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Endorsement Preparation Program in English Language Learning (ELL) (PreK-12)

ENDORSEMENT PREPARATION PROGRAM English Language Learning (ELL) (PreK–12)

Experience the challenges and rewards of teaching young English language learners from diverse backgrounds. Become a certified ELL educator. Help students thrive as they overcome language barriers.

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WGU’s Teachers College was named the best value in teacher education by the National Council on Teacher Quality—among 1,100 programs nationwide.

Named best value among 1,100 programs nationwide by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

NCTQ #1 Best Value in U.S. for teaching programs

Overview
Online preparation for teachers seeking certification to teach in ELL or ESL classrooms.

Are you a licensed teacher who is interested in helping English language learners succeed in the classroom? If so, this online endorsement preparation program is your direct path to becoming a critical asset at your school and throughout your community. You'll graduate with the content knowledge, teaching skills, cultural background, and field experience you'll need to become an in-demand ELL/ESL specialist.

With this endorsement, you will become highly qualified in ELL or ESL, expand your career opportunities, earn re-licensure points, and possibly become eligible for lane changes leading to increased salary.

This program is nationally recognized by the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) International Association.

Note: The specific grade levels you will be eligible to teach depend on your state’s licenses and endorsements.

83% of graduates finish in

6–20 mos.

WGU lets you move more quickly through material you already know and advance as soon as you're ready. The result: You may finish faster.
See how it works

Tuition per 6-month term is

$3,240

Tuition charged per term—rather than per credit—helps you control the ultimate cost of your degree. Finish faster, pay less!
See how time is money

Graduates who recommend WGU:

97%

The vast majority of alumni say WGU delivered on its promises. In fact, over 50% of students found WGU thanks to a friend's recommendation.
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Tuition as of January 1, 2019.
Help English language learners while advancing your career.

Some 5 million American students speak a language other than English in their homes. For these students, the language barriers they face can stand in the way of their ability to learn and succeed in the classroom—but they don’t have to. Choose to inspire, empower, and enable those students to achieve their goals. This program is for:
Licensed teachers with bachelor’s degrees who are interested in ELL or ESL instruction.

District instructional personnel and curricula leaders.

"Emergency credentialed" ELL or ESL teachers who need the endorsements to be considered highly qualified.
Learn more about our grads' careers
A highly relevant curriculum developed by ELL experts.

This online endorsement preparation program prepares licensed teachers to gain the additional certification and licensure required to teach in ELL or ESL settings and to develop significant skills in curriculum development, design, and evaluation.

Download Program Guide

WGU's online Endorsement Preparation Program in ELL was designed (and is regularly updated) with input from the experts on our Education Program Council. These respected authorities know exactly what it takes for a graduate to earn a credential and succeed at teaching English language learners who range in age from pre-K through grade 12.
Key Subject Areas

Your program consists of courses focused on education in ELL settings:

Assessment Theory and Practice

Culture

Subject Specific Pedagogy: ELL

Field Experience for ELL

Language Production, Theory and Acquisition

Professional Role of the ELL Teacher

Planning, Implementing, Managing Instruction

Theories of Second Language Acquisition and Grammar

See all courses
Areas of Study

The competencies you gain through this program will span these crucial topical areas:

English language learning

Culture

Theories of language acquisition

Field experience

Explore the curriculum
The WGU Difference

We reimagined the path to a degree. How it works for you:

It’s doable.
Efficient, flexible, individualized, and supportive, WGU puts you in the driver’s seat—allowing you to advance as quickly as you're able.

It’s surprisingly affordable.
Low, flat-rate tuition and the opportunity to speed up your program allow you to control the cost of your education.

It’s worth it.
Employers love WGU graduates. And grads report greater satisfaction, career advancement, and income growth after earning a WGU degree.

See how we do it
A supported, personalized experience.

WGU is unlike any university you’ve experienced before—in the best possible way! Take a quick look at what we mean:

Faculty Learning Assessment In-Classroom Experience Alumni Support

Faculty

SUPPORTING YOU: Faculty focused on students.

WGU faculty members have one goal in mind: your success. A Program Mentor is your individually assigned faculty member, providing program guidance and instruction from the day you start to the day you graduate. Course Instructors provide subject-matter instruction and support, typically one-on-one, exactly when you need it.

Learning

YOUR ROADMAP: A personalized learning plan.

Your program is made up of a series of courses, each a personalized journey toward subject mastery. A preassessment provides insight into what you already know. You’ll then learn what you still need to learn, using online learning resources—available 24/7—along with one-on-one or cohort-based faculty instruction.

Assessment

PROVE IT: Show you know your stuff.

WGU measures learning, not time, so each course in your program culminates in an assessment—a test, paper, project, or presentation that allows you to prove what you know. As soon as you’re ready, take the assessment—including the ability to take proctored exams from the comfort of your own home— via webcam, any time of day!

In-Classroom Experience

REAL-WORLD: Experience in a classroom.

Most of your program will be completed online but all teacher licensure programs—and many graduate-level programs for already-licensed teachers—also include the opportunity to observe and practice in a K–12 classroom setting. We’ll help you set everything up at a school near you.

Alumni Support

ALWAYS a Night Owl: WGU for life.

Continued support after you graduate includes many opportunities for professional development and enrichment, career support, and networking. WGU Night Owls may be independent learners, but they also become highly engaged in our active alumni community through apps, groups, and events.

The accreditation you need, plus industry respect and recognition.

One important measure of a degree’s value is the reputation of the university where it was earned. When employers, industry leaders, and academic experts hold your alma mater in high esteem, you reap the benefits of that respect. WGU is a pioneer in reinventing higher education for the 21st century, and our quality has been recognized.

Accredited

The WGU Teachers College is the first competency-based online university to receive accreditation for its degree programs that lead to teacher licensure from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). CAEP is the only recognized national accreditor for educator preparation.

Paired with WGU's university-wide accreditation by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, these accreditations assure your teaching degree from WGU will be highly respected.

Respected

“After graduating from WGU, and through all the rigor and quality of instruction that I received in the educational field, I was awarded Hawaii District Teacher of the Year in 2012.”
Amoreena Nestman
M.A. Teaching – Elementary Education

Recognized

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) in 2017 placed WGU’s Teachers College in the top 1% nationwide for the quality of its secondary teacher-preparation programs. This follows several other NCTQ recognitions, including the nation’s #1 best value for teacher education in 2015.

Accredited

Respected

Recognized

Our programs check all the boxes. If this degree is your goal, get started toward becoming a student today—programs start the first of each month.

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Cost & Time
When we say affordable, we mean it.

$3,240

Tuition per 6-month term

+

+$445

Resource and Program Fees, per term

=

=$3,685

TOTAL PER TERM

+$65

One-time application fee

Apply FREE this week

$445 per-term fees include Resource Fee of $145 (covers all e-books and learning resources, saving you hundreds per term) and Program Fee of $300 (covers costs of supervised field experiences).
Control the cost of your program: Our tuition links cost to time.

By charging per term rather than per credit—and empowering students to accelerate through material they know well or learn quickly—WGU helps students control the ultimate cost of their degrees.
Flat-rate tuition of $3,685 per term links cost to time.

By charging per 6-month term rather than per credit hour—and empowering students to accelerate through material they know well or can learn quickly—WGU helps students control the ultimate cost of their degrees.

Adjust the time and see your costs change

Your time

2 yrs

Your cost

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1.5 yrs
2 yrs
2.5 yrs
3 yrs

1 yr
1.5 yrs
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There's help if you need it.

Financial aid is available.

WGU is approved for federal financial aid and U.S. veterans benefits.

View more about financial aid.

WGU students borrow less than half the national average.

Our goal: You graduate with little or no debt.

The average student loan debt of WGU graduates in 2016 (among those who borrowed) was less than half the national average. WGU’s three-pronged approach to keeping your debt low and your return on investment quick: One, provide useful information and advice on responsible borrowing before enrollment. Two, keep tuition low while you're enrolled. And three, offer degree programs that lead to better-paying jobs after graduation.

Read about our Responsible Borrowing Initiative.

Degree Cost Comparison*

Online For-Profit University

Other Online Non-Profit University

WGU

Earn your ELL endorsement for about half what you’d pay at another university.

Low tuition and the ability to accelerate make WGU more affordable than most other schools. When you compare us with other programs, WGU’s Endorsement Preparation Program in English Language Learning offers rigorous curriculum with competitive post-graduation results for around half what you'd pay at another university—or even less.

*Estimates based on July 2017 WGU and comparable universities’ tuition data. Learn more about WGU's tuition and how it compares.

Transparent fees and no hidden costs.

The costs of attending college often include much more than tuition and fees. WGU is designed to be different, and that translates to cost savings everywhere from books to babysitting.

Other universities bury you in unexpected costs. Not WGU.

Click to explore the extra costs:

Tuition Books

Parking Gas

Library / resource fees Babysitter every week for
nighttime classes

WGU

Other online college

Traditional
4 year school

This demonstration shows how various costs—including official fees and incidental costs of attending school—can add up in different learning environments. It's meant as an illustration only.

Scholarships make our already low tuition even more affordable.

Many scholarship opportunities are available. Here are just a few you may be eligible to apply for:

$2,000

Sage Scholarship

$2,400

WGU Alumni Master's Scholarship

$2,000

Future Night Owl Scholarship

The affordable, flexible programs offered at WGU put high-quality education within your reach. Start working toward your future.

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Courses & Competencies

Curriculum that ensures you’ve mastered the things ELL students need you to know.

Program consists of:
8 Courses
Total courses in program
Download Program Guide

At WGU, we design our curriculum to be timely, relevant, and practical—all to ensure your degree is proof you really know your stuff.

Every course focuses on a set of clearly defined competencies that you must prove you’ve learned—through tests, papers, projects, or other assessments. Demonstrating mastery is how you pass a course, so learning what it takes to be outstanding in your career is at the heart of WGU’s ELL endorsement-prep curriculum.

That means that what you learn will be directly applicable in your ELL classroom—and in fueling your students’ success. It’s all about real-world applicability so every moment spent studying is time well spent.

Courses in this program.

This program comprises the following courses. You will typically complete them one at a time as you make your way through your program, working with your Program Mentor each term to build your personalized Degree Plan. You’ll work through each course as quickly as you can study and learn the material. As soon as you’re ready, you’ll pass the assessment, complete the course, and move on. This means that you can finish as many courses as you're able in a term at no additional cost.

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English Language Learning

Assessment Theory and Practice

Assessment Theory and Practice focuses on issues central to assessment in the ELL environment, including high-stakes testing, standardized tests, placement and exit assessment, formative and summative assessments, and making adaptations in assessments to meet the needs of ELL students.

Culture

Focuses on the nature and role of culture and the importance of cultural groups and cultural identity.

Subject Specific Pedagogy: ELL

Subject Specific Pedagogy: ELL integrates aspects of pedagogy, assessment, and professionalism in English Language Learning (ELL). A student develops and assesses aspects of language curriculum development including second language instruction, methods of second language assessment, and legal policy issues.

Field Experience for ELL

Field Experience for ELL is the field experience component of the English Language Learning program. In this experience, students are required to complete a minimum of 15 hours of observations at both elementary and secondary levels. Additionally, a supervised teaching experience that is face-to-face with English language learners according to the minimum time requirements of your state is required. The purpose of this course is to assess the ability of the student including their engagement in field experience activities, ability to reflect on and then plan standards-based instruction in ELL, and their ability to locate and effectively use resources for teaching ELL to meet the needs of their individual students.

Language Production, Theory and Acquisition

Language Production, Theory and Acquisition focuses on describing and understanding language and the development of language. It includes the study of acquisition theory, grammar, and applied phonetics.

Professional Role of the ELL Teacher

The Professional Role of the ELL Teacher focuses on issues of professionalism for the English Language Learning teacher and leader. This includes program development, ethics, engagement in professional organizations, serving as a resource, and ELL advocacy.

Planning, Implementing, Managing Instruction

Planning, Implementing, Managing Instruction focuses on a variety of philosophies and grade levels of English Language Learner (ELL) instruction. It includes the study of ELL listening and speaking, ELL reading and writing, specially designed academic instruction in English (SDAIE), and specific issues for various grade level instruction.

Theories of Second Language Acquisition and Grammar

Theories of Second Language Learning Acquisition and Grammar covers content material in applied linguistics, including morphology, syntax, semantics, and grammar. Students will explore the role of dialect in the classroom, the connections between language and culture, and the theories of first and second language acquisition.

Plan to work hard: Program requirements and expectations.

The ELL Endorsement Preparation Program is a mostly online program that you will complete by studying and working independently with instruction and support from WGU faculty. You will be expected to complete at least 8 competency units each 6-month term. (One course is typically 3 or 4 units.)

The first person you speak with at WGU will be your Enrollment Counselor, an expert in your program who can explain all the requirements and expectations in more detail. You can also read more about each course in the Program Guide.

Request info from an Enrollment Counselor.
Download the Program Guide.

Special requirements for this program.

Field Experience. In addition to your online courses, you are required to complete a minimum of 15 hours of observations in actual classrooms at both the elementary and secondary levels. Additionally, a supervised face-to-face teaching experience with English language learners is required. (Minimum times vary by state.)

Endorsement or Licensure. IMPORTANT: This program can lead to an endorsement in ELL or ESL, but only in those states that have such endorsements. If your state offers an ELL endorsement and you wish to pursue that endorsement, you will need to complete your practicum at the K–12 level that aligns with your state endorsement requirements and the WGU ELL PreK–12 program. Students who complete their practicum in any other setting other than a K–12 setting should be prepared NOT to be recommended for licensure. Each student should be aware of the requirements of their particular state for K–12 educators. Please contact a WGU Enrollment Counselor with any questions.

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A top-quality curriculum developed with guidance from education leaders and academic experts.

To ensure our teaching degrees are consistent with the expectations of today’s schools, we develop courses with input from councils composed of nationally recognized experts in education. Council members offer guidance on key competencies to be expected from successful WGU graduates.
How You'll Learn
A different way to learn: Degree programs designed to fit your life—and all the demands on your time.

Professional responsibilities. Family obligations. Personal commitments. At WGU, we understand schedules are tight and often unpredictable for adult students. That’s why we offer a flexible, personalized approach to how education should be. No rigid class schedules. Just a solid, career-focused math teaching program that meshes with your current lifestyle. You'll be challenged. You'll work hard. But if you commit yourself and put in the hours needed, WGU makes it possible for you to earn a highly respected degree as a busy working adult.

Designed for working teachers.

WGU's ELL endorsement-prep program is designed for licensed teachers who want to add an endorsement to their license qualifying them to teach English-language learners in pre-K through 12th-grade settings.

This program is specifically designed for working adult students, so you can honor your current work and family responsibilities while completing your coursework.

Competency-Based Education (CBE)

How it helps you

Efficient

Save time and money by focusing your efforts where they matter the most.

How much do you already know? Today’s adult students come from different professional backgrounds with varying levels of knowledge and experience. Competency-based education empowers you to take the most efficient path to complete your studies.

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Learn on your own terms.

What works best for you? No two students—or their schedules—are the same. Whether you’re at your best in the early morning or more energized when you get home from work, your study schedule can be personalized to accommodate your lifestyle and responsibilities.

Results

Know you’re learning real-world skills.

Will your teaching credentials be recognized? Today's schools look for teachers with the knowledge, skills, and experience to help students understand how to solve problems. WGU’s online teaching degree programs includes a student teaching component to prepare you for real-world classrooms.

Finish courses by proving what you know, as soon as you’re ready.

With competency-based education at WGU, success is measured by actual learning, not class time. You advance by demonstrating that you've mastered the course subject matter—whether you learned it through your study at WGU or picked up that knowledge through years of work experience.

Your progress through a course is driven by you.

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How much previous knowledge you bring
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competency, noun

Demonstrated knowledge, skill, or ability required to advance in a degree program.

At WGU, course competencies are defined by an expert council, including employers.

For this course, there are 3 areas you need to prove competency in.

Start

First, let's take a pre‑assessment.

Determine what you already know from previous work and education experience, and where you need to focus your studies. Prove your competency in 3 areas in this exercise.

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Competency 1: Retrieving results...
Competency 2: Retrieving results...
Competency 3: Retrieving results...

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Second, study course materials.

Click on the free learning resources created by education experts that will help you master the competencies.

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Online Classes

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Result:

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Measuring:

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Your experience pays at WGU.

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Career Outlook
ELL certification opens doors to a personally fulfilling, rewarding, in-demand career.

Instilling students with the confidence to learn and achieve is one of the greatest perks of teaching. Providing that kind of support and guidance for students with the added challenge of trying to learn in a foreign language can be even more satisfying. As an ELL teacher, you will change lives.

25%

“At least one-quarter of the schools with vacancies in ESL, foreign languages, or special education have found them very difficult or impossible to fill.”
—National Center for Education Statistics
WGU alumni teach in schools across the country.

Graduates of WGU’s Teachers College have found meaningful, rewarding careers in classrooms at:
Inclusionary K–12 classrooms

Middle/junior high schools

High schools

Private and charter schools
Career Resources
Impressive class of graduates.

Graduates of the WGU Teachers College include recipients of many professional honors, including:
Gates Millennium Scholars

Intel Grant for Mathematics and Technology

Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction Award

Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award

Association of Public Charter Schools Educator of the Year Award
Explore a career teaching English language learners.

Get info on an ELL teacher's salary, job outlook, work environment, and more.

LEARN MORE
WGU is a university committed to producing successful grads.

The ultimate test of your degree's value is whether it helps you become an outstanding employee and advance your career. Our happy grads—and their happy employers—confirm that WGU is the path to that kind of degree.
Happy employers

Happy grads

They're Prepared.

Employers said that WGU graduates were prepared for their jobs.

They Perform.

Employers rated WGU graduates' job performance as very good or excellent.

They Wow.

Employers said their WGU graduates have exceeded their expectations.

They're Confident.

Graduates said the majority of their coursework was related to their jobs.

They're Working.

Graduates are working full-time.

They're Satisfied.

Graduates said their degrees were worth the cost of their education.

Source: 2016 Harris Poll survey of 301 employers; 2016 Harris Poll Online survey of 1,403 new college graduates nationwide compared with survey of 1,207 WGU graduates; WGU--Gallup 2016 Report
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Admissions
Your endorsement is attainable. The first step: Apply for admission today.

Next Possible Start

Jan 1

Start dates are the 1st of every month. Discuss steps and deadlines with your Enrollment Counselor.
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Your Enrollment Counselor is there to help you make an informed decision.
The first step toward change can be the hardest—we get it. Your "welcoming committee" at WGU is made up of Enrollment Counselors, Admissions Specialists, and faculty members. Your initial interactions at WGU will be guided by an Enrollment Counselor who specializes in the programs you're interested in.

Your Enrollment Counselor is ready with as much help as you may need:

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Admission requirements unique to this degree.
If you enroll in a program that also includes a special endorsement and you plan to eventually apply for the endorsement, the following is required of you:

A copy of a valid teaching license.

Official transcripts that demonstrate you have earned a bachelor’s degree from a recognized accredited university.

An Enrollment Counselor will instruct you as to when and how to submit your teaching license prior to or during your program. You do not need to submit a copy of your license if you are not seeking the endorsement.

View general admission requirements
Making an informed admission decision.

WGU seeks to admit individuals who have the capacity and determination to complete a rigorous WGU degree program … and graduate. The admission process is designed to help you and the university reach an informed decision about your likelihood of success.

At WGU we want you to graduate, not just enroll. Consequently, not every applicant is admitted because not every individual is a good fit for WGU’s programs and competency-based, online academic model.
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