Collaboration Guidelines

1. RESEARCH ON LANGUAGE LEARNING:  The predominant theory of language learning for school-aged children is that students acquire second languages through participation in meaningful activities, not through targeted instruction in English as a distinct subject area (Collier & Thomas, 2002; Krashen, 2003).  Accordingly, students in St. Paul elementary schools must be learning English through participation in academic instruction and activities in school along with their native English-speaking peers.  Collaboration between teachers is necessary to make curricula accessible and comprehensible for English language learners so that they can progress academically as they acquire English proficiency.
2. RESEARCH ON ESL PROGRAM MODELS:  Research suggests that, for English language learners in English-only programs (i.e., where English is the sole target language and the sole language of instruction), the most successful program models are those in which students learn English with their native English-speaking peers rather than in isolated or alternative classroom settings (Collier & Thomas, 1999).
3. RESEARCH ON PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES:  Researchers have found that there is a positive relationship between a sense of professional community among teachers and the academic achievement of students (Hord, 1997; Kruse, Louis & Bryk, 1995).  In addition, collaborative professional development activities that are focused specifically on teachers’ daily work and on students—such as the planning and conversation that happens among co-teachers—are related to higher quality instruction and higher student achievement.  
4. CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS:  In the past ten years, the proportion of students in St. Paul elementary schools that are English language learners has grown such that it is no longer practical to provide supplemental English language instruction in a pullout instructional model.  
5. SERVING NEWCOMER STUDENTS:  The ELL department, with strong support from the district, has gone to great lengths to develop the Language Academy program, in which beginning English learners are placed in mainstream classrooms instead of in alternative newcomer settings.  Beginning English learners can participate successfully in mainstream classroom activities, but collaboration among teachers is necessary to ensure that instruction is sufficiently differentiated and is accessible to all students at their level.
6. “SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT”:  Federal and state funding is allocated to Saint Paul Public Schools to support the instruction of English language learners, and it is made clear in law that this funding is provided to supplement the mainstream, “general” instruction provided to all students (No Child Left Behind/ESEA Act of 2001 Assurances).  The Saint Paul ELL Department and its programs and resources must aim to enable students to participate in mainstream instruction and not to replace or supplant any part of the academic program of any student.  
7. SPECIAL EDUCATION:  The field of special education has provided decades of research and practical experience supporting the notion that students in diverse instructional classrooms, in which teachers collaborate to provide instruction, have more academic success than students taught in isolated situations (Friend & Cook, 2003).