Highlights from NCER (Archive)

NCER Grantee Publications Describe How to Improve Academic Outcomes for English Language Learners
Studies by researchers at the NCER's Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE) are highlighted in the October-December 2009 issue of the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness entitled "Special Issue on Effective Practices for English Language Learners in the Middle Grades." In an introduction to the issue, David Francis and Sharon Vaughn highlight critical aspects of research on ELLs that need to be addressed by researchers. Diane August, Lee Branum-Martin, Elsa Cardenas-Hagan, and David Francis report positive gains on both science and vocabulary measures for students who received the Project QuEST science curriculum. Building vocabulary has been shown to be particularly important for English language learners, and two studies present promising interventions for improving vocabulary and comprehension. Sharon Vaughn, Leticia Martinez, Sylvia Linan-Thompson, Colleen Reutebuch, Coleen Carlson and David Francis report positive impacts on vocabulary and comprehension outcomes for students who received an intervention designed to help students attend to the "big ideas" presented in social studies lessons. Catherine Snow, Joshua Lawrence, and Claire White present findings for Word Generation, an instructional approach designed to be used concurrently in math, social studies, and science to increase vocabulary knowledge. Word Generation was found to be particularly beneficial for English language learners.

For information about the IES-supported National Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE), please click here:
http://ies.ed.gov/ncer/RandD/details.asp?ID=129

For access to abstracts of these projects, please visit the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness website:
http://www.sree.org/pages/publications/journal.shtml