“A vital nation must have educational parity for all students and not parcel out one set of opportunities for some and minimal expectations for others. Schools and educators, especially teachers, must be supported with the tools they need to ensure their students’ success, including technology, mentoring programs, and high quality curriculum.” – Dr. María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, IDRA President and CEO

Published 10 times a year, each edition explores issues facing U.S. education today and strategies to better serve every student. This newsletter is published in print and on the IDRA website, in addition to this eLetter format.

by Linda Cantú, Ph.D.

Federico Botello was a front office manager for an automotive repair shop. He identified auto problems and suggested repair options. At the same time, he watched his son struggle at school. Botello saw that his experience resolving automotive problems helped him figure out how to help his son. Over time, he decided to return to college.

Today, he is an elementary reading specialist: “My desire for teaching came from the heart. Alternative certification gave me the training and the tools for the job. Teaching is very similar to working on automobiles. Car mechanics use tools designed for working on cars. Teachers use tools designed for teaching and helping students learn. Sometimes we take existing tools and modify them to fit the diverse needs of our students. My struggling readers needed a long-term solution and not a quick fix. I taught my students not to fear reading and to become lifelong readers… Every year, I learn something new.”

Texas needs more teachers like Mr. Botello. The state is facing a dramatic teacher shortage. The Texas Education Agency, with approval from the U.S. Department of Education, identified the key teaching shortage areas for the 2014-15 school year in Texas: bilingual/English as a second language, career and technical education, computer science, math, science, and special education at both elementary and secondary levels.

In addition to teacher retirements, TEA reports that the current teacher shortage is a result of losing first- and second-year teachers due to lack of sufficient support and mentoring. – Keep reading

by Kristin Grayson, Ph.D.

Writing is one of the most difficult skills for English learners to master. It can be difficult because it involves so many aspects of language, including syntax (grammar), vocabulary, verb tenses, articles, spelling, transition words, and idioms. This article summarizes some of the latest research about providing English learners with quality writing instruction. Sample activities for the language or classroom teacher are included.

In an early article in 1993, Stephen Krashen, proposed two ideas about English learners and writing: “(1) Writing style does not come from writing or direct instruction, but from reading” (supporting the Reading Hypothesis, which he proposed in 1989), and (2) “Actual writing can help us solve problems and can make us smarter.”

These ideas support the use of sustained silent reading (SSR) or drop everything and read (DARE), where students are allowed to read materials of interest to themselves at their own chosen level for a specific duration of time each day. Language, some of which is rarely used in everyday conversations, is modeled for students while reading.

Krashen explains that listening is to speaking as reading is to writing. Language is acquired during authentic and meaningful exposure. For writing, this means that more writing does not necessarily improve writing, but that models of good writing are seen through reading and lots of it! – Keep reading

by Sulema Carreón-Sánchez, Ph.D.

As we begin another year of taking on the responsibility of educating students, we can reflect on what is quality and meaningful teaching. Recently, I was invited to visit a summer school classroom with elementary students, some of whom were English learners. During my visit, a teacher said: “I feel I work more and have less time to help my students. I have a weekly lesson plan, but students don’t seem to learn. What can I do that is different to help them?” While lesson plans are blueprints of what a teacher will do, it is the delivery of a lesson that is the key to making learning meaningful. This article discusses how the multiple intelligences theory can help teachers who are serving classrooms with diverse learners.

According to Marjorie Hall Haley (2004), “Students achieve greater success rates when the multiple intelligences theory is implemented.” Furthermore, she affirms, “All teachers must be better equipped to widen their pedagogical repertoire to accommodate linguistically, culturally and cognitively diverse students.”

Reflecting on the teacher’s question, a teacher’s challenge is to create a classroom within a learning environment to help all students. Teachers can, through Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory, provide various instruction strategies that will lead students to reach levels of success and acquire learning in all content areas. – Keep reading

Texas Supreme Court School Finance Hearing Held

On September 1, the Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the largest school finance case in the state’s history, Texas Taxpayer and Student Fairness Coalition vs. Williams. The hearing came 369 days after the Texas District Court ruled that the state’s funding system is “constitutionally inadequate, unsuitable and financially inefficient.” Much is at stake as the court decides whether or not to ensure that the state provides equal educational opportunity not for just some, but for all, of its children.

MALDEF’s Regional Counsel Marisa Bono presented the argument for the Edgewood ISD plaintiffs. IDRA provided expert analysis and testimony in the trial finding that the system is inequitable and fails to provide adequate levels of funding for educating English language learners and low-income students.

She stated: “The future workforce of Texas attends public school today. How well our students do is how well Texas will do. Every year, the state delivers tens of thousands of young people into our economy who are wholly unprepared for college and career. The state systematically fails to provide an adequate education, and it provides more advantages to students who already live in the most advantaged school districts.” – Keep reading

This year, the IDRA Newsletter is highlighting our staff’s varied and diverse talents and backgrounds. Kristin Grayson, Ph.D., provides training and technical assistance to school districts, teachers and parents to improve student achievement particularly in the area of gender equity, race relations and English learners. Aside from her professional interests, she has a lifelong focus on family and friends. She is originally from the Chicago area and maintains close relations with her family, who now live in vast parts of the United States and around the world. Kristin developed a passion for travel and learning about people and cultures as a teenager. Her anthropological interests have led her through Mexico, Central and South America, as well as China and Taiwan. She has a network of friends across the globe, and has found her ‘family of the heart’ in the highlands of Guatemala. Through yearly travels to the Mayan communities in Guatemala and Lake Atitlan, she is recharged in spirit, emotion, and mind. Kristin continually strives to achieve goals. She has recently achieved her goal of completing her doctorate. In 2013, she earned a doctorate in organizational leadership as she simultaneously completed a master’s of business administration. She is also an avid reader, swimmer, and animal lover. – See online

IDRA is inviting research applications for the IDRA José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellows Program. This will be the second round of this new fellows program to support research that will inform efforts to secure equitable funding of public schools across the country. The Call for Applications packet is online now. IDRA will select one or more fellows who will dedicate themselves to a period of intense study and writing in school finance. This second round José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellow will be selected for a defined period beginning in early 2016. Applications are due October 30, 2015.

Encourage your friends to sign up for the IDRA Newsletter by email, IDRA eNews, Graduation for All and Classnotes Podcast.

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A Valuing Professional Development Model – Episode 143

A Principal on Supporting Teachers for Student College Readiness – Episode 128

Reflective Teaching – Episode 61

Coaching and Mentoring New Teachers – Episode 24

Key Issues in the Texas School Funding Trial – Episode 155

Ensuring High Teaching Quality to Tap Into Students’ Strengths [18:18 min]

Learning While Teaching (A Conversation with New Teachers)