Chapter 6: Is There Magic in Co-Teaching?

What constitutes effective programs for English learners (ELs)? If you had the opportunity to shadow an elementary school EL, you might have uncovered that her school day is fragmented by pullout English language development/English language learner (ELD/ELL) classes, reading help, academic intervention services, resource room, and so on, all created and prescribed to raise her level of academic and language fluency. For a secondary EL student, you may find him placed in classes that frequently segregate him from his English-speaking peers as well as content area teacher experts. In other situations, ELs may be included in general education classes, but they might receive little or no support for their academic success or linguistic development. These practices often provoke us to ask the following question: What are the barriers for ELs to have successful learning experiences in their general education classes?