"Offers invaluable resources for teachers and administrators taking a proactive approach to eliminating the subgroup of long-term English learners."
—Yee Wan, Multilingual Programs Coordinator
Santa Clara County Office of Education, San Jose, CA

"This book encapsulates a serious call to action: challenging leaders and educators to forge bold yet eminently practical pathways toward high-quality, evidence-based systematic instruction."
—Virginia R. Champion, Senior Education Specialist
Region One Education Service Center, Edinburg, TX

10 keys to keeping English learners from falling through the cracks

Students who struggle with academic English are likely to struggle with academic content throughout their school years. This practical guidebook′s 10 components for success will help educators at all levels close this achievement gap. Best-selling authors Margarita Espino Calderón and Liliana Minaya-Rowe provide step-by-step instructions for integrating vocabulary and writing across the curriculum to improve students′ learning. Key features include:

• A clearly articulated, evidence-based professional development program for teaching diverse English language learners effectively
• Coverage of a variety of program types
• Research-based tools for improving instruction and measuring learning progressions
• Methods for implementing an EL program while meeting core standards and content objectives

Inside are studies from a principal and superintendent and an array of assessment tools, checklists, and resources to guide you through the improvement process and establish a meaningful accountability system for the benefit of teachers, administrators, parents, and students.

"This book offers invaluable resources for teachers and administrators taking a proactive approach in transforming the academic success of long-term English learners." -- Yee Wan, Multilingual Programs Coordinator
"This book encapsulates a serious call to action: challenging leaders and educators through bold, yet eminently practical pathways toward high-quality, evidence-based systematic instruction." -- Virginia R. Champion, Senior Education Specialist
"From classroom to boardroom and teacher to superintendent, this book provides the framework to ensure the academic success of ELs and the renewal of the educational organization itself in its mission to meet the academic needs of all students." -- Pedro Mendia-Landa, English Language Learner Programs, Director

Dr. Margarita Espino Calderón, born and raised in Juárez, is a Professor Emerita/Senior Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University. Her research and development projects have been funded by the US Department of Education, National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Labor, The Carnegie Corporation of New York, and various State Offices of Education. One of her empirical studies “The Bilingual Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (BCIRC)” is featured in the What Works Clearinghouse. The Carnegie Corporation of New York funded her five-year study to develop Expediting Comprehension for English Language Learners (ExC-ELL) to train math, science, social studies, language arts, and ESL teachers on integrating language, reading, and content in core content middle and high school classrooms. With a Title III National Professional Development grant, she implemented “A Whole-School Approach to Professional Development with ExC-ELL” in Loudoun County, VA. She replicated this approach in 29 schools in TX and NC. She served on the National Literacy Panel for Language Minority Children and Youth, the Carnegie Corporation of New York Panel on English Language Adolescent Literacy Panel, among other panels and national committees. She has over 100 publications on language, literacy, and professional development. In 2025, Margarita was inducted into the Multilingual Education Hall of Fame.  Liliana Minaya-Rowe is bilingual training coordinator at the Hartford Public Schools, where she works in professional development plans and practices for two-way immersion, bilingual, and ESL programs; effective first and second language instruction; teachers’ learning communities; and parent/family involvement practices. Minaya-Rowe is also professor emeritus of the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. Her research interests, publications, and teaching include teacher education, literacy, bilingual program development and implementation, and discourse analysis of bilinguals. She holds a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics and a Ph.D. in Education. Minaya-Rowe’s 80+ publications include journal articles, books, chapters, teacher’s manuals, and guidebooks.