Gaining Ground: Supporting English Learners Through After School Literacy Programming

Article

This insight brief provides lessons learned from the eight year Irvine Company Sponsored after school initiative entitled COMMUNITIES ORGANIZING RESOURCES TO ADVANCE LEARNING (CORAL). Released in February 2008, this insight brief outlines some of the key findings from the CORAL initiative including;

  1. The children who partici pated in CORAL fit the profile of students that the ASES/Proposition 49 funding was designed to support.
  2. The children participating in CORAL appeared to benefit from the program.
    Important ly, English learners made progress in equal measure to their English-proficient counterparts.
  3. To help participants feel supported and have a strong sense of belonging in the program, CORAL was intentionally structured to create strong relationships between instructors and children.
  4. Tea m leaders used instructional strategies that engaged English learners and helped them become full participants in the literacy activities

The report also outlines the implications of these findings for funders and policy makers, and connects to additional resources.