Home Events Scaffolded Writing Instruction for New Mexico English Learner Students in Middle Grades: The Write to Succeed Professional Learning Project

Scaffolded Writing Instruction for New Mexico English Learner Students in Middle Grades: The Write to Succeed Professional Learning Project

Southwest | April 05, 2024

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Conference session | 1:20–2:35 p.m. (Mountain Time)

Location: New Mexico Association for Bilingual Education Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Supporting equitable educational opportunities and achievement for English learner (EL) students is a high priority for educators across the country. Writing skills are a critical area for EL students to develop so they can both access and demonstrate content knowledge as they progress through upper elementary and middle school.

The Southwest English Learner Literacy (SWELL) partnership through the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southwest aims to support educators across New Mexico in meeting their needs for more effective literacy instruction that will lead to improved English proficiency among EL students and improved writing skills for all students. Through the SWELL partnership, REL Southwest will implement, refine, and build evidence of efficacy for the Write to Succeed professional learning program starting in fall 2023. The core focus of the program is a set of evidence-based literacy practices that help students develop writing skills and that help EL students develop oral and written language skills. These practices are designed to be integrated into any curriculum for grades 4–8, in any content area. The evidence-based literacy practices are further enhanced by two complementary supports for teachers to (a) enact culturally and linguistically responsive practices that address the needs of EL students, and (b) collaborate and enhance their instruction together with their teacher colleagues.

Dr. Brenda Arellano from REL Southwest and Renee Byrum and Erin Lucero from Rio Rancho Public Schools reviewed these practices and preliminary findings from the research being conducted during the 2023/24 school year. Attendees were provided with resources to enhance their own curricula with the program’s evidence-based literacy practices.