Overview
Texas public schools serve over 1.3 million emergent bilingual (EB) students with over 120 languages. While Spanish is the most common home language of students, the number of students speaking other languages continues to grow each year making up 14% of the emergent bilingual student population.
Texas public schools are responsible for providing one of the 6 types of bilingual education program models to support EB students’ English language acquisition.
School districts with 20 or more emergent bilingual students in the same grade level must provide one of the four types of bilingual program models: Dual Language Immersion One-Way, Dual Language Immersion Two Way, Transition Bilingual Late-Exit, and Transitional Bilingual Early-Exit. However, districts that do not meet the “rule of 20” (regardless of the number of students or grade level) must provide one of the two English as a second language (ESL) program models: Content-Based or Pull-Out.
In an ESL Content-Based program, students are provided English language instruction by an ESL certified teacher(s) in all content areas that are integrated with the academic content such as math or science. In a Pull-Out ESL program, an ESL certified teacher pushes in to the English language arts and reading classroom (ELAR) or pulls students out to teach ELAR. Both program models use English as the instructional language with a goal of English language proficiency.
Texas continues to be a leader in the development and implementation of high-quality ESL programs to educate the largest population of emergent bilingual students in the U.S. most effectively.
Stakeholder Engagement
ESL Framework Work group was a collaborative effort aimed at enhancing the quality and consistency of ESL education across Texas. The Texas Education Agency partnered with a group of committed professionals and practitioners to create a framework to guide and help LEAs strengthen their ESL programs. The ESL Framework work group's goal was to provide a comprehensive framework that would positively impact the academic achievement of emergent bilingual students in Texas by developing a systemic ESL Framework.
The ESL framework emphasizes on the importance of families & community, ongoing professional development for all staff, and tools and resources that support effective ESL program implementation. The ESL Framework includes: ESL Program Success Criteria, ESL Program Rubric, and ESL Program Checklists for District Administrators, Campus Leaders, and Teachers. These tools not only provide a description of exemplary dual language programs, but the guidelines and tools to build and sustain one. Each document is broken down into the most important aspects of ESL instruction and implementation.
Goals
The goal of the Texas ESL Framework is to provide a structured, systematic approach to language instruction to help local education agencies meet TAC state policy. The goal of ESL programs is to enable emergent bilingual students to become proficient in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in the English language through the integrated use of content-based language instructional methods. The ESL programs include the mastery of grade level English reading and language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies knowledge and skills as integral parts of the academic goals for all students to enable emergent bilingual students to participate equitably in school (§89.1201).
The ESL framework outlines clear Success Criteria to ensure alignment across all grade levels and stakeholders. Ultimately, it seeks to create an equal educational learning environment through programs, instruction, and resources that lead to positive school outcomes where EB students can thrive linguistically and academically.
Watch the video above to understand how to use and navigate the TxESLF site.
ESL Framework Tools
This framework comes with key tools. These should be used to clarify how to make an ESL program exemplary. Directions on how to use each tool are below.
ESL Success Criteria
The ESL Success Criteria provides a measurement system to assess your current state and identify the highest priority areas for improvement.
ESL Rubric
The ESL Rubric provides holistic descriptions of ESL programs at different stages of development: established, exceeds, and exemplary. Use this tool internally to diagnose your current state and the next stage of implementation.
ESL Checklists
The ESL Checklists provide detailed actions for each group of ESL leaders: district, campus, and teachers. These provide clear actions for each role.