Welcome to the Stanford English Language Learner (ELL) Leadership Network!

Established in the summer of 2011 as a collaboration between researchers at Stanford University and site and district level practitioners, the Stanford ELL Leadership Network supports the following 7 small-to-middle sized districts in Central and Northern California in improving academic outcomes for ELLs:

  • Corning Union Elementary School District
  • Ukiah Unified School District
  • Tahoe Truckee Unified School District
  • Sanger Unified School District
  • Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District
  • Napa Valley Unified School District
  • Firebaugh-Las Deltas Unified School District

Dr. Kenji Hakuta, the Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education at Stanford, and Dr. Maggie Carrillo-Mejia, former Superintendent of Sacramento City Unified School District, founded the network in the summer of 2011 with generous financial support from the S.H. Cowell Foundation.

Network participants have identified three intertwining lines of work for improving instructional outcomes for ELLs:

  1. Analysis of longitudinal ELL data to identify weaknesses in student performance
  2. Examination of systems-level practices to identify institutional barriers to ELL achievement
  3. Observation of classroom instruction and professional learning communities (PLCs) to identify and develop best practices

This work is carried out through twice a year meetings at Stanford, during inter-district visits among participating districts, and through regular webinars.

Current information about the network’s status can be found on our calendar and our “What’s New” page.