News Brief
Translating the Common Core for Dual-Language Classrooms
Education Week (10/23/12) Maxwell, Lesli A.Implementing the new common standards into classrooms requires dual-language educators to adjust their instructional strategies to teach the more rigorous common standards in language arts and mathematics in a second language in addition to English. Examples of such initiatives is an effort targeting Spanish/English dual programs in Washington, D.C., public schools and researchers at George Washington University's Center for Equity and Excellence in Education. The writers characterize the project as being "carefully and closely aligned to the Common Core State Standards while still taking into account the linguistic differences between the Spanish and the English languages, the methodological differences in Spanish- and English-literacy instruction, and traditional Spanish literacy-learning expectations." Another effort is the Common Core en Espanol Project, under the guidance of the San Diego County Office of Education in collaboration with the California Department of Education and the Council of the Chief State School Officers. Translating the core standards into Spanish is the task assumed by this group of district-level educators and language scholars, who also aim to supply "linguistic augmentation" to address disparities between English and Spanish. The main contributors' final translations will soon be published on the California education agency's common core Website. Meanwhile, New York state's education department has been creating Bilingual Common Core Standards designed to bring the state's standards for English-as-a-second-language and native-language arts into alignment with the common core in English/language arts.
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