It is based on current research in first and second language acquisition. Our hope is that readers will use this checklist as they plan curriculum. If teachers can answer yes to the eight questions in the Checklist for Effective Practice below, they are probably taking into consideration key factors that will improve the chance of school success for all their students. These three areas are interrelated. Cognitive development results from solving problems in or out of school.
Academic development involves problem solving in school-related areas.
Students need enough language proficiency and the appropriate skills to engage in these problem-solving activities and achieve academically. When teachers organize curriculum around significant questions, they involve students in solving meaningful problems. As students explore these relevant questions, they develop higher levels of cognitive, academic, and language proficiency. As students explore important questions, they naturally turn to fiction and nonfiction texts as sources for information. For language learners, predictable whole stories, novels, plays, and poems as well as complete pieces of nonfiction are more comprehensible than simplified texts or excerpts because the context is richer.