Success Stories Escuela Amigos School

Dual Language Leadership Network Sarah Bartels-Marrero, Directora Elika Fredrickson, Biliteracy Coach 4/12/2016

Amigos *1986- Founded as a strand at the Maynard School.

*2001, after considerable lobbying efforts by Amigos parents, the Cambridge School Committee voted to make the program an autonomous school within the Kennedy School building.

*2002- the bilingual students then housed at the Longfellow School were incorporated with Amigos.

*2003-04 academic year, and as result of the School Consolidation Plan passed by the Cambridge School Committee, the Amigos School moved to the King School building located in Putnam Ave.

*2012- Moved into our own building on 15 Upton St.

*2016- 373 students in grades JK-8 and growing!

*Amigos students are drawn from neighborhoods across the district, representing a wide variety of families in Cambridge.

WHAT ARE THE PROGRAM GOALS? ●  Fluency in communication and literacy in two languages: Spanish and English. ●  High academic achievement in all subject areas in both languages. ●  Appreciation and understanding of other cultures while developing positive attitudes among students, their families

and their communities.

How is Amigos doing overall?

Our Hispanic/Latino subgroup is in the 96th percentile relative to the performance of the same subgroup

in the same school type statewide.

Who are our ELLs?

❖  A diverse group of K-8 students from Honduras, Venezuela, Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, China, Guatemala, and Chile.

❖  Mix of low- and high- income families.

❖  90% are native Spanish speakers.

What assessments do we use to measure ELL progress?

ELLs only

❖  W-APT

➢  Upon entry to Cambridge

❖  ACCESS

➢  Every January

❖  WIDA MODEL

➢  September (2nd year on) and June (yearly)

All students (including ELLs)

❖  MCAS

❖  PARCC (starting May 2016)

❖  FAST (English and Spanish)

❖  BAS (Benchmark Assessment System)

❖  EDL (Evaluación del desarrollo de la lectura)

❖  SOLR

❖  District common writing assessments

Do the assessments take into account the time research has shown us is necessary to meet our program’s goals of balanced bilingualism, biliteracy, academic achievement, and multiculturalism?

At Amigos, we focus on the dual-language acquisition of each

student: How are our students progressing in English, in Spanish?

How are they transferring skills between both languages?

Our Work with ELLs At-A-Glance

Arrival Date in U.S. ACCESS/W-APT Scores January 2015

[1=newcomer, 3=participates more fluently in class, 4.8=will exit ESL services, 6=like a native speaker who is clearly on grade-level in all subject areas]

Benchmarks (B.A.S.) (English/Spanish)

*Independent/ Instructional Levels

Writing WIDA MODEL

September 2015 (like ACCESS 1-6, ability

to write about subject area knowledge)

Some Key WIDA Can-Do Descriptors for this student

March 2014 Listening: 4.0 Speaking: 3.1 Reading: 3.6 Writing: 3.7 Composite: 3.7 WIDA Model May: 3

E: Q (grade 4), excellent fluency, comprehension, and inferencing- challenge is accuracy and vocabulary) 10/16/15 S: Excellent reading skills in Spanish. On grade level. Reading level O Spanish texts. Native Spanish speaking student from DR.

1+ Linguistic Complexity: original phrases and short sentences Vocabulary Usage: highest frequency vocabulary Language Control: comprehensibility limited to copied or adapted text

Listening: . Speaking: . Reading: (4) -order info. from a text [plot events, steps in a math problem, historical events...etc.] -summarize, main idea, writer’s purpose (literature- message) -ID figurative lang. -match cause to effect (other inferences like character motivation) **use set of strategies for gathering info. from a text [skim, scan, using text features like bold words or diagram captions...etc.] Writing: .

How is Amigos using local data to tell a story?

❖  Creation of local norms.

➢  CPSD uses the Benchmark Assessment System to assess each student’s literacy development in English.

➢  Amigos teachers, coaches, and administration advocated for our own set of benchmarks that take both the L1 and L2 into consideration.

➢  These benchmarks have been adopted by our district as the official Amigos norms.

Benchmark Retelling Continuum for SSL

STAGES CHARACTERISTICS

1 N: ENGLISH Predicts and/or retells story in English

2 BEGINNING: ENGLISH-SPANISH Retells story mostly in English with a few Spanish words May attempt to retell story by listing the vocabulary in Spanish

3 EMERGENT: ENGLISH-SPANISH Retells story mostly in English with some Spanish phrases May use repetitive phrases

4 INTERMEDIATE: SPANISH-ENGLISH Retells mostly in Spanish phrases or sentences May include a few English words or phrases Makes some grammatical errors (ie. vocabulary, gender agreement, verb tenses etc.)

5 TRANSITIONAL: SPANISH Retells story in Spanish with details Makes minimal grammatical errors (ie. vocabulary, gender agreement, verb tenses etc.)

6 FLUENT: SPANISH Retells story in Spanish with details Retells with a natural native-like flow Uses varied sentences and vocabulary Uses correct syntax

How do we accurately measure a student’s language development in English and the partner language?

❖  RTI focuses on both the Spanish and English development of our students.

❖  Gradually phased into Amigos over the span of three years.

❖  RTI now in grades K-5.

❖  Tier 3 interventions in both English and Spanish

➢  LLI, SIL

❖  5 bilingual interventionists support students.

❖  Students on IEPs can receive Tier 3 intervention in Spanish.

❖  ESL and Special Education teachers attend RTI meetings.

HOW DO WE BALANCE THE LANGUAGES?

●  All kindergarten (JK and K) and first grade classrooms are self-contained. Core academic instruction is taught 80% in Spanish including all Math, Science, Spanish literacy, and Social Studies. English literacy instruction is integrated throughout the week for a total of 20% of instructional time.

●  Grades 2-3 rotate weekly between the Spanish language and the English language classrooms. There are multiple

projects and activities between the two classrooms, where both languages are used and bridged. ●  In grades 4-5, students switch daily between Spanish and English. This model provides maximum exposure and

contact with the target language. ●  Grades 6-8 follow a middle school “cluster model”. Basic subjects such as English Language Arts, Spanish

Language Arts, Social Studies, Science and Math are taught by a “cluster” of subject area teachers rather than grade level teachers. A critical advantage of the cluster model is that in the upper school, students and teachers have the opportunity to develop long-term relationships over the course of the three years. In the upper school, class time varies between 45 minute blocks and 1 1/2 hour blocks to allow time for an in-depth, team teaching approach. In the upper school, Spanish Language Arts, Social Studies, and Drama & Art are taught in Spanish; all other subjects are taught in English.

Please address any further questions to: efredrickson@cpsd.us