Category: ESSA

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

 

 

EL Advocacy and Involvement in 2016!

Want to amp up your advocacy efforts for ELs? You have 17 days to shape EL education and include your opinions in how education history is shaped moving forward with ESSA!  From the Federal Register:

The Secretary [of Education] invites advice and recommendations from interested parties involved with the implementation and operation of programs under title I concerning topics for which regulations or nonregulatory guidance may be necessary or helpful as States and LEAs transition from NCLB and implement the ESSA.
The Secretary specifically invites advice and recommendations from State and local education administrators, parents, teachers and teacher organizations, principals, other school leaders (including charter school leaders), paraprofessionals, members of local boards of education, civil rights and other organizations representing the interests of students (including historically underserved students), representatives of the business community, and other organizations involved with the implementation and operation of title I programs.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public comments in response to this document by accessing Regulations.gov. You may also inspect the comments in person at U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., Room 3E306, Washington, DC, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, Monday through Friday of each week except Federal holidays.”

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT the folks at the Federal Register.

Other opportunities to get involved as a change agent and local folks who are doin’ it!

  • KC-area’s very own, Laura Lukens hit the top of the list again on January 1, 2016, with GO TO Strategies!  Check out the link to TESOL national’s post about getting back to basics with teaching ELs: Scaffold, Model, Pronounce, Assess, and Read!
  • KCPS’s talented Allyson Hile is sharing her expertise through Leading Educator’s on January 20.  I’m planning to attend.  Will I see you there?

Leading Educator’s January Facilitated Learning Group on ELL Strategies!
Where: Leading Educators’ Office, Westport
When: Wednesday, January 20 from 5:30-7:30
Fee: No Cost!
Are you currently serving English Language Learners or coaching others who do? Are you responsible for leading PD on effective ELL strategies?  If so, join us for our January Facilitated Learning Group on ELL Strategies! Come learn from one of the most knowledgeable ELL instructors and coaches in the city, Allyson Hile – current Director of ELL for KCPS and LE alumna.
To RSVP, email sgermano@leadingeducators.org

What’s going on in your district or your professional development efforts that’s noteworthy? Post a comment and let us know. Happy 2016!!

ESSA’s Impact on ELs

If you don’t regularly follow the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) “Capital Connections” weekly e-newsletter, you might want to tune in and check out their comparison of ESSA NCLB here.   ASCD’s clarification on the implementation of ESSA communicates that:

“NCLB waivers expire on August 1, 2016, and ESSA will be implemented as the law of the land beginning in the 2017-2018 school year.”  ASCD, Capital Connections

In a previous post I provided links to a set of comparative tables created by the  Alliance for Excellent Education.  However, I appreciate ASCD’s tables for several explicit references pertaining to the impacts of ESSA on English learners – and even more specifically in the areas of  Assessments and Accountability. You can find the full set of ASCD comparative tables here.

“[ESSA] shifts accountability for English language learners into Title I; allows schools to phase in the use of English language learner’s test results for accountability purposes.”  — ASCD, Capital Connections

While it remains to be seen how MO DESE* and MELL** will communicate the impacts of ESSA to Missouri educators of English learners, I’ll post information as it becomes available. From what I can see at this early stage of development, it seems that in several instances MO DESE has more rigorous expectations of districts than the Feds. Time will tell if I’m wrong in my assumption, but the way I see it unless MO DESE were to relax its expectations of educators in our state I imagine Missouri will continue status quo – at least in the short term.  This article from Melissa Tooley over at New America aligns with my thoughts:

“Under ESSA, states still must test students in grades 3-8 and once in high school and use test results to inform their assessment of schools’ performance. And states are still required to break out school performance by student demographic subgroups, and intervene in schools where specific subgroups of students are chronically performing extremely poorly. But ESSA allows states to develop their own school accountability rating systems, providing only rough guidelines for how to identify schools in need of improvement. Also, ESSA limits the number of schools states must target for improvement and expects local school districts to step in and help struggling schools. States must only step in if districts are unsuccessful in helping schools improve. And while that’s all actually quite similar to what states with NCLB waivers are doing now, under ESSA, there is no requirement that states put teacher accountability and improvement systems in place, though they have the option to do so.”  – Melissa Tooley, Reporter, NewAmerica.org

An interesting point that Tooley raises near the end of her article is that one downfall of NCLB was that its requirement for school improvement wasn’t explicit enough —  many schools had no idea how to initiate steps to create the necessary changes. Tooley believes under ESSA schools may continue to sweep quality improvements of teachers (and therefore, student learning) under the rug as long as the “larger community is content” that a “majority of students are doing well”. The implications for ELs is that historically they remain a small enough subgroup in many districts that it proves Tooley’s observation sadly valid. But as the numbers of ELs in Missouri continues to grow, those of us who focus on this amazing demographic of students may find increasing opportunities to showcase the strengths of ELs and EL Education Specialists.
What are your questions or thoughts about the impact of ESSA on EL education?

*Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
**Missouri Migrant Education and English Language Learners