Winner of California Association for Bilingual Education Award Uses Carousel of IDEAS from Ballard & Tighe

LONG BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--When Boronda Meadows Elementary School was recently named the winner of the 2009 Seal of Excellence by the California Association for Bilingual Education, Ballard & Tighe, Publishers (www.ballard-tighe.com) celebrated along with the school. Boronda Meadows Elementary School of Salinas, Calif. uses Ballard & Tighe’s Carousel of IDEAS in some of its classrooms and believes the curriculum played a role in helping them earn the honor.

“Students have individual needs and progress at different rates, especially when it comes to language acquisition”

“Carousel of IDEAS is an important part of our district’s curriculum for English Language Learners,” said Mary Pritchard director of bilingual-migrant services for Salinas City Elementary School District. “Carousel helped us improve our instruction, gave us a good basis for staff development and gave our students an effective method to improve their English skills. We are proud of Boronda Meadows Elementary School and the teachers who have worked so hard to give students every opportunity to succeed.”

Carousel of IDEAS is an English Language Development (ELD) program for elementary grades that is systematic, comprehensive and standards-based. It is widely used in schools around the country but especially in California where there are over 1.5 million English Language Learners¹. Carousel of IDEAS is unique in its pedagogy because it focuses on language instruction at the student’s English proficiency level.

“Students have individual needs and progress at different rates, especially when it comes to language acquisition,” said Dr. Connie Williams, a consultant with Ballard & Tighe. “Carousel of IDEAS targets student’s needs while supporting their development of language for both social and academic purposes along with grammatical accuracy."

The CABE Seal of Excellence Awards was created in 1996 to honor exemplary bilingual education programs in California. The award recognizes schools that have established effective programs for their English learners that result in academic achievement. Effective enriched instruction is an important point of evaluation to select the eventual winner.

Boronda Meadows Elementary School will receive their award at the CABE 2009 Conference in Long Beach, Calif. at a special banquet on February 27, 2009.

About Ballard & Tighe

Ballard & Tighe, Publishers (www.ballard-tighe.com) has focused on developing products for English language learners since 1976. Ballard & Tighe provides testing, instructional, and training products and services to more than 3,500 state, regional, and local school districts throughout the United States and internationally. Ballard & Tighe produces assessment products, English language development instructional materials, professional development programs, and a series of unique social studies programs designed especially for English language learners.

¹ Quality Counts 2009, Portrait of a Population, Educational Week: Vol. 28, No. 17.