English Language Proficiency Development (ELPD) Framework

Many states have begun the process of developing or adapting English Language Profi ciency
(ELP) standards to align with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the forthcoming Next
Generation Science Standards (NGSS). This need stems not only from a desire to ensure that all
students receive the rigorous and systematic education they need to graduate from high school as
college and career ready, but also because states must have ELP standards aligned to college and
career readiness standards as a requirement to receive an Elementary and Secondary Education Act
(ESEA) waiver. The Council of Chief State School Offi cers (CCSSO) has coordinated the development of
a framework to assist states with this work. The goal of the English Language Profi ciency Development
(ELPD) Framework, hereafter referred to as the “Framework,” is to provide guidance to states on how to
use the expectations of the CCSS and NGSS as tools for the creation and evaluation of ELP standards.
The CCSS as well as the NGSS spell out the sophisticated language competencies that students will
need to perform across their respective academic subject areas. These include close reading and
constructing effective arguments to support their conclusions, identifying a speaker’s key points and
elaborating on these ideas in group settings, and tasks such as constructing and testing models and
predictions as well as strategically choosing and effi ciently implementing procedures to solve problems.
But they also implicitly demand students acquire ever-increasing command of language in order to
acquire and perform the knowledge and skills articulated in the standards.
English language learners (ELLs) thus face a double challenge: they must simultaneously learn how
to acquire enough of a second language to participate in an academic setting while gaining an
understanding of the knowledge and skills in multiple disciplines through that second language. As
a result, state ELP standards corresponding to the CCSS and NGSS must be examined closely to
determine what supports need to be put in place to provide ELLs with the help they need to access
grade-level content while building their language profi ciency. To that end, the Framework outlines
the underlying English language practices found in the CCSS and the NGSS, communicates to ELL
stakeholders the language that all ELLs must acquire in order to successfully engage the CCSS and
NGSS, and specifi es a procedure by which to evaluate the degree of alignment present between the
Framework and ELP standards under consideration or adopted by states.


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