Transcript Slide 1

Enhancing Assessment and
Building Communities of Practice:
Priority Projects at CIC
Yves Saint-Germain
Integration Branch
TESL Ontario Conference 2010
Overview of Presentation
Context
 Departmental priorities
 Areas of exploration
Priority projects:
 Enhancing Assessment:

Portfolio-based Language Assessment (PBLA) in LINC
 CLB Achievement Test
 National Repository of language tools and resources
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Context
“Language gives people the tools they need to further their skills and find their place in the world. The
ability to effectively communicate in either English or French is crucial to success in Canada.”
– Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism

Ministerial priorities

LINC Program Evaluation

Renewal of the Canadian Language Benchmarks / Niveaux
de compétence linguistique canadiens

Coordinated Language Assessment and Referral System
(CLARS)
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CIC Priorities in Language Training
 Encouraging more immigrants to access and complete language
training
– Evaluate results of vouchers pilot project
– Expand occupation-specific and in-workplace training options
– Increase use of e-learning tools and technologies
 Enhancing measurement and reporting of program results
– Standardized testing and better in-class tools
– Improved reporting of program data
– Sector-wide performance measurement strategy
 Ensuring comparable program quality across Canada
– Share best practices and build teacher communities through interactive website that
includes social media applications
– Expand professional development opportunities for teachers
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Areas of Exploration
Work underway on issues including:
 Informal learning approaches
 Language training in the workplace
 Better ways to serve FSL learners
 Role of HRSDC’s Essential Skills in the LINC program
 More effective student intake process
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Enhancing Assessment
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Issue in Brief

Language assessment should ideally consist of three related components:
1. Placement
2. Learning (Progress)
3. Achievement

While these components share some common elements,
each serves a specific purpose.
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Placement
Testing to place learners in suitable
second language training
• Sorting tool
• General
• Short
• Low-stakes
Current Status
 Before entering training, learners receive
a placement assessment from trained
language assessors who deliver one of
several standardized placement tests (e.g.
CLBA, CLBPT, ELTPA).
 CIC regards existing placement
procedures as sound – efficient, effective
and reliable.
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Learning
 Program-specific assessment to measure
PLACEMENT
• Program-based
• Diagnostic
• Ongoing & incremental
• Teacher-administered
incremental learner gains
 Closely linked to course content
 Usually informal in nature, though results
can be tracked to measure program
performance
Current Status
 LINC teachers conduct ongoing assessments
of their learners using a variety of tools,
some of their own making
 Many use CIC-funded assessment tools to
provide support and begin to standardize the
process (e.g. SAM, CLB Exit Tasks)
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Achievement
 Formal and narrowly-focused
PLACEMENT
LEARNING
testing to pinpoint the proficiency
of participants, regardless of how
their language skills were acquired
• Precise and reliable
• Time and resource
intensive
• Recognized and
comparable
• High-stakes
Current Status
 To date, placement and
progress assessment
tools have been used as
indicators of program
results.
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A coherent system
 Each component is important for overall
program integrity
PLACEMENT
PLACEMENT
 No single tool can accomplish all of the
objectives in each area
 To be coherent as a single
LEARNING
LEARNING
ACHIEVEMENT
ACHIEVEMENT
system, each tool must take the
same approach to language
assessment and instruction
(CLB)
 Investment in all three tools
safeguards the validity of each
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LINC: Current Situation
Placement
LINC
Assessment
Centres deliver
standardized,
CLB-based
placement
tests
Learning*
No
standardized
system for
performance
measurement
data
Achievement
No
standardized
achievement
test
(teachers use a
variety of tools,
some of their own
making)
* Encompasses both promotion from one training level to the next and completion of the entire program (“exit”).
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LEARNING
1. Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA)
General
settlement info
Benefits and
CLB Levels
CLB Lit –
CLB 2
Regional
info
CLB 2-4
Student
Notes
Language
portfolio
The Language Companion will provide students with national and regional settlement information,
Essential English reference material, a place to keep class notes, and My Portfolio, where students will
collect examples of their language tasks in listening, speaking, reading and writing.
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LEARNING
PBLA in the learning cycle
Provides evidence of learning
Basis of student evaluation
EXIT
Contributes to
final outcomes
evaluation
(Coupled with
Milestones Test
at CLB 4 +)
TERM END
Initial assessment:
CLB placement test
ENTRY
Assembled over time, a portfolio
provides evidence of progress
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LEARNING
Project timeline
2009
2010
2011
• PBLA design begins – Field test and implementation plans, Best
Practices Guide for teachers, Language Companion
• Advisory committees of LINC teachers and administrators
• PD workshops delivered to field test teachers in Ottawa
• Province of Ontario (MCI) agreement to join Field Test
• Field test launched in October
• Report on evaluation of PD workshops
• Consider larger implementation issues – e.g. adaptation for FSL (CLIC)
and online courses
• Field Test culminates in Evaluation Report with recommendations for
roll-out
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ACHIEVEMENT
2. CLB Achievement Test
 Single-stage test covering
CLB 3- to 9+
 Answers the question: “What
Benchmark has this candidate
achieved?”
 Particularly robust at two key
milestones: CLB 4 and 7-9
 Third party assessment independent
of training programs
 Delivered in secure manner
consistent with high-stakes usage
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ACHIEVEMENT
Purpose of the test
Not a program exit test – content is general and not related to a particular
curriculum or instructor's teaching objectives
Not an occupation-specific assessment – content not related to any
particular field



Optional credential for those wishing to have an official recognition of
_their benchmark levels
Facilitate flow of newcomers into education/training and labour market
_
Motivate students to set and achieve meaningful learning goals
_
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ACHIEVEMENT
Project timeline
2009
2010
2011
• CIC-commissioned research on high-stakes testing
• Request for Proposals for English test development
• National coalition of experts assembled by Centre for Canadian
Language Benchmarks (CCLB) selected
• Planning phase (test blueprint and pilot plan) completed in Spring
• All 4 test components developed – listening, speaking, reading & writing
• Validation of test items this Fall with some 2,000 learners in Halifax,
Ottawa, Hamilton, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver
• Presentation of assessor training materials and recommendations for
how to best operationalize test in keeping with its high-stakes nature
• Discussions between CIC and Québec’s Ministère de l’immigration et
communautés culturelles (MICC) regarding potential partnership for
creation of equivalent test in French
• Submission of two complete test forms and pilot report in Spring
• Piloting of delivery infrastructure
• Development of French Achievement Test
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Summary
Placement
Learning
LINC
Assessment
Centres deliver
standardized,
CLB-based
placement
tests
Portfolio-based
Language
Assessment
Achievement
CLB-based
Language
Achievement
Test
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Building Communities
of Practice
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A Shared Federal-Provincial Repository
Objectives:
 To facilitate broader access to adult language teaching, assessment and
research resources that have been developed by Canadian professionals
to meet the needs of our newcomers
 To foster support, sharing and collaboration within the CLB/NCLC
practitioner community
 To identify gaps and avoid duplication in the development of new
resources
 To support planning for long-term sustainability
 To safeguard corporate memory
 To enhance and promote ongoing professional development
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Features
curriculum guidelines
 lesson and module plans
 handouts
 worksheets
 templates
 web-based learning objects
 audio and video clips
 images

 Database






assessment tasks
 rubrics and rating scales
 teacher training resources
 policy and management documents
 research papers
 searchable discussion forums
 links to external resources

Discussion forums
RSS feeds
Wikis
Polling and surveys tools
Job listings
Calendar of events
*user-driven content rating system
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Guiding Principles
1.
Community-led
Made by and for language training professionals
across Canada. With seed money from CIC, users
collectively populate and develop the kind of site
they would like to have.
2.
ESL and FSL
Contributions in French from Québec and Francophone communities across
Canada.
3.
User-friendliness and Simplicity
Intuitive design, with tutorial elements incorporated. For those less familiar
with web 2.0 tools, the site teaches you how to use them.
4.
Adaptability
Things change. System built to allow new content, using new media in yet-tobe-invented formats. Use of open standards to safeguard against obsolescence.
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Guiding Principles
5.
Searchability and Interconnectivity
Users can search the catalogue of materials in multiple ways:
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Project Timeline
2009
2010
2011
• Committee of federal and provincial government
representatives reach agreement on core elements of a shared
national repository
• Feasibility study of technical requirements, including
consultations with teachers, assessors and administrators
• Funds secured for repository development – Summer
• Request for Proposals – Fall
• Target: Developer in place before year end
• Target: Beta version of site for testing in Spring
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Questions?
Comments?
Ideas?
Name the new CLB Achievement Test!
C-STEP
Canadian Standardized Test of
English Proficiency
BANC
Benchmark Achievement of
Newcomers to Canada
SCALE
Standardized CAnadian Language
Evaluation
MILESTONES
?
Yves Saint-Germain
Director – Info, Language
& Community Program Policy
[email protected]
Patrick McEvenue
Manager – Language Policy
[email protected]
Gregg Blakely
Senior Policy Analyst
[email protected]
Your own brilliant idea
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