English Language and Literacy Acceleration (ELLA)

Who Should Attend ELLA?

• Pre-K through 8th grade teachers
• Instructional coaches
• Site and district administrators

What Are ELLA Professional Development Services?

ELLA is a research-based professional development program that improves academic literacy instruction for pre-K through 8th grade students. ELLA meets the needs of English language learners, students with low-literacy skills, and other students who may experience difficulty mastering academic language.

• We present an intensive, thorough investigation of the most current and confirmed research on academic literacy instruction.
• We model evidence-based, effective, and replicable instructional strategies.
• We coach teachers in implementing these rigorous strategies in their own classrooms.

Our team comprises experienced classroom teachers with a demonstrated track record of boosting their students' achievement, as well as cutting-edge experts in pedagogical and linguistic theory and research. We customize the professional development for your school.

What Does ELLA Professional Development Do?

We provide teachers with the tools to effectively deliver their core literacy and content curriculum. Teachers learn to:

• Plan and teach lessons with an emphasis on academic language development
• Teach academic vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing using research-based strategies
• Employ teaching strategies that increase student engagement and opportunities for oral language practice
• Implement a schoolwide systems approach to language teaching to close achievement gaps

ELLA-trained teachers learn to incorporate multiple components of effective instruction for diverse learners by:

• Providing systematic and explicit instruction for academic vocabulary and other forms of academic literacy
• Increasing active participation and student engagement
• Scaffolding their students' opportunities for language practice
• Making rigorous content comprehensible
• Implementing routines to foster a positive classroom climate

Research and Practice Areas That Guide Our Work With Teachers

ELLA adheres to the most current research-based recommendations for professional development that support effective implementation and results in increased student achievement. ELLA professional development promotes:

Research-based practice: We integrate the most current research findings to provide the rationale behind the teaching practices we share.
Purposeful teaching: We share practical ways to provide equitable access to grade-level content and accelerate academic literacy development.
Collaborative planning: We facilitate collegial lesson planning sessions with an emphasis on inquiry around practice and integration of purposeful, research-based strategies.
Intensive and sustained support: We build teachers' capacity to successfully implement effective practices by incorporating in-class coaching, modeling, providing opportunities for practice, and giving constructive feedback on lesson delivery.

How does ELLA offer multiple layers of support to schools and districts?

Teachers:

• We provide training to teachers — an intensive and thorough overview of the most current research-based instructional strategies.
• We model evidence-based, effective, and replicable instructional strategies in real classrooms with real kids.
• We coach teachers in implementing these rigorous strategies in their daily practice using standards-based curriculum.

• We work with instructional coaches on supporting teachers to increase the rigor of their instruction in systemic ways.

• We support principals in ensuring the successful and systematic implementation of effective instructional strategies in all classrooms.

• We work collaboratively with district staff to ensure that all services are aligned with the district vision for school and district improvement.

Logistics and Cost

We offer ELLA in three formats to accommodate your scheduling needs.

Year-Long ELLA Training — Focused on Student Engagement and Interaction, Structured Academic Talk, and Academic Vocabulary Instruction

This format includes six, three-hour workshops and ten days of implementation coaching. The total cost, including all workshops, materials, and technical assistance, is $48,000.

The three-hour workshops are for up to 35 participants, and are flexibly scheduled throughout the school year. Each workshop is designed so that participants learn manageable chunks of evidence-based, practical information that they can use in their classrooms before attending the next workshop. Each workshop includes structured reflection, opportunities to practice new strategies, and time to troubleshoot newly tried practices.

The ten days of onsite technical assistance, which includes demonstration lessons and peer reflective coaching sessions, support teachers with what they've learned in the workshops.

Half-Year ELLA Training — Focused on Academic Vocabulary Instruction

This format is similar to the year-long training but is focused on academic vocabulary instruction. It includes three, three-hour workshops and five days of technical assistance. The total cost, including all workshops, materials, and technical assistance, is $24,000. Optional follow-up coaching/implementation support for this format is available.

ELLA Summer Institutes

We provide an intensive three-day institute that includes evidence-based practical information, structured reflection, demonstration lessons, planning time, and opportunities to practice new strategies. Modules include:

• increasing student engagement, structuring academic conversation, and improving reading comprehension
• academic vocabulary instruction
• writing instruction
• early literacy instruction for pre-K through 2nd grade

The total cost per participant is $750.

All participants, regardless of the ELLA format chosen by their school, receive comprehensive materials, tools, and templates:

• notes on presentations
• lesson planning templates
• research articles and bibliography
• peer collaborative coaching and team meeting forms
• forms to gauge and track levels of student engagement

Contact Information

Pamela Spycher
530.753.7006
pspycher@wested.org