About the English Learner Program

In our vision for education in California, English Learners (ELs) have equitable access to academic, language, and social and emotional learning opportunities to realize their full potential, in and out of the classroom. Networks of advocates, funders, and allies authentically engage ELs and their families to provide meaningful support and champion their needs. Educators continuously improve their pedagogy and build the sector’s knowledge about what is most effective for ELs. State and local education policies prioritize ELs and promote bilingualism for all students. Education systems are accountable to communities for providing an asset-based, quality education for all students.

Our approach builds upon our investment in the Sobrato Early Academic Learning (SEAL) model since 2007 that provides a research-based foundation for ELs. Given the success of SEAL and its expansion statewide, we developed a complementary effort to support systemic change through advocacy across the state. California has made significant changes in state policy that open a window to achieve greater equity for ELs in our education systems, such as the adoption of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) in 2013, the English Language Arts/English Language Development (ELA/ELD) Framework in 2014, Proposition 58 in 2016, and the EL Roadmap in 2017.

The work ahead will build on these efforts and advance statewide systemic change to improve outcomes for ELs.