1. ESL Standards for Pre-K–12 Students: Before and After
Emily L. Gómez, Center for Applied Linguistics
This article is based on a chapter in the forthcoming book Implementing the ESL
Standards for Pre-K–12 Students Through Teacher Education, to be published
by Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
Release of TESOL's ESL Standards for Pre-K–12 Students was the result of a
convergence of events in the education reform movement in the United States
and the work of a great many people in the field of English as a second language
(ESL) education and in other discipline areas. The standards have resulted in
improvements in professional development, curricula, and program design.
Resulting publications and other resources have also given teachers,
administrators, and policymakers new tools to work with as they seek to provide
a quality education for all children.
BACKGROUND
Events leading up to the publication of ESL Standards for Pre-K–12 Students
were triggered in part by the 1983 release of A Nation at Risk. Subsequently, The
National Education Goals Report: Building a Nation of Learners was published;
the Goals 2000: Educate America Act was adopted; and standards for content
areas such as mathematics and foreign languages were released. These
developments created, defined, and refined the notion of what standards-based
education reform looks like, and how it can be achieved.
Throughout the process, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
(TESOL), with assistance from the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), has
taken a leading role in ensuring that the needs of English language learners are
included in the national discussion.
In early 1991, the TESOL organization began to study the education reform
movement, beginning at a meeting of regional experts in K–12 ESL education
(policy makers, teacher educators, administrators, classroom teachers), who
discussed strategies for TESOL's involvement in advocating for language
minority students. A task force was formed, a subset of which met at the 1992
conference of the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) in
Albuquerque. The full task force then met with ESL representatives from state
education agencies at the 1992 TESOL Convention in Vancouver. An important
product of the task force meetings was the 1993 brochure, The TESOL
Standards: Ensuring Access to Quality Educational Experiences for Language
Minority Students--also known as the Access Brochure--which described the
framework of services for the delivery of education to language minority students.
This brochure became the first of several advocacy tools that could be used to
encourage inclusion of English language learners in the educational reform

2. movement.
By 1994, TESOL had formed a second task force to monitor national standards
development. Members of this task force recognized that the various
organizations writing standards for content areas such as science, history,
English language arts, civics, and geography were not taking the needs of
English language learners into account. In fact, only two of the national content
standards (English language arts and foreign languages) specifically included
reference to ESL students or culturally diverse students. Even the objectives and
data-gathering criteria established by the National Education Goals Panel,
charged with monitoring national progress toward meeting the national goals, did
not identify limited English proficient as a category needing special examination.
Meanwhile, demographic changes in U.S. schools were requiring that more, not
less, attention be paid to the historically marginalized population of English
language learners. It was becoming clearer to the task force that content
standards addressing the academic needs of ESL students should be developed.
In 1994, this second task force began to develop the conceptual framework for
content ESL standards. The framework described why ESL standards were
needed, discussed myths about second language learning that TESOL wanted to
dispel, outlined general principles of second language acquisition, and articulated
TESOL's vision of effective education for English language learners. This
document also described nine ESL standards and organized them around three
goals. This conceptual framework, later named Promising Futures, was shared
with TESOL members in 1995 and then published the following year.
At the 1995 TESOL convention, the TESOL Board of Directors approved
conversion of the task force into a full project, The ESL Standards Project.
Following the convention, the project team created guidelines for writing
standards and organized the document into grade-level clusters: pre-K-3, 4-8,
and 9-12. Within the grade-level clusters, each standard under the identified goal
was to be illustrated by descriptors, sample progress indicators, a vignette, and
discussion. These terms are defined below.
Goals are defined as overarching intentions for English language use; they are
tied to social and academic language and appropriate use.
Standards are what students should know and be able to do as a result of
instruction.
Descriptors are broad categories of behaviors that students can demonstrate
when they have met a standard.
Progress Indicators are assessable, observable activities that students may
perform to show progress toward meeting the standard; they are organized by
grade-level clusters.

3. Vignettes are brief instructional sequences that show the standards in action,
organized by grade-level clusters.
Discussions are brief explanations of teacher and student actions in each of the
vignettes, linking vignettes to standards and progress indicators.
TESOL and NABE affiliate and state representatives were enlisted to form teams
of experts to write the standards. These teams were asked to generate
descriptors and sample progress indicators for their assigned standard and
grade-level cluster. In the vignettes, they were to describe activities that they had
undertaken successfully with their students that addressed their specific goal and
standard. They were also asked to describe the school setting (i.e., urban,
suburban, or rural), the students' ethnicity and English proficiency levels, and the
type of classroom in which the instruction took place (e.g., self-contained ESL
classroom, content classroom, sheltered, or content classroom).
The ESL standards core team benefited greatly from the development
experiences of other content-area standards-writing teams, especially the team
for foreign languages. TESOL's team used the foreign language standards as a
model, in particular, the concepts of progress indicators based on proficiency
levels and classroom learning scenarios that exemplify the standards in action.
The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International
Reading Association's (IRA) English language arts standards also used
classroom vignettes. Their standards document was the only one in a content
area that included ESL and bilingual students in the vignettes.
PUBLICATION OF THE ESL STANDARDS
Throughout the fall of 1995 and into the early part of 1996, the core team revised
the writing teams' submissions and created additional vignettes and discussions.
By March 1996, a draft of the ESL Standards for Pre-K–12 Students was ready to
be distributed. The team shared the document with the TESOL membership at
the annual convention in Chicago. Based on the reviews received from TESOL
members as well as from invited reviewers and policy makers, the document was
reorganized and additional pieces added over the course of the next year. The
final standards document was published in 1997. The goals and standards
appear below.
Goals for ESOL Learners
TESOL has established three broad goals for English language learners at all
age levels, goals that include personal, social, and academic uses of English.
Each goal is associated with three distinct standards. In TESOL's vision, students
will meet these standards as a result of the instruction they receive.
Goal 1: To use English to communicate in social settings

4. Students will:
1. use English to participate in social interaction
2. interact in, through, and with spoken and written English for personal
expression and enjoyment
3. use learning strategies to extend their communicative competence
Goal 2: To use English to achieve academically in all content areas
Standards for Goal 2
Students will:
1. use English to interact in the classroom
2. use English to obtain, process, construct, and provide subject matter
information in spoken and written form
3. use appropriate learning strategies to construct and apply academic
knowledge
Goal 3: To use English in socially and culturally appropriate ways
Standards for Goal 3
Students will:
1. use the appropriate language variety, register, and genre according to
audience, purpose, and setting
2. use nonverbal communication appropriate to audience, purpose, and
setting
3. use appropriate learning strategies to extend their sociolinguistic and
sociocultural competence
In 1996, the "ESL Standards Project" grew into the "ESL Standards and
Assessment Project." An assessment team was formed to develop a framework
for assessing English language learners' attainment of the standards. As a result,
Managing the Assessment Process: A Framework for Measuring Attainment of
the ESL Standards was published in 1998. The framework is essentially a
position paper describing what good assessment should look like. A second
assessment book, Scenarios for ESL Standards-Based Assessment, will be
published later this year.
REACTION
The publication of ESL Standards for Pre-K–12 Students was a milestone in the
history of the ESL profession. Finally, here was a document--published by a
national professional organization for teachers of English--that defined what
effective education for English language learners looked like. By reading the
vignettes and seeing themselves mirrored in the pages of the ESL standards,

5. many teachers felt validated that they were on the right track. Teachers saw that,
regardless of the program label under which they taught, many of the strategies
and techniques they were using were appropriate for teaching ESL and the skills
necessary to achieve in content classes.
Once teachers and administrators read through the ESL standards, they also
saw that they could do more for their students. By using this document and
others discussed above as advocacy tools, they could move their school, district,
or state to provide more comprehensive services for English language learners.
Educators saw that much could be done to align their programs with the ESL
standards in terms of curriculum and assessment revision and professional
development. They realized that the standards document and its companion
pieces, Managing the Assessment Process: A Framework for Measuring
Attainment of the ESL Standards; Training Others to Use the ESL Standards: A
Professional Development Manual; and Implementing the ESL Standards for Pre-
K–12 Students Through Teacher Education could provide them with some of the
missing pieces in developing their programs.
Policy makers and administrators at the state and district level began to realize
that they needed to revise their ESL curricula and assessment systems to align
them with the ESL standards. TESOL responded by providing many training
opportunities for educators to learn about the standards and their applications.
State and district ESL/bilingual or professional development offices have also
sponsored workshops for their personnel to aid them in developing an
understanding of the standards. Many states and districts have also
spearheaded efforts to revise or develop standards-based curricula and
assessment systems. Through standards-based curriculum and assessment
program revisions, hundreds, if not thousands, of teachers and administrators
have reflected on the quality of their programs and have been encouraged to
take advantage of professional development opportunities.
As reaction to the ESL standards developed, TESOL saw the need to work with
select implementation sites to monitor the process and to facilitate standards-
based reform. For example, the ESL standards team has monitored the process
through which a standards-based ESOL curriculum is being developed and
implemented across the K–12 spectrum in Montgomery County, Maryland. The
team also joined with the Massachusetts TESOL affiliate, MATSOL, to provide
professional development to five districts in Massachusetts with low numbers of
English language learners.
Once the standards document was published, the TESOL Board of Directors
recognized the need for continued support of the ESL standards and assessment
project and began to plan for additional publications and other support services to

6. ensure that these standards would be implemented in as many districts and
states as possible.
The training and implementation publications mentioned above have resulted
from this planning, as have additional services, including workshops and an ESL
standards implementation listserv. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to
request-eslstds@caltalk.cal.org. In the subject line, type "subscribe." Leave the
rest of the e-mail message blank.
The ESL standards implementation database is also available. This database is
a compilation of responses from school, district, and state personnel regarding
the status of their ESL standards-based reform efforts.
The full impact of the release of the ESL Standards for Pre-K--12 Students will
not be known for some time, but the standards have clearly made a strong initial
impression on educators who work with ESL and bilingual students. The
document has put the educational spotlight on students learning English and
addresses how educators can help these students move successfully from the
ESL or bilingual classroom to the mainstream classroom. Once these standards
are achieved, a student should be ready to meet the other content-area
standards. The ESL standards can thus be seen as an on-ramp to success,
providing the framework for schools, districts, and states to evaluate their
programs and improve the education of English language learners.
REFERENCES AND RESOURCES
Publications with an "ED" number have been included in the ERIC database and
can be ordered from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS) at
http://edrs.com or by calling 1-800-443-ERIC (3742).
Goals panel expresses concern for status of U.S. education. (1993). Washington,
DC: Numbers and Needs, 3(2), p. 2.
National Commission on Excellence in Education. (1983). A nation at risk: The
imperative for educational reform. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
(ED 226 006).
National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading
Association. (1996). Standards for the English language arts. Urbana, IL: Author.
(ED 389 003).
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (1989). Curriculum and evaluation
standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: Author.
National Education Goals Panel. (1991). The national education goals report:
Building a nation of learners. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. (ED
334 280).
National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project. (1996). Standards for

7. foreign language learning: Preparing for the 21st century. Lawrence, KS: Allen
Press.
Short, D.J., Gomez, E.L, Cloud, N., Katz, A., Gottlieb, M., & Malone, M. (2000).
Training others to use the ESL standards: A professional development manual.
Alexandria, VA: TESOL.
Snow, M.A. (Ed.). (2000). Implementing the ESL standards for pre-K–12 students
through teacher education. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1996). Promising futures.
Alexandria, VA: Author.
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1997). ESL standards for
pre-K--12 students. Alexandria, VA: Author.
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1998a). ESL standards
training manual. Alexandria, VA: Author.
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1998b). Managing the
assessment process: A framework for measuring attainment of the ESL
standards. Alexandria, VA: Author.
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (2000). Scenarios for ESL
standards-based assessment. Alexandria, VA: Author. Draft available:
http://www.cal.org/eslstandards/scenarios.pdf.
For more information about the ESL standards and related publications, visit
TESOL's Web site at http://www.tesol.org/assoc/k12standards/index.html.
Also visit CAL's Web site at http://www.cal.org/eslstandards/.