How well prepared are teachers of ELL?
The responsibility for educating ELLs does not lie solely with those teachers who have ESL or bilingual education licenses, but with all teachers who have or may have ELLs in their classrooms. Providing quality instruction requires having teachers who are skilled in a variety of curricular and instructional strategies that make instruction comprehensible, and ultimately make the curriculum accessible and meaningful to ELLs. Many teachers do not have the preparation to provide the variety of curricular and instructional strategies that are needed to teach content to ELLs in a language in which they are not yet proficient. Teacher preparation and qualifications generally adhere to a state’s requirements for licensure or certification. Licensing requirements vary from state to state, and certification programs generally cover the foundations of education, methods, and field experiences. A majority of teachers have at least one English language learner in their classroom, yet only 29.5 per
