ELL and RTI

1. ELL and RTI We must think carefully!

2. Partnerships • Pick someone near year you to be your partner. • The person with the next birthday is coffee. • The other person is cream.

3. We are going think carefully about. . . • Assessments for ELL students • Tier 1 for ELL students • Core program/sheltered instruction • ELD • Tier 2 for ELL students • Tier 3 for ELL students

4. Remember RTI is a structured team process for using data to increase the instructional supports to students as needed.

5. Remember • Reading and English language development are not the same thing. • Today we will be talking about Reading.

6. No cookie cutter approach • Not all ELL students are the same! • Consider the 4 L’s • Language (native) • Level of English proficiency • Level of native language proficiency • Length of time in school

7. To every complex problem, there is a simple solution... that doesn’t work! ~Mark Twain

8. Think about how this process resembles the process you already have in place.

9. Felix participates in the core curriculum with sheltered instruction with ELD services. Enter ELL Language Level on Intervention Profile and share information with reading instructor Team reviews screening data and places Felix in a group intervention Review the progress of cohort group. If less than 80% making progress, increase instructional effectiveness. Screening data suggests Felix isn’t doing well Second Group Intervention Collect language information through ELL pre-referral Felix improves If language level is 1 or 2 and student is struggling with PA and phonics, continue intervention for second 6 week period Felix doesn’t improve Team designs individualized intervention Exits intervention Felix improves Felix doesn’t improve Improvement is good and other factors are suspected as cause Intervention is intense and LD is suspected Special Education referral is initiated Parents Notified

10. Talk time Coffee Cream What areas of concern do you have? • What do you currently have in place?

11. In the past we had a wait to fail model. We should not wait even longer for ELL students to fail. We should not wait 5 to 7 years to provide additional supports to students.

12. We must think carefully about… Assessment

13. Level of Evidence: Strong Recommendation 1 Conduct formative assessments with English learners using English language measures of phonological processing, letter knowledge, and word and text reading. Use these data to identify English learners who require additional instructional support and to monitor their reading progress over time.

14. ELL students should be assessed using DIBELS.

15. Remember the purpose of screening and progress monitoring is. . . . Assessing those who may need additional targeted instruction in reading English.

16. Multiple sources of data are very important! • DIBELS • Diagnostic Reading data • Classroom data • ELPA • L.A.S. or other oral native language assessment • OAKS

17. BLP decision rules • If an ELL student’s scores fall in the lowest 20% of all students in the same grade level at the same school, the ELL teacher should present the following information at the next EBISS meeting:

18. BLP decision rules • If an ELL student’s scores fall in the lowest 20% of all students in the same grade level at the same school, the ELL teacher should present the following information at the next EBISS meeting:

19. “If your students have been in the country only a short time and have limited English proficiency, not meeting grade-level benchmark is an indication that they need more instruction. It does not mean that they have a learning difficulty.” Thompson & Vaughn, 2007

20. Talk time Cream Coffee How can you use DIBELS as a tool to provide more support to ELL students? • Which assessments do you feel give you information about your ELL students?

21. We must think carefully about… Tier 1 Support

22. Teaching the big 5 of Reading Phonemic awareness Phonics Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension Writing Oral language • Speaking • Listening Multiple opportunities to practice

23. Receptive Listening Reading Expressive Speaking Writing Language Development

24. Phonemic Awareness • Students who struggle in Phonemic awareness will likely be struggling readers in L1 and L2.

25. Phonemic Awareness • Detecting rhyming sounds • Identifying words with the same initial sound • Isolating the initial sound • Categorizing onsets and rimes • Isolating middle and ending sounds • Segmenting phonemes • Adding phonemes • Deleting phonemes • Substituting phonemes

26. Phonics • Consider: • Is the student learning a new alphabet? or • Is the student learning new names and sounds for the alphabet they know?

27. “Schools with performance benchmarks in reading in the early grades can use the same standards for English learners and for native English speakers to make adjustments in instruction when progress is insufficient. It is the opinion of the panel that schools should not consider below-grade-level performance in reading as “normal” or something that will resolve itself when oral language proficiency in English improves.” IES Practice guide Gersten, Baker, Shanahan, Linan-Thompson, Collins, Scarcella

28. English Language Learners still need phonemic awareness and phonics practice!

29. Fluency • Accuracy Prosody Rate • Are students slow due to recoding or word meaning? • Background Knowledge affects fluency

30. Level of Evidence: Strong Recommendation 3 Provide high-quality vocabulary instruction throughout the day. Teach essential content words in depth. In addition, use instructional time to address the meanings of common words, phrases, and expressions not yet learned.

31. Isabel Beck’s 3 Tiers Technical words: photosynthesis, isosceles high frequency, high utility, words taught in H.M.: sparkle, remarkable Common conversational words: ball, spring, table

32. Rethinking the Tiers Multiple meaning ball, spring, table power, force Technical words: photosynthesis, isosceles high frequency, high utility, words taught in H.M.: sparkle, remarkable ELL’s need support here • Clear cognates • contribute - contribuir, second- segundo

33. Vocabulary Practice • Define Power Define Power as used in a Social Studies class Define Power as used in a Math class Define Power as used in a Physics Science class Define Power as used in a Biology Science class

34. Vocabulary • Teach phrases • A long time ago • See you later • Phrasal verbs • Look up: Look up at the sky or Look up the word in the dictionary • Expressions and idioms • Gray area • Hit the spot

35. Vocabulary • English Language Learners need to practice/use vocabulary words in context 45-75 times before they can “know” the word.

36. Vocabulary What does it mean to “know” a word? Association Comprehension processing Generation

37. Comprehension • Difficulty may be due to • Word meaning • Background knowledge • Interest • Disconnect from instruction/text/learner • Don’t just ask questions, demonstrate answers.

38. Comprehension • If you were going on an airplane would you go far or near? • Student answers, “far”

39. Comprehension • If you were going on an airplane would you go far or near? • Teacher: Hmm, well I know that airplanes travel in the air, and when I went to visit my grandmother who lives far away, I went on an airplane, so it must be far away.

40. Comprehension • If you were going on an airplane would you go far or near? • Teacher: Hmm, well I know that airplanes travel in the air, and when I went to visit my grandmother who lives far away, I went on an airplane, so it must be far away.

41. Comprehension • If you were going on an airplane would you go far or near? • Teacher: Hmm, well I know that airplanes travel in the air, and when I went to visit my grandmother who lives far away, I went on an airplane, so it must be far away.

42. Talk Time Coffee Cream Which of the big 5 of Reading does your school need to improve on for teaching your ELLs? • Which of the big 5 of Reading is your school doing a great job of teaching to ELLs?

43. SIOP Good teaching strategies for ELL students are Good teaching strategies for ALL students

44. SIOP Good teaching strategies for ELL students are Good teaching strategies for ALL students

45. SIOP • However SIOP is critical for the second language learner to access the instruction.

46. SIOP

47. Activity Tallest Person Lesson prep, Building background, Comprehensible input Middle Height Person Strategies, Interaction Shortest Person Practice/application, Review/assessment

48. Level of Evidence: Strong Recommendation 5 Ensure that teachers of English learners devote approximately 90 minutes a week to instructional activities in which pairs of students at different ability levels or different English language proficiencies work together on academic tasks in a structured fashion. These activities should practice and extend material already taught.

49. Teacher behaviors • Direct and explicit instruction • Content and Language Objectives • Pacing • Activating prior knowledge • Think time • Comprehensible input • Realia, models, visuals, demonstrations • I do, we do, ya’ll do, you do • Multiple opportunities to respond • Meaningful practice

50. BLP decision rules Sheltered instruction is a critical component of core instruction for English Language Learners. Confirm the following occurs in the core reading group: • Students understand the directions and instructions. • Vocabulary is pre-taught in a manner comprehensible to the student. • Students are actively engaged and given multiple opportunities to interact with each other and the teacher. • The instructor knows the language levels and characteristics in the cohort group and is using components of sheltered instruction. • The curriculum is appropriate for the English language level of the students.