Promising Practices - Pre-K to Five

The elementary school years are a critical time for beginning to acquire content area knowledge and skills that provide the foundation for more advanced learning in academic disciplines required in middle and high schools. The evidence is now clear that becoming proficient in English and able to perform at grade level in core academic subjects in English takes time and occurs over several grades. This is also a critical time to sustain the natural curiosity and eagerness to learn that young children bring to the early grades.

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For English learners, these grades also represent a time of adapting, many for the first time, to new cultural demands of their schools. English learners will be learning the skills and content knowledge expected of all students, but in many cases, they will be doing so in a new language and also in ways that differ from those in their homes and cultures.