DDOE Blog Series

Learner-Led Talk

Who's Doing The Talking?

If you listened to classrooms in your district over the course of a week, what would you discover? How much time would be dedicated to teacher talk and how much time for learner-led talk? We know that teachers should generally limit their speaking to 20% to 30% of the class time, with the remainder around 80% dedicated to learners doing the talking. Yet evidence from several studies indicate teachers dominate nearly 88% of classroom talk time. Read more

Theory into Practice

Mind the Gap: Actions for Theory into Practice

How many times have we, as educators, been confronted with critical decisions about our learners without really being sure what to do? All too often we improvise. In the day-to-day rush of school sites, theory can seem disconnected. Yet consciously, or not, we all make use of learning theories when we make choices for our learners. Putting theory into practice isn’t always easy – but turning to quick fixes has serious consequences-especially for Multilingual learners (MLLs). Understanding how theory informs practice will help bridge the gap between knowing theory and practicing it. Read more


OLEA Profile of English Learners in the US

The number of ELs enrolled in K–12 grew by more than 1,000,000 from SY 2000–01 to SY 2017–18. Delaware had the highest increase in EL student population as a

percentage of total enrollment where the number of ELs grew by over 10,000 students, or by 7.3%. Read more here.