English Learner Strategic Plan

Delaware’s demographics are changing Delaware will be the nation's 14th-most racially and ethnically diverse state by 2060, with New Castle County in the top 6 percent. (USA Today, November 2, 2014) Since 1997 Delaware has experienced a 433.3% increase in the number of English Learner students Today more than 11,000 English Learner students attend Delaware schools representing more than 100 different languages Federal law requires programs to support English language acquisition

EL enrollment in Delaware schools

Mission puts Delaware EL students ahead “The State of Delaware is committed to empowering every English Learner to be successful in college, career and life. Every English Learner will engage in the highest-quality education to prepare them with the linguistic, cultural and academic skills necessary for the 21st century.”

Guiding Coalition Develops Recommendations A Guiding Coalition consisting of various stakeholders including parents, community representatives, district subject matter experts, and DDOE employees have developed the recommendations known as the "English Learner Strategic Plan."  The group is confident that the plan will move Delaware forward in improving outcomes for this growing population. 

Established timeline for success January-June 2016 EL Strategic Plan Guiding Coalition develops recommendations June-August 2016 Draft plan shared with DDOE workgroups and branches for additional feedback September 2016 Stakeholder feedback session held for community organizations and Institutes of Higher Education October-December 2016 Community feedback collected through town hall meetings & public comment January-February 2017 Final plan revisions & printing in multiple languages March 2017 Plan released to public & implementation team forms

Plan developed by stakeholders Representatives from various groups joined together monthly to draft the EL Strategic Plan— Community Organizations Delaware Hispanic Commission Stand by Me/United Way of DE Delaware Adolescent Program (DAPI) Chinese American Community Center Delaware English Learners Teachers & Advocates (DELLTA) Parents & Community Members Haitian Community Leaders Retired educators Parents School Districts & Charters Christina (EL Specialist, Bilingual School Psychologist) Capital School District (Supervisor) Seaford School District (Supervisor) Indian River School District (Counselor) Las Américas ASPIRA Academy (Head of School) Milford School District (Teacher) Additional Representatives Teacher Licensure & Certification Office of Early Learning Exceptional Children Resources

Stakeholder feedback discussion groups shape the plan Stakeholders from around the state were invited to engage in discussion groups to provide additional feedback into the draft plan— Teachers from New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties District/Charter ESL Coordinators Delaware Institutes of Higher Education Community members Parents Adult educations agencies Community Organizations (DHC, Latinos Unidos, LACC, CACC)

Goals align to meet the mission

Goal 1: Engage every English Learner in high-quality instruction and assessment designed to meet individual needs Objective: Close achievement gaps for ELs by ensuring that EL instruction is appropriately aligned with college and career ready standards and assessment Objective: Elevate the use of proven program designs focused on meeting students’ language and content needs Objective: Increase graduation rates of ELs and former ELs

Goal 2: Foster highly-effective educators of English Learners Objective: Increase equitable access to high quality educators for English Learners Objective: Ensure all Delaware Educator Preparation Program candidates and novice educators are prepared to work with English Learners Objective: Strengthen the EL knowledge-base for teachers, specialists and paraprofessionals Objective: Enhance the capacity of school leaders in meeting the needs of ELs Objective: Increase the number of EL certified teachers

Goal 3: Mobilize the community and engage the public to support English Learners Objective: Improve engagement with families of English Learners Objective: Increase partnerships with community organizations and state agencies to respond to the varied needs of EL families Objective: Increase community awareness of the “value add” of multilingualism that English Learners bring to Delaware Objective: Increase community advocacy to influence EL Delaware public policy and inform resource investment

Goal 4: Continue to refine EL education through intentional analysis of data Objective: Increase the comprehensibility and transparency of EL data for all stakeholders Objective: Increase the use of English Learner data to drive decision making Objective: Increase the alignment of state, district/charter and school initiatives to provide supports based upon the identified need

Help us make the plan stronger Your feedback is valuable to this process. We thank you for the time you will take to review the English Learner Strategic Plan Draft. http://www.doe.k12.de.us/Page/3178 https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ELStrategicPlan https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ELStrategicPlanEspanol https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ELStrategicPlanKreyolAyisyen https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ELStrategicPLanChinese