COMMON CORE

Advancing The Vision of English Learner Education

After the passage of the California Common Core Standards in 2010 which defined what we expected each student to know and be able to do in English Language Arts and Mathematics, Californians Together responded to the needs of educators and parents to better understand the new standards and how to engage with the schools and districts to better support the implementation and how best these standards should support language and academic growth of English Learners through creation of toolkits. Subsequent to the adoption of the Language Arts (ELA) and Math standards, Californians Together supported legislation AB 124 which required to update and adopt English Language Development Standards aligned to the ELA standards in 2011. Lastly in 2012, The State Board of Education adopted the San Diego County Office of Education Common Core Standards en Español which are being used as the blueprint for the California Spanish Assessment.

Raise Your Voice on Behalf of English Learners: The English Learners and Common Core Advocacy Toolkit

Californians Together views the advent of the Common Core Standards as an opportunity to strengthen the schooling of English Learners. We also recognize that any reform that increases rigor and does not address how English Learners will be supported to master that rigor can exacerbate the barriers and achievement gaps that have characterized the education of English Learners for too long.

To ensure that the Common Core Standards are implemented in a way that fully includes English Learners and that meets their unique language development and access needs, we have published “Raise Your Voices for English Learners: The English Learners and Common Core Advocacy Toolkit”. This Advocacy Toolkit has prepared talking points for use by educators, policy makers, parents and community members in dialogues at the local, district and state levels – raising concerns, pushing for the supports needed to realize the Common Core for English learners, and advancing the vision of English Learner education that the Common Core can make possible.

The Common Core Toolkit includes:

Background paper on the opportunities and challenges that the Common Core Standards present for curriculum, instruction and assessment of English Learners
Talking points for policy makers, school site, district and count level educators to insert the needs of English Learners in Common Core Standards dialogues
A palm card with key issues to be raised that can support the needs of ELs in any Common Core conversation
Power point presentation to address the needs of English Learners which implementing the Common Core Standards
A CD containing the PDFs of all the documents in the kit plus two resource articles

English Learner Success in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS): Your Voice, Your Advocacy: A Guide for Parents on How Your Support and the CCSS can Help Your Children Succeed in School

Available in English and Spanish

This guide has been developed to help parents understand what the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are and how these standards will impact the academic success of English learners once they are implemented in the classroom. The guide provides information for parents to use when speaking with their child’s teacher, principal and other school staff to make sure he or she receives the learning supports to succeed academically.