With an approximate ELL enrollment of 6.2% among grades K-12, North Carolina has 102,311 English Language Learners in the state public school system as of years 2012-2013. 83.6% of ELL students in North Carolina speak Spanish, with Arabic, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Hmong rounding out the five most common languages spoken throughout the state. North Carolina is among the member states that have adopted WIDA standards for the development of ELL’s
The following is a list of useful resources and programs for ELL students living in North Carolina.
State of North Carolina Informational Resources:
- North Carolina Department of Public Instruction:
- Public Schools of North Carolina ELL Support Page:
- WIDA English Language Development Standards:
- WIDA (World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment) is an organization comprised of a number of various states designed to establish and implement bilingual education policies, in addition to the regular monitoring of progress and development of ELL’s in the United States.
- Public Schools of North Carolina Testing Program:
Educational Programs and Learning Resources:
- North Carolina State Education Association – The North Carolina chapter for the National Education Association, the largest lobbying body in the United States advocating for the highest professional standards in teaching, increased resources for education, and protecting the rights of teachers in academic environments:
- Carolina TESOL – A non-profit organization dedicated to the mission of establishing the highest quality education for English Language Learners by maintaining a focused responsibility towards promoting cultural awareness in the North Carolina school system:
- The Latino Family Literacy Project – A program that empowers parents with the proper tools for reading with their children, teaches methods towards developing a routine for consistent parental engagement and promotes learning of the English vocabulary together as a family.
- Latino Family Literacy Project School and District Staff Development Workshops – Teaching workshops geared towards parents and teachers to promote the development of English literacy skills and vocabulary in Spanish-speaking children. These workshops also focus on providing instruction in helping school districts work with Spanish-speaking families to achieve the goal of positive parental academic engagement:
- Family Phonics Workbooks: An English vocabulary program for parents and children learning English, taught using a simple method to teach parents strong English vocabulary and proper pronunciation through the use of phonics:
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