abilities, and 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 technical subjects.
Whether adolescent ELs are newcomers to English, are progressing steadily in their development
of English, or have stalled in their development of academic English and content understandings,
teachers are responsible for meeting each of their students wherever they are and facilitating their
accelerated cognitive and linguistic development. This entails not only outstanding teaching; it also
requires relationship building with students. Adolescent ELs look to their teachers as guides and
mentors in their continuing apprenticeship in academic subjects and preparation for adult life. Like
all adolescents, EL students are more deeply engaged with
school learning when their teachers are respectful of who
they are as individuals and of their communities and families
and when they are confident that their teachers believe
they can succeed at challenging academic tasks, care about
their success, and provide high levels of support. Teachers’
respectful attitudes and positive dispositions toward their EL
students are critical for academic success and healthy socio-
emotional development.
The CA ELD Standards serve as a guide for teachers
to both plan rigorous academic instruction that meets
the particular language learning needs of their ELs
and observe EL student progress as they engage with
disciplinary literacy tasks. The CA ELD Standards support teachers to focus on critical areas of English
language development, and they set goals and expectations for how EL students at various levels of
English language proficiency will interact meaningfully with content, develop academic English, and
increase their language awareness. The CA ELD Standards are used in tandem with the CA CCSS
for ELA/Literacy and other content standards in all classes that include ELs as learners, and they are
used as the focal standards for targeted language instruction that builds into and from the types of
academic tasks EL students are engaged in throughout the day. The common goals for ELD in high
schools are the following:- Building students’ abilities to engage in a variety of collaborative discussions about academic
content and texts - Developing students’ academic vocabularies and grammatical understandings
- Building students’ metalinguistic awareness in order to support close reading and writing of
different text types - Building students’ ability to write coherent and cohesive academic texts in English
Integrated and Designated English Language Development
This ELA/ELD Framework promotes the implementation of carefully designed and comprehensive
systems that support all ELs to develop advanced levels of English in all content areas. This
comprehensive approach to ELD includes both integrated and designated ELD. Integrated ELD
refers to ELD throughout the day and across the disciplines for all ELs. In integrated ELD, the CA
ELD Standards are used in all disciplines in tandem with the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy and other
content standards to support ELs’ linguistic and academic progress. Teachers use the CA ELD
Standards to inform their planning of intellectually rich academic experiences that are provided
through English. Through these experiences of using English meaningfully (e.g., through collaborative
conversations, interpreting texts they read, writing and multimedia projects), ELs build confidence
and proficiency in understanding and demonstrating their content knowledge in English. In addition,
The CA ELD Standards serve
as a guide for teachers to
both plan rigorous academic
instruction that meets the
particular language learning
needs of their ELs and observe
EL student progress as they
engage with disciplinary
literacy tasks.720 | Chapter 7 Grades 9 to 12