Supporting English Learners in STEM Subjects

到目前为止，由于几个关键因素的影响，所有学生，包括英语学习者(ELL)，都能达到较高的学术标准的期望变得更加明显和复杂。首先，随着学龄人口在种族、民族和语言上的多样性不断增加，现在全国几乎每一所学校都可以找到ELL。其次，科学和数学教育的格局因这些领域的新愿景以及新的学术标准对所有学生提出的挑战而发生了显著变化。第三，将语言艺术的新知识和观点与科学和数学学习、教学和评估的知识结合起来，已成为解决Ells从K-12年级开始的科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)教育现状的潜在战略的关键组成部分。今天的主要挑战包括使教育工作者能够更好地支持这一学生群体，以及增加专注于如何最好地支持ELLS在这些科目上取得成功的研究活动的数量和质量。为了应对这一挑战，美国国家科学院科学教育委员会(BOSE)将进行一项共识研究，重点是确定教师的教学实践和专业发展方法，以及支持ELLS在科学和数学教育方面取得成就所需的政策。这项研究将综合各种与改善Ells的STEM学习有关的研究文献，并全面了解如何在新的和更具挑战性的科学和数学标准的背景下，最好地同时支持英语语言发展和深度学习。这项研究还将为今后的研究提供一个框架，有助于确定与该领域最相关和最紧迫的问题，并增加拟议的以科技、经济、经济和文化活动为重点的研究活动的数量和质量。为了进行共识研究，Bose将召集一个由多学科专家组成的委员会，他们将综合相关主题最相关的研究。该委员会将包括科学和数学教育、课程开发、学习和教学、语言学和评估领域的专业人员，以解决一系列关键的研究问题：(1)基于研究和实地测试的模型、策略和方法，哪些方法有希望支持英语学习STEM？鉴于Ells种群内的多样性，什么起了作用，为谁工作，在什么条件下？从这些模型中可以学到什么，还需要哪些额外的研究来了解是什么使它们有效？哪些常用的方法可能不那么有效？(2)教师在支持英语学习在STEM中的成功方面扮演了什么角色？关于教师使用ELL可能给他们的课堂带来的偏见，以及如何有效地解决这些偏见，我们知道什么？STEM教师需要什么样的课程、专业发展经验和评估才能改善他们对STEM中的ELL的支持？(3)STEM中的评估(形成性和终结性)如何设计成反映新的内容标准并适合ELLS？可能需要考虑哪些评估措施？(4)国家、州和地方各级的政策和做法如何限制或促进更好地支持STEM中的ELL的努力(包括与识别学生有关的政策)？需要在政策和实践上做出什么样的改变？以及(5)目前研究基础的差距是什么，短期和长期研究的重点方向是什么？该委员会将在30个月的时间内综合相关研究文献，并准备一份最终的共识报告，包括结果、结论和建议。这项研究将解决一个具有国家重要性的问题，并将为未来关于与STEM教育中的ELLS、多样性和公平性直接相关的挑战的研究提供信息。这一问题与探索研究K-12和学生和教师创新技术体验等项目尤其相关，前者支持反映日益多样化的人口需求的努力，后者支持从目前STEM职业、职业和教育途径中代表性不足的已确定群体中招募和挑选参与者的战略。该报告将针对广泛的利益相关者，包括教师、学区管理人员、研究人员、国会工作人员和资助教育研究并制定与ELLS相关政策的联邦机构。

The expectation that all students, including English language learners (ELLs), achieve high academic standards has become even more evident and complex to date as a result of several key factors. First, as the school-aged population continues to grow more racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse, ELLs can now be found in virtually every school in the nation. Second, the science and mathematics education landscape has changed significantly resulting from the new visions in these fields, and the challenges posed by the new academic standards for all students. Third, the need to integrate new knowledge and perspectives from the language arts with knowledge from science and mathematics learning, instruction, and assessment has surfaced as a critical component of the potential strategies to be employed in addressing ELLs' current science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education situation from pre-K-12 grades. The key challenges today include both enabling educators to better support this student subpopulation, as well as increasing the number and quality of research activities focused on how best to support ELLs' success in these subjects. In response to this challenge, the Board on Science Education (BOSE) of the National Academies of Sciences will conduct a consensus study focused on identifying instructional practices and professional development approaches for teachers, as well as the policies that are needed to support ELLs' accomplishments in science and mathematics education. The study will synthesize a wide range of research literatures relevant to improving ELLs' STEM learning, and provide a comprehensive understanding of how best to simultaneously support English language development and deep learning in the context of new and more challenging standards in science and mathematics. The study will also provide a framework for future research that can help to identify the most relevant and pressing questions for the field, as well as increase the number and quality of proposed research activities focused on ELLs in STEM. To conduct the consensus study, BOSE will convene a multidisciplinary committee of experts who will synthesize the most relevant research on related subjects. The committee will include professionals in the fields of science and mathematics education, curriculum development, learning and instruction, linguistics, and assessment to address key sets of research questions: (1) Based on research-informed and field-tested models, strategies, and approaches, what are promising approaches to support ELLs (including ELLs with disabilities) in learning STEM? Given the diversity within the ELLs' population, what has worked, for whom, and under what conditions? What can be learned from these models and what additional research is needed to understand what makes them effective? What commonly used approaches may be less effective?; (2) What is the role of teachers in supporting the success of ELLs in STEM? What is known about the biases teachers may bring to their classrooms with ELLs and how these can be effectively addressed? What kinds of curriculum, professional development experiences, and assessment are needed in order for STEM teachers to improve their support for ELLs in STEM?; (3) How can assessments in STEM (both formative and summative) be designed to reflect the new content standards and to be appropriate for ELLs? What assessment accommodations might need to be considered?; (4) How do policies and practices at the national, state, and local level constrain or facilitate efforts to better support ELLs in STEM (including policies related to identification of students)? What kinds of changes in policy and practice are needed?; and (5) What are the gaps in the current research base and what are the key directions for research, both short-term and long-term? The committee will work over a 30-month period to synthesize relevant research literature and prepare a final consensus report, including results, conclusions, and recommendations. The study will address an issue of national importance and will inform future research on challenges directly related to ELLs, diversity, and equity in STEM education. This issue is particularly relevant to programs such as Discovery Research K-12 that supports efforts that reflect the needs of the increasingly diverse population, and Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers, which supports strategies for recruiting and selecting participants from identified groups currently underrepresented in STEM professions, careers, and education pathways. The report will target a broad audience of stakeholders, including teachers, school district administrators, researchers, congressional staff, and federal agencies that fund educational research and set policies related to ELLs.