uses of English expected of older students.   Vignettes The vignettes are stories of classroom scenes based on real-life classroom situations. By reading the vignettes, educators can get ideas for instructional strategies to help them deliver standards-based lessons.   Discussion A discussion section follows each vignette. This section highlights the specific behaviors that the teachers and students demonstrated in the vignette to help students achieve the standard.

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11. What additional resources are available to parents to help their children?

• ESL teachers, the ESL department, and the school counselor are great resources to tell you what is available within your own community to help you get support for your child's education.
• Many school districts have a parent information center associated with the student intake center or the central administration offices. Work through the parent center to locate materials for your particular needs.
• Join the Parent Teacher Association (PTA). Attend PTA meetings regularly. Request that PTA resources be allocated for services that benefit ESL students.
• Involve your child in extracurricular activities at school, the public library, or the community recreational center where they will meet other children and get involved in activities they enjoy, such as sports or clubs. Through participation in such activities, your child will develop friendships with English-speaking peers, and develop a sense of belonging to the community. Your child will practice using English in an enjoyable way.
• Look for community-based organizations that may support activities relevant to your language and cultural community.

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12. How can I order the ESL standards and other supporting materials?

The ESL standards and its companion documents can be ordered by contacting TESOL Publications at 301638-4427 or toll-free at 888-891-0041 or http://www.tesol.org/catalog/. A list of the ESL standards and companion documents follows.

• Agor, B. (Ed.). (2000). Integrating the ESL standards into classroom practice: Grades 9-12. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
• Buchanan, K. (2001). School administrator's guide to the ESL standards. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (Available from http://www.tesol.org/)
• Irujo, S. (Ed.). (2000). Integrating the ESL standards into classroom practice: Grades 6-8. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
• Samway, K.D. (Ed.). (2000). Integrating the ESL standards into classroom practice: Grades 3-5. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
• Short, D., Gómez, E., Cloud, N., Katz, A., Gottlieb, M., & Malone, M. (2000). Training others to use the ESL Standards: A professional development manual. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
• Smallwood, B.A. (Ed.). (2000). Integrating the ESL standards into classroom practice: Grades Pre-K-2. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
• Snow, M.A. (Ed.). (2000). Implementing the ESL standards for pre-K-12 students through teacher education. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
• Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1993). The access brochure. Alexandria, VA: Author.
• Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1996). Promising futures. Alexandria, VA:Author.
• Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1997). ESL standards for pre-K-12 students. Alexandria, VA: Author.
• Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1998). Managing the assessment process: A framework for measuring student attainment of the ESL standards. Alexandria, VA: Author.
• Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (in press). Scenarios for ESL standards-based assessment. Alexandria, VA: Author.

The ESL standards manuscript is also available at http://www.tesol.org/.

Further Reading

• Agor, B. (Ed.). (2000). Integrating the ESL standards into classroom practice: Grades 9-12. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
• Comer, J.P. (1984). Home-school relationships as they affect the academic success of children. Education and Urban Society, 16(3), 323-337.
• Cummins, J., Swain, M., Nakajima, K., Handscombe, J., Green, D., & Tran, C. (1984). Linguistic interdependence among Japanese and Vietnamese immigrant students. In C. Rivera (Ed.), Communicative competence approaches to language proficiency assessment: Research and application (pp. 60-81). Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
• Epstein, J.L. (1986, June). Parent involvement: Implications for limited-English-proficient parents. Paper presented at the Parent Involvement Symposium held at Trinity College, Washington, D.C.
• Escamilla, K. (1987). The relationship of native language reading achievement and oral English proficiency to future achievement in reading English as a second language. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.
• Focus on NAEP. (1996, July). Increasing the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities and Limited English Proficient Students in NAEP. Vol. 2, No. 1. Retreived January 23, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www.ed.gov/NCES/pubs/96894.html.
• Irujo, S. (Ed.). (2000). Integrating the ESL standards into classroom practice: Grades 6-8. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
• Kaufman, D. (1968). Will instruction in reading Spanish affect ability in reading English? Journal of Reading, 11(6), 521-527.
• Lindholm-Leary, K. (2000). Biliteracy for a global society: An idea book on dual language education. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.
• Modiano, N. (1979). The most effective language of instruction for beginning reading: A field study. In H.T. Trueba & C. Barnett-Mizrahi (Eds.), Bilingual multicultural education and the professional: From theory to practice. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
• NAEYC Position Statement: Responding to linguistic and cultural diversity-Recommendations for effective early childhood education. (1996, January). Young Children, 51(2), 4-12.
• Rich, D., Van Dien, J., & Mallox, B. (1979). Families as educators of their own children. In R. Brandt (Ed.), Partners: Parents and schools. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
• Royer, J.M., & Carlo, M.S. (1991). Using the sentence verification technique to measure transfer of comprehension skills from native to second language. Journal of Reading, 34(6), 450-455.
• Samway, K.D. (Ed.). (2000). Integrating the ESL standards into classroom practice: Grades 3-5. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
• Short, D., Gómez, E., Cloud, N., Katz, A., Gottlieb, M., & Malone, M. (2000). Training others to use the ESL standards: A professional development manual. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
• Smallwood, B.A. (Ed.). (2000). Integrating the ESL standards into classroom practice: Grades Pre-K-2. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
• Snow, M.A. (Ed.). (2000). Implementing the ESL standards for pre-K-12 students through teacher education. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
• Snow, C., Burns, M.S., & Griffin, P. (Eds.). (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
• Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1996). Promising futures (Professional Paper 1). Alexandria, VA: Author.
• Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1997). ESL standards for pre-K-12 students. Alexandria, VA: Author.
• Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1998). Managing the assessment process: A framework for measuring student attainment of the ESL standards (Professional Paper 5). Alexandria, VA: Author.
• Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (2001). Scenarios for ESL standards-basedassessment. Alexandria, VA: Author.
• Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (2001). School administrator's guide to the ESL standards. Alexandria, VA: Author. (Available at http://www.tesol.org/.)
• Violand-Sanchez, E., Sutton, C.P. & Ware, H.W. (1991). Fostering home-school cooperation: Involving language minority families as partners in education. NCBE Program Information Guide Series, No. 6. Washington, DC.: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.
• Zelasko, N., & Antunex, B. (2000). If your child learns in two languages: A parent's guide for improving educational opportunities for children acquiring English as a second language. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. (Also available in Spanish and Vietnamese)