New York City Department of Education

Since 2003, QTEL has worked in partnership with the New York City Department of Education to improve the academic achievement of the city's English language learners in secondary schools. In an initial collaboration, teachers, as well as those who support teachers, participated in three years of professional development and apprenticeship to increase their capacity to promote quality learning and teaching. QTEL's in-depth work with New York became the model for other multi-year collaborations:

Year 1: Building the Base Institute
Year 2: Disciplinary Literacy
Year 3: Strengthening Change at the School Site

In Year 1, the five-day Building the Base Institute provided a firm base of theoretical understanding and consonant strategies for effectively teaching academic language to English language learners.

In Year 2, teachers worked to deepen their content knowledge in five disciplinary groups — mathematics, science, social studies, language arts, and beginning English as a second language — and to increase their effectiveness in teaching disciplinary concepts to English language learners as well as native English speakers.

In Year 3, a focus on the school as the unit of change led participants to analyze how quality teaching was being offered to English language learners and other students at their sites, including strengths to be capitalized on and roadblocks needing to be removed.

QTEL continues to provide specialized institutes and trainings for New York teachers, and additional support is offered by New York professional developers who apprenticed to QTEL staff and received certification to carry on the work.