A legacy of the No Child Left Behind legislation of 2001 is that the significant achievement gaps between language minority students (ELLs and other speakers of non-Standard English) were made painfully visible to educators and the general public. Unfortunately, disaggregating data or 'exposing the cracks beneath the wallpaper' (Johnson/Avelar La Salle, 2010) alone is an insufficient remedy. Addressing these gaps remains a salient theme of our nation's school reform agenda and will be for years to come. Over the years, Corwin has published a number of works that aim to help close achievement gaps between ELs and non-ELs as well as children of color and their White counterparts. Some of these titles are aimed at school leaders and suggest that a 'top down' approach emphasizing culture shifts and policy changes are the most effective starting points. (see, e.g., Lindsey et al., Cultural Proficiency: A Manual for School Leaders, Singleton, Courageous Conversations about Race, and the upcoming Walking the Equity Walk by John Browne. Other titles start with changing practices at the classroom level, e.g., Bonnie Davis' How to Teach Students Who Don't Look Like You. The proposed title which falls into this second category highlights the importance of mastering Academic Language as a key to school success and closing achievement. It is grounded in an originalafour-pronged framework that describes how academic language learning is a (1) sociocultural, (2) literacy learning, (3) academic, and (4) a cognitive (higher order thinking skill) process.a Written in a teacher-friendly voice, the book emphasizes what can be done to strategically plan and deliver high quality learning, school and parent engagement environments using this four pronged framework. It is also well-suited to the work of teacher teams and includes a number of reflective prompts and professional development activities.
Dr. Debbie Zacarian, founder of Zacarian & Associates, provides professional development, strategic planning, and technical assistance for K-16 educators of culturally and linguistically diverse populations. She has served as an expert consultant for school districts, universities, associations, and organizations including the Massachusetts Parent Information Resource Center and Federation for Children with Special Needs. Debbie has worked with numerous state and local education agencies and written the language assistance programming policies for many rural, suburban, and urban districts. Debbie served on the faculty of University of Massachusetts-Amherst where she co-wrote and was the co-principal investigator of a National Professional Development grant initiative supporting the professional preparation of educators of multilingual learners. Debbie also designed and taught courses for pre- and in-service administrators and teachers on culturally responsive teaching and supervision practices, multilingual development, and ethnographic research. In addition, she served as a program director at the Collaborative for Educational Services where she provided professional development for thousands of educators of multilingual students and partnered with Fitchburg State University in co-writing and enacting a National Professional Development initiative that supported STEM education. Debbie also directed the Amherst Public Schools bilingual and English learner programming where she and the district received state and national honors. The author of more than 100 publications, her most recent professional books include: Beyond Crises: Overcoming Linguistic and Cultural Inequities in Communities. Schools and Classrooms; Responsive Schooling for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students; Teaching to Empower: taking action to foster student agency, self-confidence, and collaboration; and Teaching to Strengths: Supporting Students living with Trauma, Violence and Chronic Stress.
Acknowledgments About the Author Introduction 1. A Call for Reframing 2. Using a Four-Pronged Framework 3. Learning as a Sociocultural Process 4. Learning as a Developmental Process 5. Learning as an Academic Process 6. Learning as a Cognitive Process 7. Engaging in Parent Partnerships 8. Making Data-Driven Decisions Index
"This book engages teachers in active reflection on the nature of academic language and how it is used in different content areas across the curriculum. It highlights the need for instruction to connect to students' lives, stimulate their intellectual curiosity and cognitive growth, and expand their power to use multiple forms of language in creative and powerful ways. It represents an extremely useful tool for school communities to promote academic learning for all students." -- Jim Cummins, Professor of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning "Mastering Academic Language provides a practical look at the sociocultural foundations of academic language, relevant classroom and student examples, and a helpful framework for organizing and enacting the complex processes of developing language across a variety of contexts." -- Jeff Zwiers, Researcher "This book is a must read for teachers and administrators. It provides a comprehensive approach to helping EL students learn academic language, key to success in the content areas. This book provides an excellent opportunity for leaders as a book study with its guidance and reflections throughout the chapters." -- Maria Gillentine, Title III Program Specialist "Educators of all levels and expertise will enjoy this easy read which connects every aspect of student achievement from vocabulary acquisition to assessment to individualizing instruction." -- Michael Clyne, 5th Grade Teacher "Mastering Academic Language artfully weaves together vignettes with high-quality research while providing a new lens with which to see schooling and the achievement gap." -- Christine Landwehrle, Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction
