This knowledge brief is part of a continuing series designed to inform California education leaders about new research findings on key state policy topics. It summarizes California information from a nationwide teacher survey on teachers’ beliefs about and practices with their instructional materials for English learner students.
By Elizabeth Burr, Ryan Lewis, and Eric W. Crane, WestEd
California public schools enroll some 1.2 million students who are classified as English learner (EL) students. This group accounts for a little more than 19 percent of the statewide student population (California Department of Education, 2019). Given the size of this population and given the state’s efforts over the last decade to recommend to districts materials lists for high-quality, standards-aligned materials for all students, education leaders need to understand teachers’ perceptions of the quality and suitability of materials available for use with EL students. This information can help inform the provision of differentiated supports that meet the needs of schools, teachers, and learners across the Golden State.
This brief summarizes data about California teachers’ views of and experience with school- and district-provided classroom materials in relation to their EL students.1 The data summarized herein were collected from teachers in spring 2019 through the American Instructional Resources Survey (AIRS), part of the RAND Corporation’s American Teacher Panel (ATP)
