Multicultural Children's Book Day - January 27th

HERE is a link to the Multicultural Children's Book Day website. They have resources, marketing materials, reading lists, and a free empathy kit for classroom teachers.

International TESOL Convention Coming to Chicago!

The International TESOL Convention is coming to Chicago this March, and it looks like there will be some great speakers and workshops!
Here is the link to the main conference page: http://www.tesol.org/convention-2018
Here is the link to the PreK-12 Educator day event: http://www.tesol.org/convention-2018/ticketed-events/prek-12-day

The conference runs from Wednesday, March 28th to Friday, March 30th, with pre-conference events - including school visits - on Tuesday, March 27th. On Saturday, March 31st, there will be a PreK-12 Educator day, which is a standalone event with its own registration. This would be an awesome opportunity to for teachers, EL coordinators, and school administrators to learn about how they can support English Learners in their classrooms and buildings!

*Note: This conference does run into Easter/Passover weekend.

Don't Forget to Register!!!

There are still spots available for Emily Miller's workshop "The Language of Doing" next Wednesday, December 13th! This is a great opportunity for ALL teachers who work with English learners, especially in Science, and it's also great for ANY teachers who have students that may struggle with content area language development. Feel free to share with anyone you think may be interested!

Language of Doing Flyer

EL Supports for ACT Question/Response

Here is some information from Dee Thompson, one of our educational consultants here at CESA 11 who works with assessments. She posed an assessment question to the DPI about EL testing accommodations for the ACT and received an answer back to confirm the accommodation.

• Q: Can an EL student test in a small group setting WITHOUT approval from ACT if it is the only accommodation they will be using?  Small group setting is marked with an "E" and a superscript of 6 and 7 in the List of Allowable Accessibility Supports, which means that it can be used by anyone without approval, but with planned administration to make sure there are enough administrators to give the test with fidelity.  However, the support is also listed as one of the 4 NEW EL supports needing approval.

• A: If small group is the only accommodation for state testing, that falls under local arrangements, and DOES NOT need to be submitted through TAA, and will result in a college-reportable score (assuming all other standard time rules/guidelines are followed correctly). 

EL Testing for ITs - WIDA Screener & ACCESS

Here is a link to some information from the DPI that you may want to share with your ITs about the tech requirements for WIDA Screener and ACCESS testing this school year:

EL Testing for ITs 

Translators & Interpreters Needed!

If you - or someone you know - would like to be included in our database of CESA 11 interpreters and translators, please click and share the link below!

CESA 11 Interpreters & Translators

EL Coordinator Network Meeting Agenda - 9/22/17

Here is a link to the annotated meeting agenda, which includes notes and resources we discussed at the meeting. If you have any questions, just let us know.

9/22/17 Meeting Agenda With Notes