QTEL in the News

QTEL Project in Texas is Praised in Education Week

(2010-12-02) WestEd’s Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) was recently featured in the November 10th edition of Education Week magazine for its effective work with teachers in the Austin Independent School District. The coverage includes an interview with a high school English teacher who praises the strategies she learned from her QTEL training.

ACSA recommends QTEL book

(2010-09-15) "Books Worth Reading" The Association of California School Administrators has just added QTEL's Scaffolding the Academic Success of Adolescent English Language Learners to its list of recommended reading.

Gates Foundation Spotlights QTEL’s Work in Austin, Texas

(2010-07-15) As reported in Education Week, the work of WestEd's Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) project was the centerpiece of a recent fact-finding trip sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Policymakers from Texas, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Virginia visited schools in Austin, Texas, where QTEL professional development and collaboration with the district have focused on increasing secondary teachers' understanding of how to keep content rigor high while also promoting English Language Learners' (ELL) language development. Test scores at Austin's "QTEL schools" have been on the rise for all students, with ELL students making the largest gains.

Aída Walqui Featured at ACSA Leadership Summit

(2010-07-01) Administrators attending the upcoming Leadership Summit of the Association of California School Administrators have the opportunity to hear from QTEL director Aída Walqui in a featured presentation about the approaches and conditions that equip teachers to meet the needs of English learners. ACSA's 2010 annual meeting is being held in San Diego, November 4–6.

Barriers Remain to Quality Education for Middle School English Learners

(2010-05-06) In a new research report, What are we doing to middle school English Learners? (Research Report or Narrative Summary), WestEd researchers examine how California schools are serving this growing population during the crucial middle school years. The study describes practices for improving instruction for these learners and warns of enduring barriers to improvement that must be overcome. To find out what programs middle schools have in place for English Learners, researchers from the Quality Teaching for English Learners program at WestEd surveyed California school districts with the highest concentration of English learners. They also conducted interviews at 64 schools from across these districts. In five schools, researchers observed in classrooms, talked with teachers and administrators, and developed in-depth case studies to contextualize the report's findings.

Education Week Reports on New Book Based on QTEL Findings

(2010-02-23) Scaffolding the Academic Success of Adolescent English Language Learners: A Pedagogy of Promise was featured in Mary Ann Zeher's Education Week blog, Learning the Language. In the post titled, "Resource: How Content Teachers Can Teach Language," Zeher wrote: "What always stands out for me in listening to or reading about Walqui's recommendations for ELL [English language learner] instruction is that ELLs need plenty of opportunity to talk about what they are learning. She's an advocate of helping students to develop strong oral-language skills in the subjects they are studying, something that is getting more attention in the field these days."

Language Magazine Interviews WestEd's Aida Walqui, Features Excerpts From Her New Book

(2010-02-01) An interview with Aída Walqui, WestEd's Director of Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL), describes five principles for succeeding with English learners in the February issue of Language Magazine. Excerpts from Walqui's latest book, Scaffolding the Academic Success of English Language Learners: A Pedagogy of Promise, are also featured. Download the full article.

Walqui Interview Highlights Oracy

(2009-10-19) In an article subtitled Scholars Say Students Need Chances to Speak in Class, Education Week reports that educators and researchers who specialize in the education of English language learners are putting new emphasis on the importance of teaching oral English. Aída Walqui, Director of WestEd's Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL), was interviewed for the article on her language-related experiences when she moved to the United States from Peru to attend college as a young adult. Walqui trains teachers in how to strengthen the literacy of English language learners (ELLs) by helping them develop academic concepts and skills in oral English, among other academic language pedagogical approaches.

Aída Walqui Serves on New Report’s Research Advisory Committee

(2009-10-01) Aída Walqui, Director of WestEd's Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL), served on the research advisory committee for a new Council of the Great City Schools report, Succeeding With English Language Learners: Lessons Learned from the Great City Schools (PDF). The study's results suggest the following: programming for these students has to be collaborative and it has to span the curriculum; districts need to develop and communicate a clear vision and strategy for English language learners' (ELL) instructional improvement, and work to provide schools with the tools, support, and oversight necessary to drive these reforms into the classroom; and, ELLs need much more integration into district general educational programs.