Transcript English Language Learners

English Language Learners
RTI, Referral, and Evaluation
Considerations
Eliana Lesser, Ph.D.,
School Psychologist
Lourdes Diaz-Frias, Ed.S.,
School Psychologist
States with the Highest Increases in Limited
English Proficient Children in PK to 5th
Grade,1990–2000
Highest Increase in LEP Students in PK-5
Percentage Increased
400%
354%
350%
350%
300%
NV
264%
250%
NE
255% 243%
214%
200%
150%
SD
185%
163%
GA
149%
118%
AR
OR
100%
50%
VT
CO
0%
NV
NE
SD
GA
AR
OR
States
Sources: U.S. Census of Population and Housing,
Integrated PUMS, 1990 and 2000.
VT
CO
UT
TN
UT
TN
Languages of LEP Students
Percentage of LEP Students in US 2000-2001
Languages
Percentage of LEP Students in US 2000-2001
av
aj
o
N
Ta
ga
lo
g
us
si
an
R
ra
bi
c
A
hi
H
ne
m
on
se
g
,C
an
to
ne
se
K
or
ea
H
ai
n
t ia
n
C
re
ol
e
C
es
e
ie
tn
am
V
S
pa
ni
sh
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
National Center of Educational
Statistics
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The number of Hispanic students in the
nation's public schools nearly doubled from
1990 to 2006, accounting for 60% of the
total growth in public school enrollments
over that period. There are now
approximately 10 million Hispanic students
in the nation's public kindergartens and its
elementary and high schools; they make up
about one-in-five public school students in
the United States.
The vast majority of Hispanic public
school students (84%) were born in the
United States.
*Pew Hispanic Center Publication 8/26/2008
Factors to Consider
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Studies continue to demonstrate
pervasive academic difficulties of
students who enter US schools with
a primary language other than
English (over 50% score in the
bottom third in reading and
mathematics according to the
National Center for Education
Statistics, 2005)
Balanced Curriculum
Basic Interpersonal Communication
Skills
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Social language that is less
culturally demanding
Requires a relatively low level of
listening comprehension and
expressive skills
May develop between 1 to 2 years
Cognitive Academic Language
Proficiency
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Involves having necessary language for
cognitively demanding tasks
This would include developing a broader
vocabulary and proficiency that would allow
one to deal with abstract linguistic
messages and develop literacy skills
It is required accelerated cognitive and
academic growth
Has been shown to develop within 5 to 7
years
Bloom’s Taxonomy
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Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize,
name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state.
Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express,
identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review,
select, translate,
Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ,
illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve,
use, write.
Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare,
contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish,
examine, experiment, question, test.
Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct,
create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan,
prepare, propose, set up, write.
Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare,
defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value,
evaluate.
Balanced Curriculum for ELL
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Development of BICS does not mean the
student is no longer undergoing the
process of second language acquisition
ELL students need cognitively challenging
instruction and explicit modeling of
cognitive strategies to acquire CALP and to
continue to make progress into grade-level
curriculum
Thus instruction need to be challenging and
geared towards higher order thinking
World Class Instructional Design and
Assessment (WIDA) Consortium
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Shift in ESOL instruction
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Curriculum with greater emphasis on
CALP not BICS
Teaching “language” within the context
of an academic language content for
students to achieve CALP
Examples: Algebraic equations, area,
volume, infer, predict, analyze, etc…
Changes in Student Support Process
RTI
Response to Intervention
Response To Intervention
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Universal screening for early identification
of at-risk students (ESOL included)
Research based effective interventions
following a Tier process
Progress monitoring
Preventive rather than wait-to-fail approach
Difficulties with RTI
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Quality of general education instruction
(Tier 1)
Early identification versus over
identification (particular issue for ethnicminority, low income)
Resources for implementation of
interventions with intensity and fidelity
(strategies versus interventions)
Determining what is adequate progress
(benchmark, growth, discrepancy slope)
Variations in populations, contextual and
cultural factors
RTI and ESOL
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Who is responsible for the interventions?
What kind of Interventions should be done?
What is the impact of language acquisition
in learning?
Are criteria’s for responsiveness, nonresponsiveness the same for monolingual
students and bilingual/ESL students?
Who is Responsible?
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Interventions can be accomplished in different
settings depending on the needs of the student
The ESOL teacher should be involved at every
step of the RTI process
The general education teacher and ESOL teacher
need to work in tandem in order to insure the
appropriateness and efficacy of the
intervention(s).
The General education teacher and ESOL teacher
need to coordinate their schedules so the student
is not missing critical instruction.
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Research is scarce, but initial finding
suggest that RTI is not only appropriate
but necessary in order not to increase
the gap between student’s achievement
and standards/benchmarks
When should we become concerned
about the progress of an ELL student?
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When the student’s rate of progress
contrasts markedly with ELL peers
with similar backgrounds in the
classroom.
When the student shows an
unusually slow and problematic
second language acquisition process
despite ESOL instruction and ELL
classroom strategies.
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When there are articulation problems in
the native language and/or articulation
difficulties in English that differ from an
“accent.”
When difficulties are noted in Fluency
(stuttering)
When the student demonstrates poor voice
quality (voice is vastly different from
peers).
Effective Instruction for ELL students
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Reading, writing, listening and speaking
need to be taught in an integrated
manner because they have complex
relationships of mutual support.
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Listening and Reading are receptive while
speaking and writing are productive
In a natural environment these functions are
intertwined and interrelated
Practical use of each of these processes
provides for the overall language development
in English
What kind of Interventions should be
done?
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Interventions should be selected based
upon area of most critical need.
Example: If student is struggling with
Reading- What specific area of reading is
the student struggling with? (Phonemic
Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency, or
Comprehension).
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According to Gottardo (2002), both Reading
and Phonological Awareness skills in the
first language have been found to be
unique statistical predictors of reading in
the child’s second language.
Supporting literacy and language skills in
1st language provides a base for
successful literacy development in the
second language (Snow, Burns, & Griffin,
1988).
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Particularly at the word-level reading,
research indicates that direct instruction,
that is explicit teaching of phonological
awareness, letter-sound relationships,
and decoding, are particularly effective
for both ELL and monolingual students,
especially when implemented in the
context of meaningful experiences in
engaging text (Haager, 2007).
This is true even before they have
complete control of the language orally.
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In all K-12 classrooms across the U.S., ELLs
need significant opportunities to engage in
structured, academic talk
Independent reading is only beneficial
when it is structured and purposeful, and
there is a good reader-text match
Reading instruction recommendations for ELL
(Escamilla, 2007)
It is important that teachers know something about the
student’s first language, even if it is not going to be
used for instruction
Process approaches to learning (e.g. reader’s
workshop) are less effective for ELLs than interactive
and direct instructional approaches
Fluency, decoding and phonological awareness are
important; however, MEANING should be at the
center of all literacy instruction even at the
beginning levels of reading instruction
When teaching high frequency words, start with words that
are concrete and to which meaning can be attached (e.g.
dog, want)
Teach ELLs to comprehend, speak, read, and write English
simultaneously
Literacy instruction should not be delayed while ELLS acquire
oral English language
Give opportunities for children to develop oral language
Daily lesson plans should include language goals beyond
vocabulary
For beginner ELLs, Language Experience Approaches
(LEA) are beneficial because student’s own language
becomes the basis of what is read
Use the child’s native language strategically in literacy
instruction as a scaffold
Development of English needs to continue even for
advanced ELLs who are labeled fluent speakers
Teachers need to understand the difference between
background knowledge and cultural schema
Literacy instruction for ELLs can be enhanced by using
cultural familiar text in English
Math Interventions
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Researchers have conceptualized
mathematical proficiency as having five
interdependent strands each influenced
by multiple factors.
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Conceptual understanding:
comprehension of mathematical
concepts, operations, and relations;
Procedural fluency: skill in carrying out
procedures flexibly,accurately,efficiently,
and appropriately;
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Strategic competence: the ability to
formulate, represent, and solve
mathematical problems;
Adaptive reasoning: the capacity for
logical thought, reflection, explanation,
and justification; and
Productive disposition: the inclination
to see mathematics as sensible, useful,
and worthwhile, coupled with a belief in
diligence and one’s own efficacy.
Math Interventions cont.
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Academic language is as central to
mathematics as it is to other
academic areas. It is a significant
source of difficulty for many ELLs
who struggle with mathematics.
ELLs need academic language
support to understand and solve the
word problems that are often used
for mathematics assessment and
instruction.
Recommendations for Serving
Adolescent Newcomers
(Center on Instruction)
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Mastery of Academic language is the key to
academic success. This includes oral language,
reading comprehension, and expository writing.
Teachers need to have two objectives for all lessons:
one for content learning and one for language and
literacy learning.
Effective instruction requires systematic assessment
of strengths and weaknesses and ongoing
monitoring.
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Vocabulary instruction should focus on both breadth
(how many words) and depth (how well the students
know the meanings of a word).
Students need to be taught vocabulary through
explicit, systematic, extensive, and intensive
instruction.
It is important to determine if a student needs to
learn a new label or a new concept.
Teachers should focus on general-purpose words
that are sophisticated in meaning and appear in a
variety of academic texts (for example, analyze,
abstract, etc.)
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Direct teaching of vocabulary (word meanings in
meaningful contexts) should be balanced with word
learning strategies, such as breaking down words,
using context, dictionaries, glossaries, recognizing
cognates (30% of English words share common
roots with words in Spanish), etc.
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ELL students need direct instruction in reading
comprehension in multiple contexts and across
different types (genres) of text.
Reciprocal teaching (teacher models four critical
strategies for reading comprehension:
questioning, clarifying, predicting and
summarizing, and slowly transfers responsibility
to students working in small groups) have been
found to be effective for ELLs.
Students with word reading difficulties need
systematic interventions in phonics.
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ELL students need writing instruction integrated with
academic language and reading comprehension.
ELL students need to be taught the steps of the
writing process (pre-writing, drafting, revising).
Explicit grammar taught in isolation has not been
shown to be effective.
Heterogeneous groupings, that allow newcomers to work
with more advanced ELLs and English speakers are very
effective.
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Standardized Tests were not designed to measure
growth in specific areas.
A successful method to measure reading growth has
been shown to be Curriculum Based Assessment
that measures Oral Reading Fluency and Reading
Accuracy (Shinn, 1989).
Modifying the language of test questions (avoiding
jargon, or unnecessarily complex sentence
construction) can increase ELL performance by up to
20% (Abedi & Dietel, 2004)
How do we know if the student is
making adequate progress?
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The student should be progressing
at a rate that will eventually close
the gap that exists between his
peers and himself. His peers should
be students of similar background
(ESOL student’s rate of progress
should be compared to the progress
of a “typical” ESOL student of
similar background).
Tier 4 Referral Considerations
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When the student shows little or no
progress in school despite adequate and
intensive interventions/teaching for an
appropriate length of time.
When there is a history of learning
problems in previous schools (including
native country) and/or in the family.
When there is a history of speech and
language delays/problems in the native
language.
Data Available prior to Referral
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WAPT, ACCESS (number of years
receiving instruction, rate of progress,
areas of weakness within profile)
GKAP-R, CRCT, ITBS, COGAT
IMI, DIBLES, DRA, RR, running records,
grades
Progress monitoring
Qualitative information (anecdotal
information and comments on report
cards)
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
School Psychologist Role
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Help facilitate the RTI process
Review and interpret data available
during RTI meetings
Propose possible strategies and
interventions
Follow-up or clarify background
information
Assist teachers with implementation
and data collection, as necessary
Evaluation process
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60 days from parent consent to
eligibility determination
Observations
Obtain additional information from
teachers and parents (informal and
scales)
Assessment
Psychoeducational Evaluation
Monolingual English
 General Cognitive
Ability
 Achievement
 Processing (memory,
speed, attention, etc.)
 Social and Emotional,
as needed
 Background
information
English Language Learner
 Language Proficiency
 Cognitive Ability
(Nonverbal vs. Verbal)
 Achievement (English
and L1 when
appropriate)
 Processing (L2 and L1
when appropriate or
possible)
 Social Emotional, as
needed
 Thorough background
Language Proficiency
 Oral language development in L1
and L2 (when available)
 Bilingual Verbal Ability
 CALP (vocabulary,
synonyms/antonyms, memory, and
verbal reasoning)
Some helpful references
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http://www.centeroninstruction.org
http://www.readingrockets.org
http://www.arisek12.com
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ASCD Action Tool (2007). Strategies for Success with English Language Learners.
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
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Escamilla, K. (October 8, 2007). Considerations for literacy coaches in classrooms with
English language learners. Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse.
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Gottlieb, M., Cranley, M.E., & Oliver, A.R. (2007). WIDA Consortium: English Language
Proficiency Standards and Resource Guide, Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12. Board
of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.
Lesaux, N.K., & Siegel, L.S. (2003). The Development of reading in children who speak
English as a second language. Developmental Psychology, 39, 1005-1019.
Linan-Thompson, S., Cirino, & P.T., Vaughn, S. (June 22, 2007). Determining English
language learners’ response to intervention: questions and some answers. Learning
Disability Quarterly.
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Peregoy, S.F. & Boyle, O.F. (2001). Reading Writing & Learning in ELS: A Resource Book
for K-12 Teachers. New York: Longman.
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Richard-Amato, P.A. & Snow, M.A. (2004). Academic Success for English Language
Learners: Strategies for K-12 Mainstream Teachers. Pearson ESL.