Addressing the Needs of At-Risk Learners Through Effective Policy & Programming

1. Addressing the Needs of At-Risk Learners Through Effective Policy & Programming Nonie K. Lesaux, PhD Striving Readers Comprehensive Public Meeting United States Department of Education November 19, 2010 Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE

2. Framework • Context: The 21st Century America • Pressing Issues: What Can We Learn From Recent Research? • Designing Policies & Practices: How Can We Link What We Know To What We Do? Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE

3. Context: The 21st Century America • 1 in 5 children is the child of an immigrant • Over 400 different native languages are represented • The immigrant population’s growth rate is 3 times as fast as that for the overall population • Largest and fastest growing group of immigrants are U.S. born children of Latino immigrants • 80% of immigrant population (Fry & Gonzales, 2008; NCES, 2006; US Census Bureau) Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE

4. Summary: The 21st Century America Cultural, linguistic, and economic diversity is a reality for the nation as a whole • For all settings and all programs serving children Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE

5. Framework • Context: The 21st Century America • Pressing Issues: What Can We Learn From Recent Research? • Designing Policies & Practices: How Can We Link What We Know To What We Do? Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE

6. Trends In Reading Development • Three developmental studies to inform instruction: • Preschool to Early Adolescence (ELLs) • 5-year study, 4th - 8th grade (ELLs) • Comparative study of ELLs and native English speakers (strugglers, 6th grade) Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE

7. National Monolingual Norms Letter-Word ID WLPB-R W Scores Absolute Rate of Growth National: 135 W-score Points Absolute Rate of Growth Sample: 145 W-score Points Age 4.5 Age 5 Age 6 Age 7 Age 8 Age 11 (fall preK) (spring preK) (kinder) (1st grade) (2nd grade) (5thgrade) ES: 0.5 0.1 -0.2 -0.2 0.1 0.04 Mancilla-Martinez &Lesaux, in press

8. National Monolingual Norms Productive Vocabulary WLPB-R W Scores Absolute Rate of Growth National: 45 W-score Points Absolute Rate of Growth Sample: 60 W-score Points Age 4.5 Age 5 Age 6 Age 7 Age 8 Age 11 (fall preK) (spring preK) (kinder) (1st grade) (2nd grade) (5th grade) ES: 1.8 1.8 1.6 1.3 0.9 1.0 Mancilla-Martinez &Lesaux, in press

9. 58 5th Grade National Norms 1.64 SD Latent Reading Comprehension Score Average Fitted Score 1 SD below ½ SD below average ½ SD above 1 SD above Mancilla-Martinez & Lesaux, in press

10. The Gap between Reading Words & Comprehending Text Crosson&Lesaux, 2009; Lesaux, Crosson, Kieffer& Pierce, in press

11. Struggling Comprehendersin Middle School Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE Lesaux &Kieffer, 2010

12. Follow-Up Work: Behind these Scores • Think-aloud protocol with a subsample from preK to early adolescence study • The Dilemma: • they appear to be “active” comprehenders, i.e., report strategy use and have clearly reasoned processes for finding information • they don’t bring the word and world knowledge required for comprehension. • Strategies are a mechanism for leveraging background knowledge; Without the former, the latter is insufficient Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE

13. Substantial Variability in Teachers’ Input

14. Teacher Talk Findings • Language Minority learners benefited from teachers’ use of sophisticated vocabulary • Native English speakers showed increases in vocabulary as a function of teachers’ use of complex sentences • Teachers’ use of sophisticated vocabulary significantly impacted students’ reading comprehension • Benefitted LM and EO learners equally • In the absence of intervention the magnitude of this • relationship is the same as many intervention • results • Gamez & Lesaux, under review Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE

15. Framework: Effective State-Level Plans • Context: The 21st Century America • Pressing Issues: What Can We Learn From Recent Research? • Designing Policies & Practices: How Can We Link What We Know To What We Do? Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE

16. Guidelines for Effective State-Level Literacy Plans, Birth to 12th Grade Knowledge Building reading writing speaking listening Sufficient Intensity to Meet Readers’ Needs

17. Ensure programs are delivered with sufficient intensity, duration, and scope • Birth to 5, Family Literacy Programs: • Revisit supported programs to • determine effectiveness for • literacy learning • Focus on impact before focusing • on reach • Reallocation of resources • for depth

18. Ensure programs are delivered with sufficient intensity, duration, and scope • PK-12 Literacy Model: • Supplemental supports for strugglers at all grade levels • closer match to daily instructional content • closer match between reader needs & intervention (assessment-driven) • Includes a plan to buffer summer learning loss • Closer connections to after-school programs

19. Guidelines for Effective State-Level Literacy Plans, Birth to 12th KnowledgeBuilding reading writing speaking listening Sufficient Intensity to Meet Readers’ Needs Knowledge-Based Literacy Instruction

20. Problem Spaces Large problem spaces Small problem spaces vocabulary spelling rules meaning sight vocabulary letters syntactic structure knowledge phonological representations phonemes Genre features language structures Adapted from Snow (2007)

21. Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE

22. How do we actually do this? With an integrated, knowledge-based approach, rather than one that simply promises to “balance” skills instruction need to further problematize the notion of balanced instruction

23. Shifting the ParadigmReading Instruction in the Service of… Reading Skills Content Learning

24. Shifting the Paradigm in all Learning Settings (con’t) • An increase in opportunities for academic productive talk, beyond providing responses • A focus on academic language over conversational language -especially for ELLs -For newcomer ELLs, move quickly from basic/survival English to academic language • BUT...educators and children need big ideas to talk about • across all settings and program • Talk needs to connect to content learning Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE

25. Knowledge-Building Literacy Instruction Read Aloud (narrative & expository) Novel Study and/or Early Readers Extended Writing A Big Idea or Question What makes a community? Study of Words that Represent Abstract Concepts Collaborative Research Project Debate in Teams

26. Alignment with Common Core Standards • Anchor Standards from the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts: • Integration of Knowledge and Ideas • Research to Build and Present Knowledge • Comprehension and Collaboration • Knowledge of Language • Vocabulary Acquisition and Use Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE

27. Guidelines for Effective State-Level Literacy Plans, Birth to 12th KnowledgeBuilding reading writing speaking listening Re-defined adult roles & capacity-building models Sufficient Intensity to Meet Readers’ Needs Knowledge-Based Literacy Instruction

28. 3. Increase adults’ capacity to assess and support children’s language and reading development • No longer feasible to rely on specialist/specialization models • historically inefficient and ineffective, anyway • universal design for learning (setting-level) • Expand professional education • Birth to 5 settings • After-School & Family Literacy • Middle & High School Teachers • Fostering site-level instructional leadership • clear roles for administrators

29. Guidelines for Effective State-Level Literacy Plans, Birth to 12th KnowledgeBuilding reading writing speaking listening Ongoing Assessment of Children & Quality of Settings Re-defined adult roles & capacity-building models Sufficient Intensity to Meet Readers’ Needs Knowledge-Based Literacy Instruction

30. 4. Conduct early and ongoing assessments of children’s language and reading, and the quality of settings and supports • In many cases, first state-wide indicator of children’s comprehension is 3rdgrade • early literacy assessments are mostly code-based • Even starting in preK is late! • Partnerships with community & medical providers • Assessment often focuses exclusively on children and students • -significant reasons to need to assess quality of settings • Ideally within a statewide database • track development, including language and reading • promote program evaluation

31. Summary: Key Points • Increased intensity of many support services & standard practice • including summer & after-school • Knowledge-Based Literacy instruction • content goals • knowledge gaps rather than skills gaps • professional development plans • Assessments of language development should begin long before school starts • PK-12th grade assessment systems • include a significant focus on oral language Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE

32. Summary: Serving At-Risk Populations • Increase opportunities to build oral language skills, from an early age -assessment-supports link -community-school partnerships • Favor academic language over conversational English/basic communication -assessment & instruction -extended discourse through high school • Formal plan for continued support for reclassified ELLs -universal design for learning Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group HGSE