Student and Teacher Needs Addressed
The majority of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students at the secondary level are placed in English-only programs and spend all or most of their day in mainstream, content area classrooms. Often their teachers do not speak their native language, and many have not had training on how to meet linguistic and cultural needs. Many are also content area teachers who have had little or no training on the teaching of reading (considered an elementary school topic) and so cannot help those who need to learn to read or who are weak in their reading skills. Their ESL teachers are often expected to support content area instruction in their own classrooms but have had little or no training in content area instruction. It is unrealistic, too, to expect them to have content area knowledge about math, science, social studies and language arts sufficient for secondary coursework.

Recommended Approach
Sheltered instruction is the recommended approach for secondary LEP students. It allows them to acquire English at the same time as they are acquiring content area knowledge and skills on (or close to) grade level. Training both the regular and ESL teachers together allows them to share knowledge about both content area and ESL instruction that strengthens the instruction in both kinds of classrooms and facilitates their coordination of services to LEP students.

Teacher Competencies
The participants in this professional development will: