develop advanced content understandings and linguistic abilities in English. The CA ELD Standards
provide teachers with guidance on what they can expect their ELs to be able to do as they gain
increasing proficiency in English as an additional language. Teachers use the standards for planning
and ongoing observation of ELs so that instruction is tailored to their specific learning needs. All EL
middle school students can engage meaningfully in complex, cognitively demanding, content-rich tasks
requiring the use of academic English, as long as they receive appropriately scaffolded instruction to
do so.
Many ELs in California middle schools were born in
the U.S. or arrived early in their elementary years, others
are new or relatively new to English, and still others are
somewhere in between. The needs of individual EL students
in their early adolescent years vary widely and depend on
a multitude of factors, including age on arrival to the U.S.,
immigrant status, prior schooling, primary language and
literacy experiences, English language proficiencies, content
knowledge, and many other things. Therefore, districts,
schools, and teachers should learn as much about their EL students as they can in order to provide
them with the educational approaches that best support them to develop English and be ready for the
challenges and demands of high school in an accelerated time frame.
Schools and districts need to be ready to welcome newcomer ELs (those students just arriving into
the U.S. or who have been in the U.S. for a very short time). Some newcomer ELs are literate in their
primary language and on par with—or even ahead of—their U.S. peers in terms of rigorous grade-
level content knowledge, while others have experienced disruption in their schooling careers and have
gaps in their literacy and content knowledge. Still other newcomer ELs arrive from regions assailed
with extreme life circumstances, such as war or famine, and require specialized counseling and social
services in addition to academic and linguistic support. Whether one or one hundred newcomer
ELs arrive at a district at any given time, and whether newcomer ELs have limited or advanced
content knowledge and literacy in their primary languages, middle school should be a place where
all adolescent ELs can learn and thrive academically, linguistically, socio-emotionally. (For more on
supporting newcomer ELs and their families, see the section on English language development in high
school in chapter 7 of this ELA/ELD Framework.)
Most ELs in California middle schools are not newcomers to English but have been in the U.S.
for many years, sometimes since birth. Some of these students begin middle school underprepared
for the advanced levels of English and content knowledge required to fully engage with academic
middle school subjects. Fluent in conversational English
but challenged by academic English and disciplinary
literacy tasks, these students may find it difficult to engage
meaningfully in increasingly rigorous coursework. Schools
should ensure that all ELs, including newcomer ELs, normally
progressing ELs, and long-term ELs, are immersed in rich
instruction that accelerates their understandings about and
abilities to use academic English as they continue to develop
increasingly complex content understandings. This type
of instruction requires teachers to develop sophisticated
understandings of the particular content knowledge and
disciplinary literacy practices their EL students need to
develop in order to be successful in the disciplines of English
language arts, science, history/social studies, mathematics,
and all other subjects.
Schools and districts need to be
ready to welcome newcomer
ELs (those students just arriving
into the U.S. or who have been
in the U.S. for a very short
time).
Schools should ensure that all
ELs, including newcomer ELs,
normally progressing ELs, and
long-term ELs, are immersed in
rich instruction that accelerates
their understandings about
and abilities to use academic
English as they continue to
develop increasingly complex
content understandings.
544 | Chapter 6 Grades 6 to 8