Curriculum investigation #2

Curricular Investigation #2

Topics:

★ How does your school/district screen all students enrolling in the school/district to identify those students who are potential ELL students?

★ Identify the criteria your distinct/school uses to classify a student as a potential ELL student.

Lindsay Lyons, Pamela Cacciani, Danielle Conguista,

Samantha Cosenza, and Susan Ortiz

School/District Screening Process of Potential ELLs

At Edith L. Slocum Elementary School in the Connetquot School District ENL teacher (ONLY) screens all students who are potential ELLs by using the NYSITELL exam.

This exam is given ONLY when "another language spoken at home" is checked off on the "Home Language Survey" when registering with the district as a new student.

Pamela Cacciani

Criteria used by school/district to classify potential ELLs

Classification is based on the score the student receives on the NYSITELL.

There are 5 levels of proficiency; Entering, Emerging, Transitioning, Expanding, and Commanding.

If the student scores at the highest level, "Commanding" - they do not need to receive ENL services because they have tested out.

If the student scores anything below commanding, then they will receive either 1 push-in, or 2 periods (which consist of 1 pull-out and 1 push-in) of ENL a day based on their score.

Pamela Cacciani

Annual Review with Parents/Guardians-In addition to parent-teacher conferences or other scheduled meetings for all parents, an annual meeting with parents/guardians of each ELL must be held to discuss the goals of the ENL program, the student’s language development progress, English language proficiency assessment results, and language development needs in all content areas.

-All school staff necessary to sufficiently inform the parents or persons in parental relation about the child’s language development in all content areas in English must attend this meeting including ENL teacher, Student’s English/ELA teacher, special education teacher, (if applicable) and Support services staff, (if applicable)

Danielle Congiusta

School/District Screening Process of Potential ELLs (Initial

Evaluation/Classification Process)

East Meadow School District★ Students who speak another language at home and/or have recently arrived from a foreign

country are administered the New York State Identification Test for English Language Learners (NYSITELL) upon initial enrollment within the district. The NYSITELL is administered once, and only once! The test is administered when the parent(s) indicate on their Home Language Survey that they use a primary language other than English at home.

★ NYSITELL evaluates English proficiency based on the four language domains: speaking, reading, writing, and listening. Often, writing is the most challenging because it requires formatting cognitive processes and organizing language before writing.

★ NYSITELL results help ENL teachers analyze the results to determine appropriate program placement, in regards to students’ needs for ENL services of English language support of the domains.

NYSITELL & HOME LANGUAGE SURVEY SAMPLES ARE PROVIDED IN SLIDES BELOW.

Lindsay Lyons

NYSESLAT Significance and Criteria, After Initial Determination with the

NYSITELL

East Meadow School District★ Each following year, ENL students are assessed around the month of May by ENL teachers

administering the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT). The NYSESLAT assesses students’ progress throughout the ENL curriculum instruction and learning process. The NYSESLAT covers the four criteria of the English language: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Again, writing is usually the most challenging for ENL students because it requires other domains to formulate language and organize sentences.

★ NYSESLAT results are analyzed to help ENL teachers determine the aspects of continuation of ENL services and needs for increased or decreased support for the following school year.

★ As ENL students progress throughout the ENL program, they gradually move through stages, based on English proficiency and results from the NYSESLAT each year. The five stages are indicated in the following two slides:

Lindsay Lyons

ENL Proficiency Levels/Services from the NYS Department of Education

Lindsay Lyons

ENL Proficiency Levels/Services from the NYS Department of Education

Lindsay Lyons

Sample “Home Language Survey”

Pamela Cacciani

Sample “Follow Up” Letter to inform Parents/ Guardians of English Language Proficiency level Danielle Congiusta

Home Language Survey Flow

Chart

Susan Ortiz

Example of NYSITELL Level 1 Answer Sheet

Pamela Cacciani

NYSITELL Question Types

Danielle Congiusta

Sample of Questions Given on NYSITELL

Danielle Congiusta

Listening Sample Question Given on

NYSITELL

Danielle Congiusta

Sample of NYSITELL Raw Score Conversion Chart

Pamela Cacciani

Now that you gained a little perspective on our districts’/schools’ criteria and process for identifying potential ENL students and monitoring progress of current ENL students, take a look at some instructional strategies for supporting ENL students in your future instruction. Simple instructional approaches may yield positive impacts on your students’ confidence and growth in using the English language.

Extension of Curriculum Investigation:

Lindsay Lyons

“One of the greatest concerns in classrooms today is related to

accommodations for our students and doing what the district/school curriculum

programs requires of educators.

Lindsay Lyons & Danielle Conguista

Commercial programs are very structured, so educators must find ways to adapt their existing curriculum in ways to remain “Fidelity to the Core” yet better address the needs of ELL students.

Fidelity to the Core


Fidelity and the Culturally & Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Learner

🔸When educators believe that “one size does not fit all”, this examination becomes part of the advocacy effort they undertake to ensure equal access for all.

🔸 Understanding the four dimensions of the student biography, the implications they have on practice, and what the research reveals about each enables teachers to advocate for what is right for ELL students.

🔸 Such knowledge also enables teachers to discuss what “fidelity to the core” was intended to mean.


Biographies to Understand ENL Students and Yield Confident

LearnersBy using the CLD

student biography, teachers can then continue with their

acquisition of fundamental and research-based

components of literacy to better their ELL

students.

Biographies can be embedded in the current standards- and program-driven mandates of today’s classrooms. Using the strategies such as Standard-Driven Literacy Instruction and knowledge of Sociocultural, linguistic, cognitive, and academic

Teaching the required curriculum naturally requires teachers to contextualize their instruction based on the population they are serving during any particular year. Students’ biographies dicate the accommodations educators make to the scripted reading programs found in classrooms today.



Biography Graphic Organizers:Intermediate Level Primary

Level

Standards for English Language Arts assume that literacy growth begins before children enter school.

“Adaptability and creativity are far more effective in the classroom, than thoroughgoing applications of a single approach.”


ENL STANDARDS/GOALS/LEARNING TARGETS

Goal 1: To use English to communicate in social settings.

Goal 3: To use English to achieve academically in all content areas.

(obtain, process, construct content in spoken and written form)Goal 2:

To use English in socially and culturally appropriate ways.

(audience, purpose, setting)


Sociocultural Knowledge

Linguistic Knowledge

Cognitive Knowledge

AcademicKnowledge

Effective Teaching

● Scaffold● Strategies● Key

vocabulary

● Building academic skills● Variety of literacy

activities● Wide range of literature

● Understanding CLD students’ first language literacy development promotes a positive impact in second language acquisition

● Multicultural & Multilingual Tasks/Activities promotes motivation & positive diverse identify


ELL Students Face Unique Challenges

🔸 English Language Learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing segment of the public school population.

🔸 Over the past 15 years, the number of ELL students has nearly doubled—to about 5 million.

🔸 By 2015, ELL enrollment in U.S. schools will reach 10 million and, by 2025, nearly one out of every four public school students will be an English Language Learner

🔸 Accurately assessing these students in English—required by the law—is challenging.

🔸 ELLs are expected to master content in English before they have reached a certain level of English proficiency.

Susan Ortiz

Issues Facing Teachers of English Language Learners

🔸 ELL students come from very different backgrounds and often face multiple challenges in the classroom.

🔸 To complicate matters further, teachers lack practical, research-based information, resources, and strategies needed to teach, evaluate, and nurture ELL students, whether those students were born in this country or elsewhere, or whether they are the first, second, or third generation to attend an American public school.

🔸 In too many cases, ELL students are being given reading and math tests in English before they are proficient in the language.

Susan Ortiz

Five Things Teachers Can Do to Improve Learning for ELLs

🔸 1. Increase ELL students' English language production and peer interaction-If activities are structured to support student-to-student or group interaction, ELLs are required to use English to explain concepts and contribute to the work. This gives teachers an opportunity to gauge what the student has learned, and it demonstrates student progress in English language development.

🔸 Explicitly teach English language vocabulary and structures-Content teachers can begin by reviewing a content area lesson and identifying not just the vocabulary that every student needs to know, but other vocabulary words and grammar structures that ELL students may not be familiar with.

🔸 Build on ELLs' Background Knowledge to Increase Comprehension-Teachers can work creatively to elicit background knowledge from students on content topics in order to increase comprehension of the material. This may be as simple as taking the time to do a "K/W/L" (Know, Want to Know, Learned) chart, or as individualized as asking questions about the topic.

Susan Ortiz

Five Things Teachers Can Do to Improve Learning for ELLs Continued...

🔸 Increase ELL Parent Involvement-Regular, open and friendly communication from the teacher can make a big difference in ELL parent participation. It can feel daunting for an English speaking teacher to call a non-English speaking parent, but usually there is someone in the family who speaks enough English to interpret the message for the parent, or the parent speaks enough English to understand a simple message. ELL parents will be very pleased and excited to hear positive news about their child and will feel more comfortable asking questions and visiting the school in the future. The more informed the parents are, the more likely it is that the student will get support at home and parents will have the information they need to help their child be successful.

🔸 Increase Writing Opportunities-For ELLs this is particularly important. Depending on their writing skill level in their first language and their English language abilities, writing may be frustrating. Students need to engage in a variety of writing to develop an understanding of different types of writing and to identify their strengths and weaknesses as a writer.

Susan Ortiz

Improving ELL Students Vocabulary

ELL Students VocabularyBuilderers:

Susan Ortiz

Working with Community Organizations to Support ELL Students

Services and support:

The leaders and staff of community organizations may also have many ideas about how schools, businesses, and other groups can work together to support ELL students and their families by offering:After-school tutoring, Student internships, Medical services, Social services, Clothing/food drives, ESL classes for adults, Continuing education programs, Immigration information, Citizenship classes. Susan Ortiz

Hot Links

🔸 Coalition for Community Schools

The Coalition for Community Schools, housed at the Institute for Educational Leadership, is an alliance of national, state and local organizations in education K-16, youth development, community planning and development, family support, health and human services, government and philanthropy as well as national, state and local community school networks.

🔸 Partnership for Afterschool Education

The Partnership for After-School Education (PASE), a New York City-focused organization, promotes and supports quality afterschool programs for youth, particularly those from underserved communities, enabling them to identify and reach their full potential.

Susan Ortiz

http://www.communityschools.org/

http://www.pasesetter.org/

In Conclusion...By giving children the tools they need to decode and comprehend text, teachers have the power to shape

students’ lives, help them fulfill their dreams, and open up a world of opportunities. To reach the same level of academic achievement as their monolingual English-

speaking peers, ELL students need to be active members of their academic world, not just passive observers. Teachers can help make this possible. Teachers must

break the habit of embedded daily instruction and reflect on new ways to modify instruction for meeting the

specific sociocultural, linguistic, academic, and cognitive needs of their ELL students.


“It is the celebration of the students’ diversity that teachers provide them with the tools necessary not only to successfully acquire English literacy skills but also to take charge of what

lies in their future.”Lindsay Lyons & Danielle Conguista

Essential Questions to Peers:

1.How can administrators support teachers of ELL students?

2.What is the definition of a Limited English Proficient (LEP) student?

3.Is the initial process of determining if incoming students require ENL services reliable and fair?

4.What strategies or approaches can you utilize to address each ENL student’s unique needs and proficiency level, in order for them to achieve optimal success on the yearly NYSESLAT?