Dr. Mary Ann Lachat is Co-founder and President of the Center for Resource Management, Inc. (CRM), a professional-services firm dedicated to helping schools achieve equity and high quality learning for all students. She has more than 30 years of experience with school reform initiatives at state and local levels, and she has worked extensively with state education agencies and school district teams in addressing issues for diverse learners. Since the late 1990s she has written and presented on standards-based learning and assessment for English language learners. Her work has focused on translat-ing what has been learned in the research into practical strate-gies and guidelines for teachers, principals, and school district administrators. Her publications for the Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University include: Standards, Equity, and Cultural Diversity (1999) and What Policymakers and School Administrators Need to Know About Assessment Reform (1999).
According to the recently enacted "No Child Left Behind" legislation, "Each state, school district, and school will be expected to make adequate yearly progress toward meeting state standards. This progress will be measured for all students by sorting results for students who are economically disadvantaged, from racial or ethnic minority groups, have disabilities, or have limited English proficiency. [emphasis added]" Schools not able to demonstrate adequate progress will face sanctions and corrective action. May Ann Lachat's book will help administrators and teachers reach this goal by improving instructional and assessment techniques for standards to the very specific context of limited English proficient students. The author begins with an overview of standards and places it in the context of LEP students. She then covers the specifics of standards-based instruction and assessment for LEP students. Schoolwide initiatives and reforms are addressed in the final chapter.
