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From http://languagemagazine.com/?p=125506

Breaking Down Silos, Joining Forces in Education
by Claudia Rinaldi and Caroline E. Parker
May 12, 2016

The newly released English Learner Tool Kit developed by the U.S. Department of Education Office of English Language Acquisition provides guidance for teachers on how to help students … learn academic English. The guide includes a much-needed compendium of best practices, beginning with identifying who is an English learner. It outlines the staffing and supports English language programs should include, and provides guidance on how to help schools create inclusive environments that support language proficiency and academic performance. A full chapter is dedicated to the needs of students who are dually identified as both English learners and those with a disability.

This is an excellent resource, but it comes with a serious drawback. It omits a critical research-based framework that could help teachers design instruction for students like Samuel, English learners who require additional supports. The missing framework is Response to Intervention, otherwise known as RTI.

…A second toolkit focused on these RTI strategies is also available to assist teachers … who are looking for ways to help students…. It is the RTI-Based Specific Learning Disabilities Identification ToolKit developed by the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD). This toolkit provides tools for data-driven high quality general education instruction and intervention with frequent opportunity for progress monitoring in all areas of academic difficulty. It also provides clear, evidenced-based considerations for addressing the unique needs of English learners who are struggling academically. The tools can help teachers disentangle the critical challenge of whether a child’s difficulties are due to his or her language proficiency, to a lack of high quality instruction and intervention, or to a disability.

Read the full article and access these two toolkits at http://languagemagazine.com/?p=125506