Publications
CREATE briefs provide a closer look at the topics of CREATE’s research. They address current issues that are relevant to practitioners and other education professionals.
Effective Practices for Increasing the Achievement of English Learners
This research brief highlights two schools’ efforts to improve the achievement of their students using the SIOP Model. These schools, one elementary and one secondary, have seen significant improvement in the performance of their English learners through the use of the SIOP Model of instruction, an approach that addresses both academic language development and access to content. The brief outlines how each school has implemented the model and supported teachers through job-embedded professional development.
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CREATE: A Comprehensive Model for Instruction of Academic Language and Literacy in the Content Areas
This brief outlines a systematic school-wide intervention that consistently integrates content knowledge and language and literacy development in content area curricula. The brief first describes the elements of the intervention, including implementation, professional development and coaching support, in critical content areas. It then explains the instructional implications for teachers and administrators.
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Using Literacy Coaching to Promote the Teaching and Learning of English Learners in Content Areas
This brief describes the literacy coaching that was provided as part of the CREATE research project aimed at improving the teaching and learning of English learners in seventh-grade content areas. Coaching was intended to extend professional development and increase teacher capacity through multiple layers of support that included lesson demonstrations, observations with feedback, and guided teacher reflection and goal setting.
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The SIOP Model: A Professional Development Framework for a Comprehensive School-Wide Intervention
This brief first describes individual interventions that CREATE researchers tested in middle school science, social studies, and language arts classrooms with English language learners over the course of the 2005-2009 school years. The brief then explains how the SIOP Model was used as a professional development framework to unite the separate research studies into a school-wide, comprehensive intervention that was implemented in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years to support English language learners across the core content areas.
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Improving Reading Across Subject Areas With Word Generation
This brief describes a quasi-experimental study of Word Generation, conducted in public middle schools in Boston. Word Generation is a robust vocabulary intervention that is implemented across key subject areas. The purpose of the program is to enhance students’ vocabulary in support of improved reading comprehension. The brief outlines the details of the intervention and explains how it increases the vocabulary development of all students, including English language learners.
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Effective Social Studies Instruction to Promote the Knowledge Acquisition and Vocabulary Learning of English Language Learners in the Middle Grades
This brief explains a CREATE intervention that incorporates literacy and language development activities into social studies instruction. It describes lessons designed to increase English language learners’ social studies knowledge while simultaneously improving their vocabulary acquisition and overall reading comprehension.
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Improving Science and Vocabulary Learning of English Language Learners
This brief reviews previous research related to the development of science knowledge and academic language in English language learners as well as the role of English language proficiency, learning in a second language, and first language knowledge in science learning. It also describes two successful CREATE interventions that build academic and discipline-specific vocabulary and science knowledge in English language learners.
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Response to Intervention and English Learners
Response to Intervention (RTI) has emerged as a method for providing early academic assistance to students with difficulty learning. This brief outlines the tiered structure of RTI and how it can be implemented as an effective technique for teaching English learners who are having difficulty making academic progress. It touches on methods of assessment and instructional considerations, and it guides educators in tailoring this technique to fit the needs of English learners.
Read the brief online or download the PDF.
Using the SIOP Model to Improve Middle School Science Instruction
This brief provides an overview of the SIOP Model and highlights how teachers can develop content and language objectives, emphasize key vocabulary, promote interaction, and incorporate effective review and assessment techniques within the context of middle school science. It provides research-based examples and strategies in order to illustrate how teachers can plan for the successful integration of content and language in science lessons.