Joint Endeavor to Educate and Advocate

Valuing first language as a resource is so important if we are to serve our diverse learners well. Research from more and more disciplines is supporting this premise including special education, counseling, literacy, and early childhood. And position statements have been written by many organizations such as the International Reading Association and the National Education Association supporting the importance of first language.


For this reason, it would behoove these organizations--both locally and nationally--to join forces to educate about and advocate for policies, programs, procedures, persons, and places related to language issues. This joint endeavor will cause their efforts to be more powerful and effective.

A good place to start is to have all of them read the new book by James Crawford and Stephen Krashen--English Learners in American Classrooms 101 Questions and 101 Answers.