Transcript Long Term English Learners Who? Why? What?

Long Term English
Learners:
A Call for Change Now
Presenters
Magdalena Ruz Gonzalez
Project Director, Curriculum and Instructional Services
Maddy Zamora, Ph.D.
Consultant, Division of School Improvement
“...there is no equality of treatment merely by
providing students with the same facilities,
textbooks, teachers and curriculum...for
students who do not understand English are
effectively foreclosed from any meaningful
education....”
Researchers in the field of Long term English Learners:
Reparable Harm,
Laurie Olsen, PhD
Preventing Long Term ELs, Transforming Schools to Meet Core
Standards. Margarita Calderon and Lliana Minaya-Rowe
Research Reviewed
Teaching children to read in L1 promotes their reading achievement
in L2 (15%-20% gains on standardized tests)
There is a transfer of skills between languages
There is a positive transfer from L1 reading instruction to L2
academic achievement
Secondary Students with
Language Needs
Immigrant English learners (ELs) with strong
academic backgrounds in their home country
(recently arrived=2/3 years)
Immigrant English learners with inadequate
schooling in their home country (recently arrived)
Bilingual students with all or most all of their
education in U.S. schools (Long-Term English
Learners)
Standard English Learners (SELs)
Immigrant English learners (ELs) with strong academic
backgrounds in their home country (recently arrived)
Have had continuous school attendance in their native country and
typically have grade level academic performance in their primary
language (L1)
Usually make steady progress through the sequence of ELD
courses and are successful in most core academic subjects
Generally have highly developed academic skills in content-area
subjects that transfer to English (L2)
Have the potential to become bilingual, biliterate and bicultural
• NOTE: They are the smallest group of students identified as
English Learners.
Immigrant English learners with inadequate schooling in
their native country (recently arrived)
Have experienced inadequate or interrupted schooling in their
country of origin
Have developed strong survival skills through the immigrant
experience
May read in their primary language and have some degree of
proficiency in English
May have reading comprehension difficulties in both the primary
language and English
May write in their primary language but lack accurate use of
conventions
May exhibit uneven progress through the sequence of ELD courses
and grade-level content courses
• NOTE: They are part of a larger group of students identified as
English
Learners.
Bilingual Students Schooled in the U.S.
Long-Term English Learners
Make up the largest group of English learners in the United States
(59%, in some districts in California, up to 75%)
Are second- or third-generation children of immigrants who have been
in U.S schools since Kindergarten or first grade
In school 5 or more years without reaching sufficient English
proficiency to be reclassified. (Usually Intermediate on CELDT, BB &
FBB on CST)
Have developed strong oral language skills
Reading and Writing are weak
May have some literacy skills in their primary language
Long-Term English Learners, con’t.
May appear to have similar academic needs of native
speakers, however:
• They are still acquiring the English language: syntax,
grammar, structures and vocabulary that native
speakers have due to the fact that they were born into
homes where English is spoken
Many are passive and do not participate in class
They lack significant chunks of background knowledge
Proposed Definition of Long Term
English Learners
• An English Learner who has continuously been in
United States school for 6+ years, has not met
reclassification criteria, and shows evidence of
inadequate progress towards meeting that criteria.
•
(e.g. stagnation or loss of proficiency on CELDT, missed benchmarks two years
in a tow, grade point average of 2.0 or lower, receiving two or more Ds or Fs in
core academic courses, or lack of progress on the CST Language Arts or Math)
Underlying causes of
becoming a L-TEL
Have been in districts with inconsistent programs
Have been is schools with inconsistent programs
Have not had a strong English Language Development
class or no ELD class, with or without appropriate
materials
Have been in a reading program in English with materials
that were not developed or adapted for use with ELs
Have been immersed in English receiving little or know
primary language support
Current Services for LTELs
Inappropriate Placement: placed in mainstream or newcomer classes
Unprepared teachers: usually just CLAD
Limited access to a full curriculum: over-assigned in Intervention or Reading
Support classes
Inadequate data systems to track EL progress
Lack of monitoring by administrators
Recommended Program Based
on
Study Results
1. ALD/ELD along with a grade level core ELA class
2. Clustered placement in heterogeneous core classes
3. Focus on academic language in content courses
(SDAIE/SIOP Strategies) with instructional rigor
4. Native speaker classes
5. Flexibility in Master Schedule
6. Focus on study skills and time management
•
Recommended Program Based
on
Study
Results
7. Data chats with students
• 8. Emphasize the importance of CELDT test
• 9. Opportunties for student voice and student leadership
development
• 10. Inclusive and affirming school climate; build relationships
• 11. Explicit language and literacy development across the
curriculum
• 12. CELDT preparation
What are the implications
for your work?
Discuss the key points and determine what the
implications of Long Term ELs means to your work?
Questions?
Comments?
Resources
http://mas.lacoe.edu
Reparable Harm, www.californianstogether.org
Starlight, www.elresearch.org
www.alliance.brown.edu
• Preventing Long-Term ELs: Transforming Schools to
Meet Core Standards, Margarita E. (Espino) Calderon and
Dr. Liliana Minaya-Rowe
• Freeman, Y. S., & Freeman, D. E. (2002). Closing the
achievement gap: How to reach limited- formal-schooling
and long-term English learners. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.