Limited English proficiency (LEP) students are
a rapidly expanding population in Georgia and thus pose a special challenge
for the schools, whose teachers are not required to have formal preparation
to teach culturally and linguistically diverse students. Particularly
in academically demanding content areas, these students have roughly
half the pass rate of non-LEP students. The Academic Language and Literacy
Training (ALLT) Project was designed to improve and extend the specialized
training of Georgia teachers responsible for instructing LEP students
in mathematics and science. Ultimately, ALLT was intended to prepare
teachers to offer high-quality instruction to LEP students. ALLT offered
training to K-12 teachers in five Georgia counties (Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb,
Fulton, and Gwinnett) through a 50-hour staff development course. During
the three years of the project, significant progress was made to fulfill
each of these objectives. Teachers who participated in the project reported
ways in which they had applied recommended strategies and materials
in their classrooms.
