Suggestions for Pre-K English language assessment tools

Although the State of Missouri does not recognize or require a single assessment tool to evaluate the English language proficiency of pre-K learners, the question does come up from early childhood educators in Missouri.  A recent poll from MELL Specialists across the state, enabled me to curate a worthy list of pre-K assessment tools that MO districts might want to consider.  Please note that tools listed below do not represent an endorsement of their effectiveness:

MO DESE Early Learning Section recommends (not requires) The Desired Results Developmental Profile which has a section specifically for English Language Learners, more commonly known as the DRDP (2015).

The Bilingual Early Language Assessment (BELA) was recommended in a book called “One Child Two Languages”.  It was developed at Harvard and used in the Cambridge Public Schools:  BELA Toolkit

The State of Illinois uses (actually requires) the Pre-IPT

Many states use the Pre-LAS

A speech pathologist working in education in Seattle recommended Pre-school Language Scales, 5th Edition (Spanish)

The Texas pre-K language assessment was recommended as being especially helpful for students from migrant families.

If you are using a specific pre-K language assessment not included on this list, I’d love to hear from you.  Leave a comment with your recommendation, why you find it reliable, and provide a link if possible.

Thanks for reading and sharing!

Critical Design Questions for School Websites

 

I find significant gaps in eSchool News’ suggestions for developing school websites.  School districts must also consider how to ensure equal access to digital communications for parents and guardians whose dominant language is something other than English.  Sadly I don’t see the needs of ELL families addressed anywhere in this article. As a significant part of a school’s website design and functionality, it is my experience that districts also need to ask:

Does our district offer ELL parents language-translated versions of our website? If not, at least offer  https://translate.google.com/manager/website/

Does our district offer opportunities for ELL parents to gain hands-on training to learn how to navigate web resources?  A great example of how a local Missouri district solved this issue can be found in the April post featuring Center School District who shared how they support parents as learners.

Center Schools Provide ELL Parent Digital Literacy

Does our district offer resources to connect homes that are disenfranchised from accessing digital communications?  Deb Socia is the queen of this topic nationwide and provides constant updates about the progress she and others are making to bridge – and one day eradicate – the digital divide.

About NCC

Please ensure that all families can access your district’s digital communications.  Doing so will enable them to participate meaningfully in their child’s education.

What insights and resources for purposeful web design can you share? Leave a reply.

Raytown School District Enhances ELL Parent Engagement

 

NCLR Padres Comprometidos Summer Training of Trainers
NCLR Padres Comprometidos Summer Training of Trainers

An ongoing conversation that is once again at the forefront of educator discussions comes in light of ESSA. According to EdWeek, ESSA continues to encourage schools to strengthen the ability of ELL families to engage meaningfully with schools about their child’s education.  This fall Wendy Mejia, ELL Coordinator for Raytown School District, and Guadalupe Magaña, UMKC-RPDC MELL are piloting a family engagement program designed for parents and guardians who are also English language learners.

Preparations for the pilot began at the end of June 2016, when I accompanied Wendy Mejia to Fort Worth, Texas, for an invitational four-day training of trainers hosted by the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) to obtain certification in NCLR’s Padres Comprometidos (PC) model.  PC is a tested and proven effective parent engagement program for parents and guardians who are also English learners.  Guadalupe Magaña completed PC training shortly after her arrival at the UMKC-RPDC in July and brings a wealth of experience that will strengthen MELL’s capacity to offer PC to additional districts.

Wendy Mejia, ELL Coordinator, Raytown School District (right) and Diane Mora, UMKC-RPDC MELL Instructional Specialist at NCLR
Wendy Mejia, ELL Coordinator, Raytown School District (right) and Diane Mora, UMKC-RPDC MELL at NCLR training

“I am excited to offer Padres Comprometidos to our Spanish-speaking secondary parents here in Raytown because it’s a great curriculum designed to give parents the knowledge and tools they need so that they can more fully engage with our district to be more actively involved in their children’s education.  I think parents will learn so much!  I look forward to working with Guadalupe Magaña to initiate the program here.”  — Wendy Mejia, ELL Coordinator, Raytown School District

PC is broken into three levels of programming to address the specific informational needs of families of kindergarten, elementary, and secondary students.  The grade-specific design of PC is a major factor of its success.  The different tool kits take into account the differences in the “language” educators use to discuss student performance during parent-teacher meetings, for example. But PC addresses much more than parent-teacher conferences.  Its design contains highly relevant information for families who need English language support while also increasing their understanding of how to navigate school protocols, engage with school personnel, and advocate effectively for their student’s academic success.  All PC materials are available in English and Spanish which makes the training materials and the parent/guardian materials easily accessible for districts with higher concentrations of Spanish-speaking families.

Guadalupe Magaña, UMKC-RPDC MELL, prepares for Padres Comprometidos.
Guadalupe Magaña, UMKC-RPDC MELL, prepares for Padres Comprometidos.

Guadalupe has also embraced the training and the project with enthusiasm.  After completing training, she expressed her passion for this initiative:

“Padres Comprometidos is here to make a change in the Hispanic families. The goal of this program is to motivate parents to [encourage] their children to go to college by building communication between school and parents, and understanding what is needed to go to college.” – Guadalupe Magaña, UMKC-RPDC MELL Instructional Specialist

Raytown School District is further supporting the implementation of the first PC cohort with provisions for day care, refreshments, and supplies.  All of which demonstrates the district’s sensitivity to creating a welcoming environment for families, and underscores the district’s commitment to fostering parent engagement and family participation. Dr. Janie Pyle, Associate Superintendent of Curriculum Instruction and Assessment, Raytown School District, commented,

“This will support parent involvement activities for our ESL families.”  –Janie Pyle, Associate Superintendent, Raytown School District

Watch for an announcement communicating the date for Guadalupe to provide additional information at a 2016-2017 ELL Consortium meeting (date to be set). She and Wendy will also share updates about how the pilot is progressing in Raytown.

Based on the anticipated success of Raytown’s first parent cohort, Guadalupe is looking for two additional districts who are also willing to host a cohort during the 2016-2017 school year.  To find out more about PC and discuss the requirements for hosting a cohort of parents/guardians in your district, please email Guadalupe Magaña, maganag@umkc.edu.

In 2015-2016 the KCMELLblog featured the ELL parent digital literacy efforts at Center School District.  If you have an effective family engagement practice or model to share, please scroll down to the “Leave a comment” button and share your ideas! We would love to feature your district’s great work in a future blog post.  You may also share by emailing Diane Mora, morad@umkc.edu

 

 

Center School District Teachers Spend Summer in Guatemala

Center School District teachers completed a two-week Spanish-language immersion trip to Guatemala this summer after being awarded a travel grant offered by the Kauffman Foundation and Fund for Teachers.  Teachers participating in the trip were Kindergarten teacher, Rita Galle; Christian Nord (P.E.); Cayetana Maristela (ELL); Beth Eastman (Speech/ECE); Suzanne Turner (Art); Amy Carr (Art); and Tieranni Potts (1st Grade).

Center School District teachers with their Spanish-language teachers in Guatemala.
Center School District teachers with their Spanish-language teachers in Guatemala.

The team chose an immersion program run by Escuela Juan Sisai in Xela (Quetzaltenango).  Cayetana Maristela speaks highly of the experience and considers the school’s Spanish language package a great value at $210 per week for five, five-hour 1:1 Spanish classes.  Although Cayetana was an ELL student during her K-12 education and is a highly fluent adult, she said this trip increased her empathy for ELL students at Center.  When asked to describe the experience of being back in the student’s role of learning a new language (in this case Spanish), Cayatena said,

“This is the first time I’ve tried to learn Spanish formally.  As a 53 year old, it’s not that easy.”

Laughing at her own frustration about being corrected by her Spanish-language teacher in Guatemala this summer, Cayetana asked,

“Are you really going to hold me to the correct verb tense?”

To which her teacher promptly replied, “Yes.  You really do need to know the correct verb tense.”  The experience gave Cayetana an opportunity to reflect on how often she’s said something similar to ELLs at Indian Creek and Red Bridge.

Cayatana Maristela pictured with her Spanish-language teacher, Carolina Molina, showing offer her Spanish-language certificate.
Cayatana Maristela pictured with her Spanish-language teacher, Carolina Molina, showing offer her Spanish-language certificate.

Despite the challenges, I’m happy to report that Cayetana did graduate from her summer learning program!  The photo to the right, proves it.

Sisai School also provided two mini conferences during the week.  During her two-week stay, Cayetana attended mini conferences featuring Gabriel Garcia Marquez (writer from Colombia), the legends of Guatemala, and an exploration of the volcanoes of Guatemala.

As a way to immerse travelers in the language and culture, Sisai School placed the Center teachers with host families who provided three meals each day, including weekends.  Many of the families have hosted students for several years.  Cayetana advises,

“If you’re considering an immersion trip through Sisai School, remember that there is no heating system – during the rainy season, be prepared to bring heavier clothing, jackets with hoods, and umbrellas!

Inside this cup, Cayatan holds hot chocolate she and the other Center teachers made during a tour of a local chocolatier.
Inside this cup, Cayetana holds hot chocolate she and the other Center teachers made during a tour of a local chocolatier.

 

Sisai Spanish School also offered optional afternoon activities (some are free).  These ranged from cooking classes, walking tours of cemeteries, visits to a chocolatier, a visit with AMA (an organization that promotes women’s concerns), a visit to a hot spring, volcano climbing, and trips to an outdoor market in another town via a ride on the “chicken” bus.

School also offers a laundry service.  You simply bring your dirty clothes to school when you arrive for the morning class, and by the end of the day your clothes are returned clean and folded.  There is a charge for the laundry service, calculated by the weight of the clothes.

Traveling to Guatemala itself was easy and inexpensive.  Plane tickets cost about $600.00, and transportation from Guatemala City to Xela and back was an additional $100.00.  The group decided to spend one night in Guatemala City, so there was an additional cost for the hostel that night.

“I would return again.  In fact, we met a woman from Germany [who was on] her third time in Xela!” – Cayetana Marisela

When asked how her experiences in Guatemala will impact her practice as an ELL teacher,  Cayetana didn’t hesitate to find the right words,

“The trip renewed my empathy for ELLs because as much as we think we know [about teaching], I don’t remember my own experience of being an ELL student trying to learn English.  I’d forgotten how hard it is.”

If you have questions about her experience in Guatemala or about her experience applying for the Funds for Teachers grant, you can reach Cayetana Maristela, ELL teacher in Center School District, at cmaristela@center.k12.mo.us

Dandelions along a footpath in Guatemala.
Dandelions along a footpath in Guatemala.

 

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” ~Aristotle.

 

Did you have a unique or inspiring experience this summer that will impact your teaching?  Please share via “Leave a Comment” or email, Diane Mora, MELL Instructional Specialist, at morad@umkc.edu.  I’d love to write about you!

KCPS Uses Data to Drive Academic Success for ELLs

I can’t say enough good things about Allyson Hile, Director of ELL Services at Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS), and her entire staff.  On April 11, Allyson and Stephanie Easley, ELL Assessment Coordinator at KCPS, gave an informative presentation to ELL Coordinators from surrounding districts.  During the presentation Allyson and Stephanie shared their strategies for comparing MAP achievement to language proficiency, enabling them to make better informed decisions about cohort improvements and successes.

Recently they also began making use of new data reports available from WIDA through ELLevation, a data management software specifically for ACCESS data. The data digs are paying off, enabling KCPS to see more than just student trends, but also cohort trends that point to teaching practices having the greatest impact on improving the academic performance of ELLs.

Near the end of the presentation, Allyson talked about a highly valuable yet unintended outcome of their hard work – which has been the ability to use this data in district and building-level conversations about student success.  Given that the KCPS is home to over 4,000 ELLs speaking about 40 different first languages, building and classroom teacher buy-in is necessary to sustain the supports the ELL staff can offer.

With Allyson’s permission, I’m happy to provide a downloadable version of the step-by-step PowerPoint that was shared,  Using data for ELL Success.

Additional questions or sharing ideas of how you’re using data in your district may be posted as a reply to this story, or you may contact Allyson Hile, Director of ELL Services, KCPS at ahile@kcpublicschools.org

 

Center Schools Provide ELL Parent Digital Literacy

On Monday, April 11, Linda Innes, ELL Coordinator and ELL teacher at Center School District, shared step-by-step examples of how she and her staff enlisted the help of area multilingual high school students to help ELL parents access and utilize the district’s school-to-home digital communication, Infinite Campus.

You can download this powerpoint, How Digital Literacy for ELL Parents Improves Parent[2], created by Linda and embedded with permission, for a step-by-step visual of how she and her staff made the parent trainings possible.  Embedded in the powerpoint are four live action video of students and parents working together with coaching from Linda.  (Be sure you’re in slide show mode to access the video embeds, which can be found by hovering over the clip art characters on slide 7.)

Linda also generously shares the visual guide she created to help parents and their digital student-tutors create passwords for the Infinite Campus system.  Download it from this link, Infinite Campus Parent Portal User Guide2015[1]

Being a forward thinker (or backward planner), Linda knew she needed to be prepared to assist ELL parents with those preliminary log-in passwords that challenge even English-dominant users.  She created a buddy system to connect parents and digital tutors which turned out to be an undertaking of its own.  In this separate, short video, Linda provides a visual of the notebook she designed to organize the matches between parents and digital student-tutors.

The ELL parent digital literacy training was arranged on the same evening as the district’s annual ELL family dinner.  What a great way to combine engagement and involvement.

A huge thank you and kudos to Linda Innes, her staff, the student volunteers, and the entire Center School District for putting ELL family needs at the forefront of parent engagement!

You may leave replies or questions for Linda on the KCMELLblog and I’ll forward them, or you can write to Linda directly at linnes@center.k12.mo.us

 

March 2016 Research Reports on ECE and Young Children of Refugees

 

If you prefer audio to reading, you can catch this one hour Migration Policy Institute (MPI) presentation about MPI’s current findings on the educational progress of young refugee children in the United States.  I only perused a portion of the entire presentation (not due to lack of interest or applicability, I prefer text to audio), but it appears to provide an overview of key research findings and verbal discussions of data graphs from the written reports which I’ve encapsulated below.

I’m naturally a “close reader” and here are a few takeaways from each report, which by all means should not preclude you from investigating the plethora of information you’ll find upon your own close read.

Providing a Head Start:  Improving Access to Early Childhood Education for Refugees by Lyn Moreland, Nicole Ives, Clea McNeely, and Chenoa Allen, March 2016, Migration Policy Institute (MPI)

Although my background is not in early childhood education, I skimmed this report from the perspective of an educator with eight years of experience teaching immigrant, migrant, and refugee adults who are often also parents of children attending U.S. schools.  I frequently encounter an attitude of disdain from English-dominant literate adults who make an assumption that adult ELLs are somehow at personal fault for a lack of English proficiency.  There are many factors which contribute to an adult’s struggle to learn a new language; among them are the social and emotional implications tied to learning a new language that is not chosen as a purely educational or hobbyist pursuit.  When language is thrust upon you as one factor among many on a long list of survival needs that must be prioritized with food, shelter, and employment, the dissonance of needing English in order to get survival needs met locks even highly educated ELLs into linguistically isolating circumstances.    Parents in my adult ELL class frequently get a bad rap for non-participation in their child’s education or for seemingly not caring about it.  This is simply not a stereotype that can be applied any more broadly to parents who are ELLs (U.S-born or not) than can be said conversely about English-dominant parents.  The following excerpt from the MPI report illuminates barriers many PK-20 educators haven’t encountered in their own lives, and are therefore unlikely to consider as underlying causes for what the see as an intentional lack of parent participation.  MPI sites the following barriers to families’ participation [in ECEC programs] as primarily:

 “Those with limited formal education may not realize the importance of ECEC for their children’s educational success.  When parents are new to this country, they are less likely to understand ECEC programs and how to access them, and their beliefs regarding child rearing and education may differ from those in the U.S. mainstream.21  These barriers to ECEC participation are compounded when immigrant parents have limited English proficiency and low educational attainment and literacy – characteristics that are common among refugees resettled to the United States, given their increasingly diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.22” (p 5)

My opinion is that we need to be watchful of our nation’s history of using education as a means of assimilation over acculturation.  Otherwise how do we ensure that our intentions and motivations don’t impose child-rearing practices that might truncate or usurp a stay-at-home-parenting model of young children that may be even more critical to a family who places a different emphasis on by whom and how a child should be nurtured in the early years?  How might differing beliefs about parenting combined with a personal history of previously forced family separations often experienced by refugee and migrant families also impact parent reluctance to enroll children in ECEC?  And if that is a contributing factor, I wonder how many (if any) ECEC programs exist that are created on a model where the parent and child attend together, explicitly with the intention that the parent learns English through their role as a caregiver while attending to their child at the ECEC?  In creating one we would be serving two needs through one program.  This would require that ECEC staff be trained in or have at least one staff member trained in educating ELL adults.  And this model would enable parents who become bilingual to assume teaching responsibilities within the ECEC in the future.  Pardon my daydreaming…back to the MPI reports.

A separate report also issued by MPI in March 2016 is, “Young Children of Refugees in the United States:  Integration Successes and Challenges” by Kate Hooper, Jie Zong, Randy Capps, and Michael Fix.  This report focuses on children up to age 10 who are living with refugee parents in the United States and mirrors the emerging profiles of parents noted in the ECEC research report encapsulated above:

“Another risk factor is the low education level or illiteracy of a parent.  Lacking reliable data on refugees’ educational attainment at resettlement, this study employs data on native-language literacy as a proxy.34” (p 11)

“Proxy” meaning that refugees often “self-report” their native language literacy levels and are not given a native language literacy screening test.

“The English-language skills of arriving refugees varied widely according to their origins (see Figure 3).  Eighty-nine percent of Liberians reported speaking some English (with 44 percent speaking good English), but only 4 percent of Cubans made the same claim (with less than 1 percent speaking good English).  More recent arrivals (e.g. from Bhutan and Liberia) were more likely to speak English prior to resettlement than some of the larger groups with longer U.S. residence (from Ukraine, Russia, and Cuba) – further evidence that the English proficiency of refugee arrivals has risen over time.”  (p 12)

These findings might also connect to the research report I posted and encapsulated in last week’s blog entry that examined which linguistic populations reclassify from language services most rapidly in K-12 and emerging patterns indicating why.

Although the MPI report on young refugee children recognizes that a risk factor of children of refugees is “low parental English proficiency and high poverty” (p 2), the report also speaks of many highly valuable family structures that will enlighten some educators and administrators.  For example,

“many children in refugee families benefit from protective factors such as strong family structures, high parental employment, and high parental education.”  (p 2)

The supporting data paints a complimentary comparison of parental supports in families who are also refugee in comparison to how some children of U.S.-born parents fare educationally.  This underscores what I see in ELL adults who are highly educated in their first language – similar to their children, ELL parents experience a cultural and linguistic barrier that disenfranchises them from fully expressing their desire to participate in their own much less their children’s educational pursuits.

While the MPR report substantiates the existence of ELL parent disenfranchisement as partially a linguistic one, the report also provides evidence that a strong network of social service and public benefits exists to support refugee family integrationin the U.S., and that as a result children

“fare as well or almost as well as children with U.S.-born parents on several indicators.  There are some exceptions to this largely positive story, however.  Linguistic isolation is high among refugee families, including Cubans and Vietnamese, the two largest and most established groups.”  (emphasis added)  (p 2)

How are you meeting the needs of refugee families in your school district or community?  I, and other readers, would love to hear from you.

March 2016 study on length of time to reclassification

I predict that reclassification of English learner students is going to be a major point of discussion as states move forward with ESSA implementation.  This March 2016 study from REL Northwest is a must-read for anyone who plans to be part of the discussions about accountability measures pertaining to English learner students.

State agencies may wish to consider taking English proficiency at entry to kindergarten into account when determining appropriate targets for federal accountability measures, for example, by setting longer expected times to reclassification and providing additional support to students entering school with basic or intermediate levels of English language proficiency.  Many states are also implementing new standards for college and career readiness and overhauling their assessment and accountability systems, both of which involve setting additional targets for English learner students.  A better understanding of the factors related to variation in time to proficiency may allow states to establish targets that take particular factors , such as English proficiency,  into account.

Conducted in school districts in Washington state, the study (linked above) attempted to use “survival analysis” (meaning it accounted for the impact of student demographics and differences in schools) in its findings.  Among several interesting outcomes, the research illuminates a deficiency in accountability measures that is likely seen in many (if not all) states:

“Previously…districts were able to determine only how many students had been reclassified in a given year and not how many years it took them to be reclassified, which is the main focus of this study.” – page 2

While the study focuses on language development based on a student’s English proficiency upon entering Kindergarten, I think the most compelling findings of the study surround the “significant difference” that:

“Speakers of Chinese, Vietnamese, or Russian or Ukraine are  reclassified sooner than speakers of Somali or Spanish.”  – Figure 3, page 8

And although adult ELLs are not addressed in this research it’s worth noting that the findings quoted above mirror a phenomenon I find in my adult ESL classroom.  My classroom consists of 30 adult ELL students representing 14 different first languages and 16 countries.  Following a recent language development assessment, I found that students whose first language was a language other than Spanish were progressing exponentially faster through ESL class levels than students whose first language was Spanish.  Even when the speakers of those other languages (in my case Persian, Chinese, Portuguese, Urdu, and Tamil) had only lived in the U.S. less than one year they were testing into the next highest level of development after one year or less of English class.  Conversely, far too many of my Spanish-speaking students have lived in the U.S. more than 9 years and in some cases were even born in the U.S., but did not learn enough English as children and adolescents to successfully graduate K-12.

Returning to the focus on K-12 English learner students, this research report is worth reading.  And if you’re at all concerned with the effects of English language development on high school graduation, I encourage you to check out the references cited at the end of the study.  Many of which I’ve earmarked for further reading myself.

If you’ve read “English learner student characteristics and time to reclassification: An example From Washington state”, Motamedi, Singh, and Thompson, March 2016, I hope you’ll leave a reply with your take-aways.  And if you’ve read other insightful literature on the topic of EL characteristics and time to reclassify I hope you’ll share as well.

Thanks for reading!

All PD is not created alike

I’ve just finished reading Work Simply by Carson Tate. (I found audio and print versions at my public library.)

Tate’s last two chapters (14 and 15), Lead a Meeting Revolution and Putting it All Together, respectively, offer some solid reminders for why all meetings should not be created alike.  She also offers profiles of how participants process information differently based on “personal productivity styles.”

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how to up my game in the creation and delivery of PD versus trainings versus meetings – Tate’s insights on how to organize meetings toward a specific outcome aren’t 100% new, but she does offer some solid reminders that are all too easy to forget.

Work Simply: Embracing the Power of your Personal Productivity Style by Carson Tate, published 2015 by Portfolio/Penguin

ISBN: 978-1-59184-730-4

Appropriateness of Online Discussions in the ELL Classroom

Last semester I posted a blog about multicultural youth literature.  A favorite book on my recommendation list is Sold.

Here’s how a National Writing Project  found that “Sold” fostered immigrant students’ abilities to participate in on-line discussion groups in meaningful ways.

How have you incorporated Sold in your classroom?