Following the COVID-19 pandemic, educators are all too familiar with the fact that there has been clear learning loss among students across the nation.

Once a student has learned the alphabetic code, their vocabulary knowledge is the strongest predictor of reading comprehension.

When educators ask, what is the one action we can take to improve student learning, my answer is universal no matter the grade level or domain.

At present, only 24% of the students in our nation write proficiently. Yet, a powerful, little-known evidence-based science of writing exists!

Let’s look at the English Learner through a linguistic lens and consider two different constructs: language acquisition and literacy development. These two are independent constructs with their own characteristics and phases of development.

It is not enough for assessments to be designed for a specific purpose and technically adequate (i.e., reliability and validity in the traditional sense).