Yves Saint- Germain Integration Branch

1. Enhancing Assessment and Building Communities of Practice: Priority Projects at CIC Yves Saint-Germain Integration Branch TESL Ontario Conference 2010

2. Overview of Presentation Context • Departmental priorities • Areas of exploration Priority projects: • Enhancing Assessment: • Portfolio-based Language Assessment (PBLA) in LINC • CLB Achievement Test • National Repository of language tools and resources

3. Context • Ministerial priorities • LINC Program Evaluation • Renewal of the Canadian Language Benchmarks / Niveaux de compétencelinguistiquecanadiens • Coordinated Language Assessment and Referral System (CLARS) “Language gives people the tools they need to further their skills and find their place in the world. The ability to effectively communicate in either English or French is crucial to success in Canada.” – Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism

4. CIC Priorities in Language Training • Encouraging more immigrants to access and complete language training • Evaluate results of vouchers pilot project • Expand occupation-specific and in-workplace training options • Increase use of e-learning tools and technologies • Enhancing measurement and reporting of program results • Standardized testing and better in-class tools • Improved reporting of program data • Sector-wide performance measurement strategy • Ensuring comparable program quality across Canada • Share best practices and build teacher communities through interactive website that includes social media applications • Expand professional development opportunities for teachers

5. Areas of Exploration Work underway on issues including: • Informal learning approaches • Language training in the workplace • Better ways to serve FSL learners • Role of HRSDC’sEssential Skills in the LINC program • More effective student intake process

6. Enhancing Assessment

7. Issue in Brief • Language assessment should ideally consist of three related components: 1. Placement 2. Learning (Progress) 3. Achievement • While these components share some common elements, each serves a specific purpose.

8. Sorting tool • General • Short • Low-stakes Placement Testing to place learners in suitable second language training • Current Status • Before entering training, learners receive a placement assessment from trained language assessors who deliver one of several standardized placement tests (e.g. CLBA, CLBPT, ELTPA). • CIC regards existing placement procedures as sound – efficient, effective and reliable.

9. Learning • Program-specific assessment to measure incremental learner gains • Closely linked to course content • Usually informal in nature, though results can be tracked to measure program performance PLACEMENT • Current Status • LINC teachers conduct ongoing assessments of their learners using a variety of tools, some of their own making • Many use CIC-funded assessment tools to provide support and begin to standardize the process (e.g. SAM, CLB Exit Tasks) • Program-based • Diagnostic • Ongoing & incremental • Teacher-administered

10. PLACEMENT Achievement • Formal and narrowly-focused testing to pinpoint the proficiency of participants, regardless of how their language skills were acquired LEARNING • Current Status • To date, placement and progress assessment tools have been used as indicators of program results. • Precise and reliable • Time and resource intensive • Recognized and comparable • High-stakes

11. A coherent system • Each component is important for overall program integrity • No single tool can accomplish all of the objectives in each area PLACEMENT PLACEMENT • To be coherent as a single system, each tool must take the same approach to language assessment and instruction (CLB) • Investment in all three tools safeguards the validity of each LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT

12. LINC: Current Situation Achievement Placement Learning* No standardized achievement test LINC Assessment Centres deliver standardized, CLB-based placement tests No standardized system for performance measurement data (teachers use a variety of tools, some of their own making) * Encompasses both promotion from one training level to the next and completion of the entire program (“exit”).

13. LEARNING 1. Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA) General settlement info CLB Lit – CLB 2 Student Notes Language portfolio Regional info Benefits and CLB Levels CLB 2-4 The Language Companion will provide students with national and regional settlement information, Essential English reference material, a place to keep class notes, and My Portfolio, where students will collect examples of their language tasks in listening, speaking, reading and writing.

14. LEARNING PBLA in the learning cycle Provides evidence of learning Contributes to final outcomes evaluation (Coupled with Milestones Test at CLB 4 +) Basis of student evaluation Initial assessment: CLB placement test Assembled over time, a portfolio provides evidence of progress

15. LEARNING Project timeline • PBLA design begins – Field test and implementation plans, Best Practices Guide for teachers, Language Companion 2009 • Advisory committees of LINC teachers and administrators • PD workshops delivered to field test teachers in Ottawa • Province of Ontario (MCI) agreement to join Field Test • Field test launched in October • Report on evaluation of PD workshops 2010 • Consider larger implementation issues – e.g. adaptation for FSL (CLIC) and online courses • Field Test culminates in Evaluation Report with recommendations for roll-out 2011

16. ACHIEVEMENT 2. CLB Achievement Test • Single-stage test covering • CLB 3- to 9+ • Answers the question: “What • Benchmark has this candidate • achieved?” • Particularly robust at two key • milestones: CLB 4 and 7-9 • Third party assessment independent • of training programs • Delivered in secure manner • consistent with high-stakes usage

17. ACHIEVEMENT Purpose of the test Not a program exit test – content is general and not related to a particular curriculum or instructor's teaching objectives Not an occupation-specific assessment – content not related to any particular field Optional credential for those wishing to have an official recognition of their benchmark levels Facilitate flow of newcomers into education/training and labour market Motivate students to set and achieve meaningful learning goals • _ • _ • _

18. ACHIEVEMENT Project timeline • CIC-commissioned research on high-stakes testing • Request for Proposals for English test development • National coalition of experts assembled by Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks (CCLB) selected 2009 • Planning phase (test blueprint and pilot plan) completed in Spring • All 4 test components developed – listening, speaking, reading & writing • Validation of test items this Fall with some 2,000 learners in Halifax, Ottawa, Hamilton, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver • Presentation of assessor training materials and recommendations for how to best operationalizetest in keeping with its high-stakes nature • Discussions between CIC and Québec’sMinistèrede l’immigrationet communautésculturelles(MICC) regarding potential partnership for creation of equivalent test in French 2010 • Submission of two complete test forms and pilot report in Spring • Piloting of delivery infrastructure • Development of French Achievement Test 2011

19. Summary Placement Learning Achievement LINC Assessment Centres deliver standardized, CLB-based placement tests Portfolio-based Language Assessment CLB-based Language Achievement Test

20. Building Communities of Practice

21. A Shared Federal-Provincial Repository Objectives: • To facilitate broader access to adult language teaching, assessment and research resources that have been developed by Canadian professionals to meet the needs of our newcomers • To foster support, sharing and collaborationwithin the CLB/NCLC practitioner community • To identify gaps and avoid duplication in the development of new resources • To support planningfor long-term sustainability • To safeguard corporate memory  • To enhance and promote ongoing professional development

22. Features • Database • curriculum guidelines • lesson and module plans • handouts • worksheets • templates • web-based learning objects • audio and video clips • images • assessment tasks • rubrics and rating scales • teacher training resources • policy and management documents • research papers • searchable discussion forums • links to external resources • Discussion forums • RSS feeds • Wikis • Polling and surveys tools • Job listings • Calendar of events • *user-driven content rating system

23. Guiding Principles • ESL and FSL Contributions in French from Québecand Francophone communities across Canada. • User-friendliness and Simplicity Intuitive design, with tutorial elements incorporated. For those less familiar with web 2.0 tools, the site teaches you how to use them. • Adaptability Things change. System built to allow new content, using new media in yet-to-be-invented formats. Use of open standards to safeguard against obsolescence. • Community-led Made by and for language training professionals across Canada. With seed money from CIC, users collectively populate and develop the kind of site they would like to have.

24. Guiding Principles 5. Searchabilityand Interconnectivity Users can search the catalogue of materials in multiple ways:

25. Project Timeline • Committee of federal and provincial government representatives reach agreement on core elements of a shared national repository • Feasibility study of technical requirements, including consultations with teachers, assessors and administrators 2009 • Funds secured for repository development – Summer • Request for Proposals – Fall • Target: Developer in place before year end 2010 • Target: Beta version of site for testing in Spring 2011

26. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Yves Saint-Germain Director – Info, Language & Community Program Policy Yves.Saint-Germain@cic.gc.ca Patrick McEvenue Manager – Language Policy Patrick.McEvenue@cic.gc.ca Gregg Blakely Senior Policy Analyst Gregg.Blakely@cic.gc.ca Name the new CLB Achievement Test! Canadian Standardized Test of English Proficiency C-STEP Benchmark Achievement of Newcomers to Canada     BANC Standardized CAnadianLanguage Evaluation SCALE MILESTONES ? Your own brilliant idea