Tag: math

Texas’s New ELPS and PLDs: Math Strategies for Emergent Bilinguals in Any Classroom

by Jim Ewing

For many Texas educators, the rollout of the updated English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) and Proficiency Level Descriptors (PLDs) scheduled for Fall 2026 may feel like “one more thing” on an already full plate. However, these standards are not an add-on—they are a roadmap for intentional instruction.

The updated ELPS now include content-specific PLD examples for math, science, and social studies content-areas, offering teachers clearer guidance than ever before. Instead of relying solely on broad descriptors, educators now have a structured way to support students across five proficiency levels while maintaining rigorous academic expectations.

While these are required in Texas, educators across the country can also use this framework to better support Emergent Bilinguals (EBs) in math classrooms.

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Applying the Q in QSSSA for Mathematics

by Diane Kue

When I was young, I watched my uncle bend his neck to walk through the doorway only to then hit his head on my parents’ light fixture. I had never seen someone so tall in my life, and I asked, “Uncle Mike, how tall are you?” What wasn’t apparent to me then but is now is how annoying it was for him to be constantly asked about his height. He responded:

“I am 1 yard, 2 feet, and 20 inches.”

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