Ensuring Shared Responsibility for ELLs

1. Ensuring Shared Responsibility for ELLs Rebecca Field Director, Language Education Division Caslon Publishing and Consulting rdfield@casloninc.com

2. Ensuring Shared Responsibility for ELLs/Bilingual Learners • This interactive session shares strategies and resources that PD providers can use to ensure that PreK-12 administrators and teachers (general education, literacy, special education, ESL, bilingual) know how to educate and evaluate ELLs/bilingual learners’ in their classes, schools, and districts. • We start at the district/school/program level and then move to the classroom level. • Our intention  To customize and differentiate PD in ways that • Buildon what teachers and administrators know and can do • Build on the linguistic and cultural resources that students, families, and communities bring to the school/district • Use professional learning communities as structures for creating a shared vision, mission, goals, and objectives for educating ELLs/bilingual learners • Support teacher and administrator learning as they design, implement, monitor, evaluate, and restructure programs for ELLs/bilingual learners in their particular school and community contexts.

3. Guiding Principles • English language learners are everyone’s responsibility. • Administrators, teachers, and leadership teams are powerful agents for change. • There is no one-size-fits-all approach to educating ELLs/bilingual learners. • Effective leaders use sound theory, research-based principles, flexible frameworks, and authentic evidence to inform decisions. • Students come first.

4. Leadership and capacity building Strategy: Customize and differentiate your professional development offerings. • Assess PD needs of all ELL educators. • ID strengths and needs of individual administrators and teachers AND of job-alike groups. • Develop PD that builds on strengths and addresses needs.

5. Essential questions for leadership teamsHamayan & Freeman Field 2012, p. 5. • Who are your students? • What are your goals? • How are your students performing relative to your goals? What evidence do you collect and how do you use it? • What support systems do you have in place to ensure that your ELLs reach their goals? • What strengths can you identify? • What challenges do you anticipate? • What future possibilities can you see? • What action steps can you take? • What resources will you need? PD Resource/Activity: Initial Survey to set the stage…

7. Critical Features of Effective Programs for ELLs (Hamayan & Freeman Field, 2012) • Standards-aligned content-area instruction • In two languages in bilingual program • In English in sheltered English program • In English using sheltered English strategies • Authentic assessments Biliteracyis an important goal and expected outcome of one-way and two-way dual language bilingual programs. Bilingual education teachers must be prepared to teach for biliteracy, not only in language arts but in all content areas. • Support for home language/literacy • In bilingual program • In heritage language program • Creatively in English-medium program • Authentic assessments •  Standards-aligned ELD instruction • Stand-alone ELD class • Pull-out ESL • Push-in ESL Team teaching • Authentic assessments • Positive Sociocultural Context • Shared responsibility for ELL education • Balanced assessment and accountability system that is inclusive and comprehensive • Strong knowledgeable leadership and qualified teachers • Sees linguistic and cultural diversity as resources to be developed • Aligned with community strengths, needs, and interests • Collaborative professional learning communities • Perceived as a successful school

8. Strategy: Create a shared vision for ELL education among all ELL educators (teachers/administrators; general ed, literacy, ELD, bilingual ed) at the district, program, and school levels. PD Resources: 12 Key Practices Framework and Checklist for program development, implementation, monitoring, evaluating, and restructuring. Shared Practices at the District, School, and Classroom Levels (4) Common Classroom Practices for All English Language Learner Educators Core Instructional Practices of Every Program for English Language Learners (3) Organizing the Key Practices into Effective Program Configurations (1)

9. Customized and differentiated PD and program development For language arts teachers and administrators who work in elementary bilingual programs; For educators concerned with paired literacy instruction and assessment For administrators and teachers who work with young DLLs For middle and high school teachers and guidance counselors who work with ELLs For special education teachers who work with ELLs; For teams of gen ed, literacy, ESL, bilingual, and sped teachers who have questions about ELLs with significant learning difficulties For teachers and administrators who teach for biliteracy in any content area and across grade levels

10. Turn and talk 1. What is your schools’ PD focus? • For general education teachers? For literacy coaches? • For ESL/ELD teachers? For bilingual education teachers? • For principals? For central administration? 2. Are the needs of ELLs included at every level of decisionmaking? 3. What are your strengths and challenges?

11. Essential Questions for Reflective Practitioners • Who are my ELLs? • What are my goals and objectives? • What is challenging about this unit/lesson/activity for the ELLs in my class? • What instructional strategies can I use to enable my ELLs to participate and achieve in this activity/lesson/unit/class/program? • What assessment strategies can I use to collect evidence of my ELLs’ learning? • How can we use evidence of student learning to a) drive instruction; b) foster collaboration among ESL/bilingual and mainstream teachers (drawing on expertise of ESL/bilingual staff); c) structure PD; and d) inform the development of authentic accountability for ELLs (i.e., document student growth over time)?

12. 1. Who are the students? • Working in groups of three or four who teach at the same grade level (K-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12), look at the profiles of ELLs. You can change their grade levels to match the grade level your grade group teaches, but adapt the profile accordingly. • Using the student descriptors on the poster, discuss what these students can be expected to do with reading, writing, listening, and speaking in English. • Identify any other factors that may contribute to their participation and achievement in school, and explain how those factors might matter.

13. 1. Who are the students? Profiles of the ELLs in one fifth grade class • Marco is a Level 1 ELL from Brazil who speaks Brazilian Portuguese. Marco arrived in the United States earlier this year. The ESL teacher determined informally that Marco can read and write in Portuguese, but probably below grade level. According to the district’s ESL placement test, Marco is a Level 1 Listening, Level 1 Speaking, Level 1 Reading, and Level 1 Writing. His levels are indicated on the Can-do descriptors in Figure 1 in blue. • Julia is a Level 3 ELL who was born in the United States into a Mexican family that speaks mostly Spanish at home and in the neighborhood. Julia has attended school in the US since kindergarten, and she has been in pull-out ESL each year. There is no bilingual program at the school, and Julia has not learned to read and write in Spanish. According to the ACCESS for ELLs, Julia is a Level 5 Listening, Level 4 Speaking, Level 3 Reading, and Level 2 Writing. Her levels are indicated on the Can-do descriptors in Figure 1 in green. • Hassan is a Level 3 ELL from Sudan who speaks Arabic. Hassan is a refugee and has been in the United States for two years. He had no formal schooling before coming to the United States, nor had he learned to read or write. When Hassan arrived, he was placed in a newcomer/port of entry class that focused on literacy and numeracy development, with attention to the cultural norms of US schools and society. According to the ACCESS for ELLs, Hassan is a Level 4 Listening and Speaking, and a Level 2 Reading and Writing. His levels are indicated on the Can-do descriptors in Figure 1 in purple. • Amitabh is a Level 3 ELL from India who speaks Gujarati. Amitabh arrived in the United States in the middle of last year. He has a strong educational background which included English instruction every year in India. However, Amitabh’s English instruction gave him little opportunity to speak English at school, and he has had little exposure to American English prior to his arrival. According to the ACCESS for ELLs, Amitabh is a Level 2 Listening, Level 1 Speaking, Level 5 Reading, and Level 4 Writing. His levels are indicated on the Can-do descriptors in Figure 1 in red.

14. Figure 1: Focal ELLs placed on WIDA Can-do Descriptors for ELD Levels, PreK-12

15. 2. What are the goals and objectives? Aligned with content standards, ELP standards, the curriculum, and any other goals Thematic Unit • Ecosytems: Focus on Rainforest Big idea • Human actions influence the sustainability of ecosystems. Learning objective: From the curriculum • Students will describe features of the rain forest before and after deforestation in writing.

16. English Language Arts: W-5 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information. • Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s purpose. • Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details. • Link opinion and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically). • Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.

17. Content Objectives Students will be able to… • Describe features of the rainforest before deforestation • Describe features of the rainforest after deforestation • Compare and contrast features of the rainforest before and after deforestation • Prepare a persuasive argument for or against deforestation to present orally to the town council and in writing for the local newspaper NOTE: Content objectives are the same for all students

18. Language Objectives Students will be able to… • Use key vocabulary orally and in writing Rainforest, deforestation, erosion/erode, habitat, destruction/destroy, ecosystem • Use oral and written language to describe, compare, contrast, and persuade NOTE: Language objectives are differentiated according to ELLs’ ELP level and other important background factors.

20. 1. Who are my ELLs? • 2. What are my goals and objectives? • 3. What is challenging about this unit/lesson/activity for the ELLs in my class? • 4. What instructional strategies can I use to enable my ELLs to participate and achieve in this activity/lesson/unit/class/program? • 5. What assessment strategies can I use to collect evidence of my ELLs’ learning? • 6. How can we use evidence of student learning to a) drive instruction; b) foster collaboration among ESL/bilingual and mainstream teachers (drawing on expertise of ESL/bilingual staff); c) structure PD; and d) inform the development of authentic accountability for ELLs (i.e., document student growth over time)?

21. A Useful Tool: The Differentiation Template Fairbairn & Jones-Vo (2010) GOAL: To move students from their current ELD level (i.e., what they can do independently) to the next ELD level (i.e., their instructional level) using scaffolds and supports to get there.

22. Figure 2: Differentiating Assignment/Assessment Template for a fifth grade writing assignment differentiated by English language proficiency levels.

23. Figure 3: Scaffolding and support for focal activity differentiated according to English language development levels (row 3 of differentiation template).

24. Basic Steps for Differentiation Know the ELD level of your ELLs and other important background factors (language background, L1 literacy, prior schooling, special ed considerations) Know your curriculum/content standards Design outcomes by applying relevant assignment/assessment strategies to student ELP level while addressing same content standards Support student success with instruction differentiated according to students’ ELD levels. Collect performance-based evidence to demonstrate student learning (growth and achievement).

25. 6. How can we use this strategic approach to… • Encourage collaboration among collaboration among general education and ESL teachers • Drive professional development • Inform conversation about authentic assessment of ELL growth and achievement Think-pair-share.

26. Clarifying the Roles of the Content and Language Teachers • LANGUAGE TEACHER • Language objectives • Language assessments • Differentiated according to ELD , L1 literacy,ed background • CONTENT TEACHER • Content objectives • Same for all students • Content assessments • Language objectives • Differentiated according to ELD level, L1 literacy, ed background • Points of Collaboration • ELD Standards • Language of the content areas • Language objectives • Differentiation strategies for ELLs • Common formative assessments • (e.g., rubrics, pivotal portfolios)

27. Turn and talk… Do all of your teachers know how to • Differentiate content-area instruction according to ELLs’ levels of English language development and other factors. • Teach language for academic purposes in their content areas. • Collaborate with other teachers to ensure that all students, particularly ELLs/bilingual learners can learn and achieve in todays’ standard-driven classes.

28. Taking it to our Classrooms • What stood out? • What did you learn? • What can you use? • What questions do you have?