More than 20,000 AISD students, or one-quarter of the AISD student body, are English Language Learners (ELLs). Data reveals fundamental social and academic challenges in the lives of these children. For example, in ten of the eleven comprehensive high schools, ELLs had the lowest percentage of students passing all sections of the TAKS test. On ten of eleven campuses, ELLs by a significant margin have the highest percentage of dropouts and on nine of eleven campuses the lowest percentage of four-year graduates.

To date, the majority of scholarship and effective practice for English Language Learners has occurred at either the elementary or adult literacy levels. Few school districts have worked toward embedding culturally responsive, academically rigorous teaching practices for high school aged ELLs into the institutional framework of a large urban district. Still fewer have sought to do so for every child, in every classroom, in every high school. In order for the district to achieve its goal of graduation and college/career readiness for all students, it is crucial that the district tackle head-on the challenges facing its growing student population of ELLs at the secondary level.

AISD views its redesign initiative as the perfect opportunity to advocate for English Language Learners by constructing systems for more equitable education experiences. The ELL initiative will comprehensive and district-wide, identifying policy, funding, and system changes that are needed to support ELLs.

Taking full advantage of this fortuitous moment in the district's history, AISD will be contracting with the world-renowned secondary ELL scholar, Dr. Aida Walqui, and a team of four colleagues with extensive experience in the field, to work hand-in-hand with AISD to construct a secondary model for ELLs that is both responsive to the students' context and integrated with AISD's primary model.

This ELL initiative will start with the creation of two demonstration campuses, Lanier and the International high schools, that implement instructional changes in every classroom that build a strong, rigorous teaching practice. Based on lessons learned from these two schools, ELL instructional practices will be designed for all high schools.