This course will give you practical understanding of the ELPA21 English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS). You will learn how to use the ELPS to design lessons for English language learners (ELLs) in mainstream content classrooms and other settings with connections to state content standards (e.g., Common Core State Standards (CCSS)). We will explore the background of the ELPS, their structure, and how to “unpack” and use them to make mainstream content lessons comprehensible to ELLs. We will show how the ELPS can be a useful tool for helping students with the “how” of a lesson, while the content standard remains the “what” of the lesson. Most importantly, we will support your efforts to contextualize the practical implementation of these standards at your grade level and with your students.

Our profession requires that we strive to meet the ever-increasing challenges posed by a rapidly-changing world and increasingly diverse classrooms. Ours is one of the most difficult professions because each of our students is unique and each of their talents, challenges and barriers to learning must be understood and addressed. It is, however, what makes our profession challenging every day and every year. However, it is also what makes our profession so rewarding—every student is different, every one of them is an opportunity and the more we know and practice, the better we become. A lot is asked of us. What we do is hard and what we are asked to do sometimes seems impossible. This course will try its very best to provide you with an understanding of the new ELP standards, how best to understand and use them, how they integrate with the CCSS and how you can begin immediately to implement what you learn here into designing better lesson plans for your ELL students that will result in better outcomes.

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