31 Jack Dieckmann 2002 <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'">Middle school and high school teachers face special challenges in teaching English language learners. At the secondary level especially, most professional development is content-oriented, with perhaps a session or two devoted to teaching strategies for culturally and linguistically diverse children. This article describes an innovative professional development program called ExCELS &quot;that creates learning communities of schools, families and communities for English language learners' academic success.&quot; It emphasizes a collaborative approach and the need to tailor ELL support to core content areas.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span>  <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'">Citation: Dieckmann, J. (2002). <i>Excelling English language learners: An innovative professional development program</i></span> </p> http://www.idra.org/IDRA_Newsletter/August_2002_Self_Renewing_Schools_Resources/Excelling_English_Language_Learners/