Connecting Research and Practice: A Snapshot of Resources for English Language Learners

1. Connecting Research and Practice: A Snapshot of Resources for English Language Learners March 5, 2008 3:30 – 5:00 PM National Press Club Washington, DC

2. Why are the SEE Forums needed? • More than ever, evidence in education is needed—and demanded • Few mechanisms exist to link education decision-makers with sound, relevant, and “actionable” evidence • The SEE Forums provide a regular opportunity to connect the DC-based policymaking community with timely, relevant, and rigorous research and resources

3. Who we are: • American Institutes for Research (AIR), a nonprofit, nonpartisan social science and education research and technical assistance organization (www.air.org) • Supported through a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (ies.ed.gov) of the U.S. Department of Education

4. What we do: • Hold six public forums for DC-based policymakers on research and resources to promote evidence-based education • Issue ResearchLinks publications, explaining and outlining the policy relevance of the evidence presented and linking it to additional resources • Maintain a website (www.seeforums.org) that offers access to the information presented during the forums and serves as a “scientific evidence portal” to support policymaker efforts to apply rigorous evidence

5. Today’s Forum: • Connecting Research and Practice: A Snapshot of Resources for English Language Learners • Highlight two resources that help to connect rigorous research to policy and practice: • IES Practice Guide series • Doing What Works website • Presentations by leading researchers and experts, observations from experienced practitioners, and a discussion on how to use the evidence provided

6. Agenda: • Welcome and Introductions • Steve Fleischman • IES Practice Guide Series • Rebecca Herman & Russell Gersten • Doing What Works Website • Nikola Filby • Responses from the Field • Delia Pompa & Maria Santos • Questions, Answers and Discussion

7. For more information: • Website —www.seeforums.org • Questions and comments — info@seeforums.org

8. IES Practice Guides Rebecca Herman Managing Research Analyst American Institutes for Research

9. What are practice guides? • Designed to provide evidence-based advice to practitioners • Originated in health care • Hybrid of expert consensus panels and critical reviews of the research

10. How can practice guides help? • Fill a niche where there is a great need for guidance but limited strong impact evidence • Written to be of immediate use to practitioners

11. What is the rigor of IES Practice Guides? • Process • Systematic review of evidence • Expert judgment • Rigorous review of guide • Research • Prioritize strongest evidence • Include a wide range of evidence • Summarizing the evidence • Based on strength of the evidence and generalizability of the findings • Recommendation can be supported by expert judgment and theory

12. IES Levels of Evidence for Practice Guides

13. What topics are covered by practice guides? • Research-based practices to help K-5 English language learners improve their reading skills • Research-based practices for encouraging girls in math and science • Organizing instruction and study to improve student learning • Research-based practices for turning around low performing schools • Research-based practices to help improve adolescent reading skills • Response to intervention: Reading • Response to intervention: Math • Behavior problems in regular classrooms • Teacher recruitment and retention • Postsecondary access for at-risk students

14. What is a Practice Guide? Case of the English Learners Practice Guide Russell Gersten, PhD Research Director, RG Research Group Professor Emeritus, University of Oregon

16. Session Objectives • Orient group to the Practice Guide • Provide a crisp overview of the state of scientific research and how it can and should influence policy and practice • Provide specific suggestions for implementation of structured English immersion • Discuss school level implementation

17. Search for Coherence • Panel struggles to develop 5 to 10 assertions that are: • Forceful and useful • And COHERENT • Do not encompass all things for all people • Do not read like a book chapter or article Jump start the process by using individuals with topical expertise & complementary views

18. Panelists Russell Gersten (Chair) Robin Scarcella Timothy Shanahan Penny Collins (formerly Chiappe) Scott K. Baker Sylvia Linan Thompson

19. The Topics • Early screening and identification • Early Intervention • Vocabulary • Academic English • Peer assisted learning

20. Recommendation 1:Early Screening for RD using English Language Measures • Level of Evidence: Strong • Twenty-two studies have demonstrated that three types of measures are valid means of determining which English learners are likely to benefit from typical classroom reading instruction and which children will require extra support: • Measures of phonological awareness • Measures of familiarity with the alphabet, and the alphabetic principle in English

21. Recommendation 1: Continued • Fights conventional wisdom of “wait until child is proficient in English” • No need to wait until students have good oral proficiency in English before teaching reading • No need to wait until students are proficient in English before screening for students who may need extra support • Recent research (Lesaux, Journal of Educational Psychology, November 2007) shows still valid for fourth grade reading

22. Type of Research to Support the Assertion:Descriptive/Longitudinal • Describes students’ progress over K, 1st and/or 2nd • In other words, does not demonstrate causes (e.g. native language is better or worse than English reading instruction) • Does show what can happen without any serious researcher involvement in instruction or curriculum • Has been replicated and results are consistent

23. What Does the Research Say AboutEarly Identification? • For ELLs, as for Native speakers, Phonological processing measures are excellent predictors of potential at risk status • Oral language proficiency measures (English) are poor predictors of subsequent reading performance

24. What Does the Research Say About Rate of Learning to Read in English for ELLs? • The rate of ELL student learning can be the same as their native English speaking peers. • This is true for word reading, reading comprehension, phonological skill development in English • Not true for discourse comprehension or memory for sentences (Woodcock measure)

25. Roadblocks Some teachers think that: • Reading problems may resolve themselves once English learners develop proficiency in oral English. It is unfair to test a child in a language that she or he does not understand. • Native language assessments are more valid than English language measures for this group of students. Fine to do both. • It is inappropriate to teach phonological processing skills in a language that a child does not fully understand.

26. Recommendation 2: Intensive Small Group Reading Interventions • Level of Evidence: Strong • Evidence: Four randomized controlled trials using three curricula (What Works Clearinghouse website) • The three curricula shared many common characteristics • Impacts limited to reading and basic comprehension, no English language development effects

27. Suggestions • Use an intervention program with students who enter the first grade with weak reading and prereading skills, or with older elementary students with reading problems • Use it daily for at least 30 minutes in small, homogeneous groups of 3-6 students • Provide training and ongoing support for teachers

28. Recommendation 3:Extensive and Varied Vocabulary Instruction • Level of Evidence: Strong • Three intervention research studies demonstrate that intense and explicit vocabulary instruction enhances reading comprehension

29. Suggestions • Adopt a sound framework for vocabulary instruction that is evidence based. • Develop district-wide lists of essential words for vocabulary instruction. Teach essential content words in depth. • Vocabulary instruction for English learners should also emphasize the acquisition of meanings of everyday words and common words, phrases, and expressions that English Learners have not yet learned.

30. Roadblocks • Teaching vocabulary effectively is difficult. • Some teachers may incorrectly assume that English learners know a concept and the word for that concept in their primary language when, in fact, they do not. • Especially true for academic terms such as “dividend”, ratio, abolish, compromise…..

31. Recommendation 4: Develop Academic English • Level of Evidence: Low • Based on two intervention studies, on one correlational study, and on expert judgment. • English learners require considerable explicit and deliberate instruction to learn academic English.

32. Suggestions • Adopt a policy clearly stating that English learners must have a daily block of time devoted to development of academic English • Develop or purchase curricula that can be used to teach and develop academic English • Teach academic English in the earliest grades • Provide teachers with appropriate professional development to help them learn how to teach academic English

33. Recommendation 5:Regular Peer-assisted Learning Opportunities • Level of Evidence: Strong • Based on three high-quality experiments and quasi-experiments • All of these studies demonstrated positive impacts on reading achievement for students at varying ability levels

34. Suggestions • Ensure that teachers of English learners devote at least two hours a week to instructional activities where pairs of students at different ability levels and/or different English language proficiencies work together on academic tasks in a structured fashion. • These activities should provide practice and extension to material already taught.

35. U.S. Dept of EducationWebsite HighlightingEffective Practices SEE Forum, March 5, 2008 Nikola Filby

36. http://dww.ed.gov

37. DWW Goal Translate research-based practices into practical toolsthat support & improve classroom instruction.

38. Overview • Major initiative from the US Dept of Education • Directly addresses the needs of practitioners • Web-based resources on a wide range of topics • Teaching Reading to English Learners in Elementary School • Preschool Language & Literacy • Encouraging Girls in Math & Science • Cognition, Adolescent Literacy, Math & more

39. Putting It Together • Institute of Ed. Sciences (IES)research base • Practice Guides, What Works Clearinghouse, national panels • Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development (OPEPD) manages the project • Other ED offices support & disseminate • WestEd, RMC, AIR produce original content & tools to show practices in action • Little Planet Learning is the web developer • Focus groups & experts provide feedback

40. Website Tour • 5 separate practices on EL • Practice guides & research base • 30 + multimedia pieces on EL • expert interviews • instructional presentations • interviews & sample materials from schools • Tools & templates to implement practices