The purpose of this study is to present a conceptual framework that integrates science and language learning for all students, including English learners (ELs). This framework is grounded in the mutually supportive nature of science instructional shifts, spurred by A Framework for K-12 Science Education (National Research Council, 2012. A framework for K-12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas) and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and language instructional shifts, informed by contemporary thinking in second language acquisition. First, we describe the conceptual framework that consists of our perspective and design principles. Then, we describe one approach for using the conceptual framework to develop NGSS-aligned instructional materials that promote science and language learning with elementary students, including ELs.Finally, we offer implications for future research for our own design research specifically and for the field more broadly. The conceptual framework highlights how substantive collaboration between content areas, such as science, and the field of EL education can help ensure that all students, and ELs in particular, are supported in meeting rigorous content standards while developing proficiency in English.

The authors evaluated the effects of P-SELL, a science curricular and professional development intervention for fifth-grade students with a focus on English language learners (ELLs). Using a randomized controlled trial design with 33 treatment and 33 control schools across three school districts in one state, we found significant and meaningfully sized intervention effects on a researcher-developed science assessment and the state science assessment. Subgroup analyses revealed that the P-SELL intervention had a positive and significant effect for each language proficiency group (ELLs, recently reclassified ELLs, former ELLs, and non-ELLs) on the researcherdeveloped assessment. The intervention also had a positive effect for former ELLs and non-ELLs on the state science assessment, but for ELLs and recently reclassified ELLs, the effect was not statistically significant.

The use of standards-based classroom assessments to test English learners' language proficiency is increasingly prevalent in the United States and many other countries. In a large urban school district in California, for example, a classroom assessment is used to make high-stakes decisions about English learners' progress from one level to the next, and as one of the criteria for reclassifying students as Fluent English Proficient. Yet many researchers have questioned the validity of using classroom assessments for making high-stakes decisions about students (Brindley, 1998; 2001; Rea-Dickins and Gardner, 2000). One way to investigate the validity of the inferences drawn from these assessments is to examine them in relation to other measures of the same ability. In this study, a multivariate analytic approach was used to examine the extent to which the English Language Development (ELD) Classroom Assessment measures the same constructs as the CELDT (California English Language Development Test), the statewide standardized test of English proficiency. Using confirmatory factor analysis of multitrait-multimethod data, this study investigates the construct validity of these measures by focusing on evidence of convergence, discrimination, and method effects longitudinally over three years. The study concludes that the evidence gathered via the ELD Classroom Assessment is consistent with that provided by the CELDT, the standardized measure.

No abstract

The adoption of A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) across the U.S. requires that the field of science education develops high-quality instructional materials. This need is particularly urgent as schools and districts are expected to design or adapt instructional materials for an increasingly diverse student population. In this article, we present our conceptual approach for developing yearlong fifth-grade NGSS-aligned instructional materials with a focus on English learners. First, we describe the conceptual framework focused on equity that guided our development work. Second, we describe our design-based research with teachers and our instructional materials development process that leveraged the synergy of the NGSS performance expectations (PEs), phenomena, and students. Specifically, we address equity in our materials in two ways: (a) selection of local phenomena rooted in students' homes and communities and (b) attention to language use in terms of modalities, registers, and interactions. Third, we illustrate our development process using an exemplar unit from our curriculum. Finally, we discuss implications for instructional materials development, including how we productively resolved tensions in developing our materials and how we both benefited from teachers' participation in the development process and promoted their professional learning.