YOU'RE SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE: As the number of English Language Learners in the United States grows (currently at nearly 5 million), the need for ELL tools grows along with it. But do teachers and students have the tools needed for the job? A new GettingSmart report "Supporting English Language Learners with Next-Gen Tools" gauges the quality of ELL instructional materials, highlighting 15 edtech tools reaching this unique group (including ELLevation and ELLoquence), but still finding some pretty big gaps along the way. Namely, the report calls for tools, as well as school implementation and culture practices, that target data to better information instruction of ELL students, tools that adapt and automate writing feedback, and professional development that prepares teachers for ELL-heavy classrooms.
