Resources to help educators with the diverse educational needs of English Language Learners (ELLs) and World Languages.
OBEWL Newsletters | Immigrants | ELLs | NYSESLAT & NYSITELL | ESSA Language & Culture | Cultural Organizations | Teacher Certification
NEW GUIDANCE!
- Memo - Joining the WIDA Consortium and New English Language Proficiency Assessments (October 8, 2025)
- Memo - NYSESLAT - Determining ELL English Language Proficiency Levels (July 2025)
- Memo - ELL Student Counts for 2025-2026 Title III and Immigrant Programs (May 2025)
- Memo - Exemptions from Diploma Assessment Requirements for Major Life Events (March 11, 2025)
- An Administrator’s Guide for Supporting the Implementation of the Co-Teaching Instructional Model Within Integrated ENL Settings
- Memo Spring 2025 New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (March 2025)
- 2025 NYSESLAT School Administrator's Manual (SAM) (March 2025)
- Attorney General James Issues Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Guidance for Schools (March 5, 2025)
- Spanish Edition of Earth and Space Sciences Reference Table (Updated March 2025)
Minor updates have been made to the Spanish edition of the Earth and Space Sciences Reference Table based on feedback from bilingual science educators. - Memo: Option to Provide Virtual Instruction (February 2025)
- New York State Accountability ELP Fact Sheet for the 25-26 SY (February 2025)
- Safeguarding the Rights of New York State Immigrant Students (January 2025)
This document is available in Arabic, Bengali, Chinese - Simplified, English, French, Haitian, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tajik, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Uzbek. - New York State Guidance on Safeguarding the Rights of Immigrant Students (January 2025)
- An Administrator’s Guide for Supporting the Implementation of the Co-Teaching Instructional Model Within Integrated ENL Settings (November 2024)
- English Language Learner (ELL) Identification and Placement Timeline
On August 16, 2023, the Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages (OBEWL) issued a field memo announcing the availability of a waiver to the ELL Identification and Placement timeline for LEAs serving recently arrived asylum seekers. The memo stated that the waiver would be available until further notice.
This announcement serves as notice that this flexibility is no longer available and that all LEAs must again complete the identification of all ELLs by administering the New York State Identification Test for English Language Learners (NYSITELL) and placing eligible students in an appropriate language acquisition program within ten (10) days of a student’s initial enrollment.
Immigrants
- A Guide to Community-Based Organizations for Immigrants
- Educational Services for Recently Arrived Evacuees, Refugees, Immigrants and/ or Unaccompanied Children (April 2022)
- Enrolling students who are refugees and asylum seekers (October 2, 2023)
- Foreign Transcript Evaluations (PDF Version)
- K-12 Resources for Afghan Evacuees (US Department of Education January 14, 2022)
- NYSED Statement on Rights of Newly Arrived Immigrants (August 15, 2023)
- Potential Effects of the War in Ukraine on School Communities (May 2022)
- Provision of Educational Services for Recently Arrived Unaccompanied Children and Youth (May, 26, 2021)
- Resources for Ukrainian Parents and Students
- Resource Guide for the Education of New York State Students from Caribbean Countries Where English is the Medium of Instruction
- Vaccinations in Refugee Children: New York State and New York City Recommendations and Guidelines
- Welcome to Our Schools Program - This program is designed by the Bureau of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance (BRIA) to ease the transition of refugee children into the elementary and secondary schools of New York State.
ELLs
- Academic and Linguistic Demands: Creating Access to the Next Generation Learning Standards in English Language Arts for Linguistically Diverse Learners
- Art as a Tool for Teachers of ELLs
- Bilingual Education Resources: Supporting and Sustaining Initiative
- Bilingual and English as a New Language Services for English Language Learners who are Students with Disabilities
- Bilingual Study Notes for Elementary Science and Social Studies
- Co-Teaching for ELLs
- CR Part 154 Documents
- Effective Practices for Holistically Educating English Language Learners in New York State
- Glossaries and Instructional Materials
- New York State Seal of Biliteracy
- NYSED Bilingual Education Toolkit
- Promising Instructional Practices for Secondary English Language Learners (Grade 7-12)
- Resource Collection for World Languages
- Roadmap to College for English Language Learners/Multilingual Learners
- Students with Interrupted/Inconsistent Formal Education (SIFE) Resources
- Template for Content Area and English as a New Language Planning
- Topic Briefs 5 to 8 for Integrated Co-Teaching in the English as a New Language Classroom is now available
Language and Culture
- Culturally Responsive Back-to-School Titles for Students and Educators
- Haitian Creole Language Arts Curriculum Project (Grades K-5)
Introduction | Grade K | Grade 1 | Grade 2 | Grade 3 | Grade 4 | Grade 5 - Language and Culture Guides - Concise descriptions of the languages and cultures our students bring with them - with great tips for educators.
Arabic, NY Arab-American Demographic Sheet, Bengali, Burmese, Burma Facts, Chinese, French, Haitian, Karen, Karen Cultural Tips & Trends, Korean, Native American, Russian, Somali, Urdu - Spanish Native Language Arts Curriculum Guide (SNLACG)
The Spanish Native Language Arts Curriculum Guide (SNLACG) was developed as an initiative of the NYC Department of Education’s Office of English Language Learners (OELL). It represents a consensus among a Native Language Arts (NLA) core group of Spanish-language educators and administrators, and is the first integration of its kind of all four New York State Language Learning Standards: Native Language Arts (NLA), English Language Arts (ELA), English as a Second Language (ESL), and Languages Other Than English (LOTE). - Suggested Spanish Literature and Reading Books for Grades K-12
- Supplementary American History Reading Materials in Chinese
Cultural Organizations
- CHINESE
China Institute - FRENCH
French Institute Alliance Française - HAITIAN CREOLE
EspasKreyòl - GERMAN
Goethe-Institut New York - RUSSIAN
Pushkin Society in America - SPANISH
Agregaduría de Educación en Nueva York
Instituto Cervantes New York