A couple years ago in San Francisco (Fall Forum, Nov. 2004) I made a preliminary presentation on High Schools that English Learners Need. Thanks to great audience interaction and feedback and subsequent work. that turned into a policy paper, The High Schools English Learners Need by Norm Gold, with Julie Maxwell-Jolly, June 2006 (PDF, 27 pgs., 115 KB), now available through the University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute. You may download it free here.

Despite the best efforts of thousands of dedicated people, California's secondary schools are failing to adequately educate the majority of the state's English learners (ELs). This policy paper for the University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute (UC LMRI) presents a vision for high schools that will promote greater success for these students. This vision is based on Norm Gold's three decades of experience in the field with teachers and administrators responsible for educating English learners and immigrant students. The paper presents five myths that stand in the way of the educational changes needed for secondary English learners to thrive in California's high schools, and some suggestions on what schools can do to address them. See the overview: The High Schools English Learners Need, a Policy Brief (UC LMRI Newsletter, V.15, No.3) (PDF, 4 pgs.)

Norm Gold, Consultant