Transcript RTifor English Language learners

RTI FOR ENGLISH
LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Patty Cornelius, M.Ed.
ESL Liaison, Lakota Local Schools
Objectives

You will be able to…
 Define
RtI and its role in the education of English
language learners (ELLs)
 Evaluate the effectiveness of core instruction in meeting
the needs of ELLs
 Define and discuss progress monitoring issues for ELLs
 Indentify effective practices for ELLs who require more
intensive interventions
What is RTI?

Response To Intervention (RTI) integrates assessment and
intervention within a multi-level prevention system to
maximize student achievement and reduce behavior
problems. With RTI, schools identify students at risk for
poor learning outcomes, monitor student progress,
provide evidence-based interventions and adjust the
intensity and nature of those interventions depending on a
student’s responsiveness, and identify students with
learning disabilities or other disabilities
http://www.rti4success.org
Why focus on ELLs?
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Achievement outcomes for ELLs in general are dismal
On the 2007 National Assessment of Education
Progress (NAEP), the average reading score for ELLs
was188 points out of a possible 500 (compared to 224
for non-ELL fourth graders)
This is a 36 point achievement gap!
 26 point gap between Hispanic and white students
 28 point gap between African American and white students
 33 point achievement gap between disabled and nondisabled students
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Source: Movit, Peytrykowska, and Woodruff, 2010
Factors that Contribute to the Gap

Ineffective or poorly trained teachers
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Lack of access to appropriate instructional and
assessment materials
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56% of teachers in the U.S. have at least one ELL in their
class, but only 20% are certified to teach ELLs
Instructional and assessment materials often not normed for
ELLs
Failure by schools and teachers to implement culturally
responsive practices

Approximately 60% of ELLs are in English only classes with
little differentiation for language and culture backgrounds
Source: Movit, Peytrykowska, and Woodruff, 2010
Considerations for ELLs
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Language proficiency
Academic English
Background knowledge
Formal education history
Culture
The Role of Culture Activity
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Read the comments about English language learners
that are often heard in schools throughout the
country.
How might you respond?
 Write
an “elevator speech” (1 minute) with a response
 Role play your response with a person sitting near you
Tier 1: The Core

ELLs need to be included in the core!
 Language
development should supplement not supplant
 Historically,
ELLs have often been pulled out of Tier 1 core
instruction and have not been exposed to content standards
in the same manner and at the same level as their English
speaking peers.

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Language development is a Tier 1 responsibility!
Core instruction must be differentiated so that it is
comprehensible for all language levels
Effective Core Practices for ELLs

Systematic Attention to Language Development
 Content
and language objectives made clear
 Focuses
 Explicit
on developing the content specific language
and intentional vocabulary development
 Intentional
goal of each lesson
 Allow students to interact with words through games,
dialogue, and other activities (Marzano)
 Vocabulary should be posted and reviewed often
Adapted from RTI for English Language Learners Participant Workbook, Pearson Education, Inc., 2010
Effective Core Practices for ELLs
(cont’d)

Build on students’ background knowledge and
experiences
Helps makes links between schema and text
 Students understand more of the content when they have the
appropriate background knowledge

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Use techniques that make the lesson more
comprehensible
Visual clues, gestures, modeling, demonstrations, graphic
organizers
 Scaffold instruction

Adapted from RTI for English Language Learners Participant Workbook, Pearson Education, Inc., 2010
Effective Core Practices for ELLs
(cont’d)

Create opportunities for practice and application of
content and language knowledge
 Provide
differentiated materials for different levels
 Provide time for oral language practice
 Sentence
frames, sentence starters
 Hands-on,
engaging materials
 Guided practice (I do, we do, you do)
 Activities that appropriately measure students’ content
knowledge regardless of language proficiency
Adapted from RTI for English Language Learners Participant Workbook, Pearson Education, Inc., 2010
Effective Core Practices for ELLs
(cont’d)

Repeat, Repeat, and Repeat
 “Say
it, show it, repeat it”
 Exposure to information in a variety of ways
 Technology,

audio taped text, oral presentations
Assess often and reteach if necessary
 Formal
and informal assessments
 Assessment must drive instruction!
Adapted from RTI for English Language Learners Participant Workbook, Pearson Education, Inc., 2010
Other Important Aspects of the Core
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Culturally relevant texts available in the classroom
Learning materials are inclusive and avoid stereotypes
Higher level thinking skills are utilized
Cooperative learning groups with clear
expectations
Opportunity for interaction with native English
speakers
What else?
Before moving to Tier 2, Closely
examine Tier 1
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Before we examine what is wrong with the student,
we must examine what is wrong with the instruction!
When ELLs are struggling, we need to first consider
the possibility that they are not receiving adequate
instruction before we assume they are not
responding due to a deficit of some kind
(Harry & Klinger, 2005)
Parents as Resources
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Provide base experiences from which language
acquisition can grow
Ensure that instruction is culturally responsive
Support child’s acquisition of language and literacy
Talk with child in both languages, read to them, assist
with homework
Provide information such as:
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Strengths and learning needs
Health, developmental milestones, educational history of children
Family’s use of language and/or cultural background
Strategies already used at home to help the child learn
Source: Movit, Peytrykowska, and Woodruff, 2010
Progress Monitoring for ELLs
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Establish a baseline
Set a goal and determine realistic rate of growth
Assess frequently to monitor growth
Use multiple assessments
Use valid, and reliable assessments
 Select
assessments that are normed for ELL populations
or that are available in multiple languages
Progress Monitoring Issues for ELLs
(cont’d)

Assessing reading proficiency can be difficult
 There
is a huge difference between learning the
process of reading vs. learning vocabulary for what
you are reading!

Teachers need to know if students can read in their
native language
 Assessments
only in English provide no information
about possible early literacy skills that have been
developed in a child’s first language
Progress Monitoring Issues for ELLs
(cont’d)

Knowing a child’s instructional reading level is
crucial, yet our usual battery of reading assessments
may not yield reliable results for ELLs
Blindly using results from a reading inventory without an
understanding of second language acquisition might suggest
the student has a serious reading problem when they don’t
 If the student has no problems reading in the native
language, they will most likely not have problems reading in
English
 If the student has a reading problem in their first language,
they very well may have difficulty in reading English

Turn and Talk

How might you gather information about a student’s
reading ability in his or her native language?
When ELLs Need More…

Interventions should be:
Purposeful
Intentional
Explicit
Targeted Tier 2 Interventions for ELLs

What?
 Target
key skills that are will impact overall academic
achievement
 Reading:
phonological awareness, phonics, fluency,
vocabulary, comprehension, reading strategies
 Math: number sense, computation, problem-solving,
algebraic foundations
 Writing: handwriting, spelling, conventions, writing process
Adapted from RTI for English Language Learners Participant Workbook, Pearson Education, Inc., 2010
Targeted Tier 2 Interventions for ELLs
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How?
 Small
groups
 Specific content AND language objectives
 Content and materials appropriate for students
 Explicit and intensive teaching of skills
 Immediate and corrective feedback
Adapted from RTI for English Language Learners Participant Workbook, Pearson Education, Inc., 2010
Key Questions to Consider in Tier 2 for
ELLs
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How much L1 support with be provided?
Who will provide the intervention? (It’s not always
the ESL teacher!)
How will the teachers collaborate?
How often, how frequently?
What assessments will measure both language and
academic progress?
How can we communicate progress to parents?
Adapted from RTI for English Language Learners Participant Workbook, Pearson Education, Inc., 2010
Tier 3
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Intensive
Individual
Different materials and methods than before
Additional time each day (before, during, or after
school)
Progress monitoring occurs every week
Can be provided by teachers other than the ESL
teacher
Parents involved and have input
Assistance may be push in or pull out
Adapted from RTI for English Language Learners Participant Workbook, Pearson Education, Inc., 2010
When to Evaluate Further
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“A multidisciplinary team needs to evaluate the quality
of instruction the student has received, the results of
the instruction, and the status of language proficiency
at each tier BEFORE a referral a special education
assessment.”
RTI for English Language Learners Participant Workbook, Pearson Education, Inc., 2010
Jigsaw Activity
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Gather into groups of four
Your group will be assigned a section of the article
“Response to Intervention and English Learners”
Each group member will take on one of the roles to
discuss and present the section of the article you
have read
Be ready to share your learning with the group
RTI/ESL Acronyms and Important Terms
RtI teams need to understand the terms that
are specific to ELLs
 Using a common language in a building and
district is important to the success of RtI
 Refer to the document ESL Acronyms and Terms
for RtI Teams
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References/Resources
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Echevarria, J., & Vogt, M. (2010). RtI for English
Language Learners Participant Workbook. New Jersey;
Pearson Education.
Harry, B., & Klinger, J.K. (2005). Why are so many
minority students in special education? Understanding
race and disability in schools. New York; Teachers
College Press.
Movit, M., Petrykowska, I., & Woodruff. D. (2010).
Using school leadership teams to meet the needs of
English language learners. National Center on Response
to Intervention.
Contact Information
Patty Cornelius
Lakota Local Schools
[email protected]
(513) 200-6834 cell
(513) 777-2258 office