Coursework

The three courses of Tier 3 are delivered in a hybrid format: Face-to-face sessions are held on the high school campuses while complemented by online components that adhere to the Quality Matters criteria, which are an internationally recognized set of standards for high quality online education and student learning.

These specially-designed courses are delivered sequentially in the Fall, Spring and Summer starting in 2017 for Denton High School educators, and in 2018 for Braswell High School educators:

• READ 5903: Second Language and Biliteracy Development. Educator leaders learn relevant second language acquisition and bilingual theories, and understand how these theories apply to their own practice. The course covers basics of how students learn in their second language, including how the first language can be leveraged and further developed for academic success.

• READ 5903: Teaching Second Language Literacy across Content Areas. This course covers literacy (i.e., reading, writing, listening, and speaking) in the various content areas. Its goal is to enable all educators to provide ELLs the literacy instruction needed throughout the entire school day to meet the high language demands of rigorous high school coursework and assessments. The course will also cover using children’s and adolescent literature to teach secondary content.

• READ 5903: Engaging ELLs through Curricular Cultural Connections. Educator leaders learn about the funds of knowledge approach to discover curriculum connections to their ELLs’ communities, families, and cultures. This course also focuses on preparing educators to develop meaningful relationships with their students’ families built on mutual trust and respect as they learn about the families’ current literacy practices in order to build on those in the academic environment.