The Academic Language for All (ALD4ALL) project is directed by the Bilingual Multicultural Education Bureau (BMEB) of the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED). The purpose of the project, as stated in the original design documents is…
To provide statewide teacher training and build capacity of administrator leadership to address the needs and academic language development of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students, including English Learners (ELs) in New Mexico.
The project launched in early Fall 2013 with a meeting of seven New Mexico researchers, academics, and professional staff. Together, they formed an inquiry team to carry out the designated tasks for year one.
The project is designed around five phased objectives to be accomplished over a three-year period.
- Identification. By the end of year one, identify effective schools and programs serving culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students, including English Learners (ELs) in New Mexico.
- Inquiry Process. By the end of year one, use qualitative methods to assess previously identified schools and programs for deriving effective practices for serving CLD/EL students.
- Professional Development. By the end of year two, the project will develop and pilot related professional development/training for participating sites. By the end of year three, this training will be made accessible statewide
- Adopting Standards. By the end of year one, the project will adopt home/heritage language arts and development standards. By the end of year two, the project will disseminate these standards to the foundation's priority regions. By the end of year three, the project will provide statewide professional development for resetting these standards.
- Bilingual/Biliteracy Seal. By the end of year three (June 2016), the project will establish the state criteria for establishing how students achieve and are awarded the seal for recognition on their high school diplomas.