The Collaborative Teaching of English Language Learners (CTELL) is a five-year Title III Professional Development project funded by the US Department of Education to establish a partnership between the University of Houston-Clear Lake and five area school districts. According to AEIS data obtained from the Texas Education Agency, more than 117,000 students are enrolled in CTELL partner districts. Approximately 18,000 of these students are identified as English language learners (ELLs). The number of secondary students in partner districts totals more than 57,000 with about 4,000 of all secondary students in collaborating districts classified as English language learners. CTELL will emphasize professional development for secondary teachers and UCHL faculty involved in teacher preparation programs. CTELL partner districts include:

• Alvin ISD
• Clear Creek ISD
• Deer Park ISD
• Pasadena ISD
• Texas City ISD

A major goal of CTELL is to provide high-quality professional development for secondary teachers from partner districts to help these teachers improve academic achievement and literacy and language development of LEP students.

To achieve this goal, the University of Houston-Clear Lake will provide 6 hours of coursework for 4 cohorts of secondary teachers from partner school districts.  The coursework will address the issues related to working successfully with ELLs in content area courses.

A major goal of CTELL is to improve the UHCL teacher preparation program by providing professional development to UHCL faculty that will enable them to better prepare teachers to provide effective instruction to English language learners.

To accomplish this goal, two groups of UHCL faculty members (30 in each group) will be recruited to participate in professional development activities at UHCL and field experiences in partner districts. By the end of the grant period, a total of 60 faculty members will have been involved in CTELL professional development.

Another CTELL goal is to implement a dynamic assessment component that will provide continuous feedback to university staff and partner districts during the project’s implementation.

In addition to data collected from teachers and UHCL faculty participating in CTELL professional development, achievement data for students enrolled in CTELL partner districts will be collected from available sources to monitor trends in student achievement over the course of the project. Input from CTELL partner districts will be sought in the development of the CTELL Evaluation Plan.