By David Dodick

All children should receive high-quality instruction when they walk into a classroom. But many teachers feel they aren't ready to meet the needs of a quarter of the students in California's schools – kids whose first language isn't English.

Stanford's Center to Support Excellence in Teaching (CSET) is addressing this problem with the Teaching English Learners Studio (TELS), a yearlong professional development program that will train K-12 math, science and humanities teachers how to better educate students learning English as a second language.

"This program represents a novel way to help both new teachers and their mentors develop their skills and knowledge in this critically important area," said Pam Grossman, CSET's faculty director.

Fifteen math and science teachers gathered at Stanford on Wednesday to launch the program. They were joined by their mentors – current and former teachers – who support new teachers during their first two years on the job.

It was the first of three daylong sessions planned for this academic year that will be complemented by ongoing school support. Participating teachers will be videotaped in their classrooms so they can review and improve their performance. They'll also get help and support in designing better lesson plans and have access to the latest teaching tools and techniques.

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