Research and practice partners from ODE and OSU presented on Supporting Exceptional English Learners at the 2019 State English Learners Alliance Conference in Eugene on March 13, hosted by the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators (COSA).

ODE-OSU Partners discussed several important factors in serving exceptional English learners, including: documenting students’ language proficiency and language-learning needs in IEPs; professional collaboration among content-area teachers, language acquisition specialists, and special education teachers; using multiple sources of assessment data; best instructional practices; and services for English learners with significant cognitive disabilities. The presentation ended with a discussion on barriers to professional collaboration, including fragmentation and the specialization trap as identified in the research of Sara Kangas (“A cycle of fragmentation in an inclusive age: The case of English learners with disabilities”, 2017).