NAELPA engages in activities and projects that are a collaboration of multiple committees because the nature of the activity or project is relevant to the issues handled by multiple committees. These activities or projects are established as a Cross-committee task force. Information about and the publishable or sharable products of these task forces may be found below.
Dual Language Learner Task Force - NAELPA Position Statement
The federal government, through Head Start, has adopted a definition of Dual language learners (DLLs) as “children who have a home language other than English and are learning two or more languages at the same time, or learning a second language while continuing to develop their first language.” While this definition is useful, it can be problematic since it doesn't include children who haven’t started learning English yet. The term DLL includes young children from homes where a language other than English is spoken. While DLL can include children ages 0 to 8, the position statement drafted by the Dual Language Learner Task Force focuses on DLLs enrolled in public pre-Kindergarten programs.
The National Association of English Learner Program Administrators (NAELPA) has written this DLL Position Statement to identify needs for DLLs and highlight areas for growth in the services and supports provided for this growing group of children.
