Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V “Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap” Project SAILL: Success through Academic Interventions in Language and Literacy

Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”

Project SAILL: Success through Academic Interventions in

Language and Literacy

University of HoustonUniversity of Texas at AustinCenter for Applied Linguistics

University of Miami


Acknowledgements

• Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education

• Brownsville Independent School District


Overview of Presentation• Topics Presented

– Overview of the study (Diane August, Elsa Hagan)– SIOP (Ari Sherris)– Phonics and phonemic awareness (Elsa Hagan)– Reading and skills practice (Diane August)– Grammar and writing (Diane August)– Storybook reading (Diane August, María Díaz)

• Process – Brief description– Video clip/demonstration– Discussion


Study Organizational ChartPrincipal InvestigatorsResearch Evaluation

David FrancisColeen Carlson

UH

InstructionDiane AugustMaria CarloElsa Hagan

SIOP ModelCarolyn Adger

Ari SherrisCAL

3-Tier ModelSharon Vaughn

Sylvia ThompsonUT-Austin

Local OperationsElsa Hagan

Brownsville/UH


Overview of Study Design• One district – Brownsville Independent School District• Two language of instruction models

– Very early transition (VET) – Traditional bilingual education (TBE)

• School continues to implement the general model that the school has adopted– Half the classrooms randomly assigned to teach as usual and

half use research-enhanced curriculum and teaching practices

• Study is implemented in one grade per year• Begin with K in 2004-2005 and continue through third

grade– Currently in second grade classrooms


Language of Instruction Models• Very Early Transition

- Emphasis in Kinder-garten on English language and literacy development with some Spanish oral language support - Emphasis in Grades 1–3 on English language and literacy development

• Traditional Bilingual - Emphasis in K– Grade 1 on Spanish language and literacy development with English oral language development- Emphasis in Grades 2-3 on Spanish and English language and literacy development


Assessment and Observations• Students assessed in English and in Spanish• Student assessment in the beginning of the year and the end of

the year in grades K-3• Assessments

– Phonological Awareness – Letter Names and Letter Sounds– Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery: Letter Word ID, Passage

Comprehension– Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery: Picture Vocabulary,

Listening Comprehension– Authentic measures of English proficiency (story retell)

• Observations of classroom language and literacy practices in all classrooms

• Observations for fidelity of implementation in research-enhanced classrooms


Ongoing Support

• Professional Development– Prior to the school year– Every two months

• Observations by mentors with feedback to teacher– In-class mentoring– Weekly planning meetings


3-Tiers of Instruction• Tier 1

– Phonics (Language Enrichment/Esperanza/ Esperanza Transition)

– Reading Practice and Skills• Modified MacMillan grammar and writing• Modified MacMillan reading

– Oral language development (story book and expository text reading)

– SIOP• Tiers 2 and 3

– Small group tutoring to build word reading, spelling, fluency, and vocabulary skills


Schedule: Bilingual Program/Grade 2• Reading block (90 minutes)

Spanish reading practice (modified MacMillan) Spanish grammar and writing (modified

MacMillan)Transition phonics (Language Enrichment transition)

• ESOL block (60 minutes)English oral language development (read-

alouds) English reading practice (modified MacMillan)

• SIOP• Tiers 2 and 3


Schedule: English Program/grade 2

• 90 minute reading blockEnglish phonics (Language Enrichment)English reading and skills practice

(modified MacMillan) Oral language development (read alouds)

• ESOL blockEnglish grammar and writing (modified

MacMillan)• SIOP• Tiers 2 and 3


Project Benefits to Teachers• Effective research-based approach to delivering

and organizing instruction for ELLs• Additional materials• Project tutors provide Tier 2 and Tier 3

intervention• Ongoing, long-term staff development and

mentoring• Opportunities to collaborate with colleagues• Participation in a study of national significance


National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth: Research findings that

support our approach • Instruction in the native language aids achievement

– Meta-analysis of all acceptable studies that compared English-only instruction with instruction that used some native language

– 15 acceptable studies that generated 71 effect sizes across 26 samples

– Bilingual education has a statistically significant positive effect on reading in English (with an effect size of about .40)

– These findings are consistent with other recent meta-analyses (Greene, 1997; Rolstad, Mahoney, & Glass, 2005)

– To provide some perspective, the National Reading Panel estimated that the average effect size of phonics instruction to be 0.44



support our approach • Good instruction for English-language

learners is similar to good instruction monolingual English students– English-language learners benefit from

explicit instruction that builds phonological awareness, word reading skills, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and writing



support our approach• Adjustments are important

– Effect sizes for English-language learners are lower and more variable than those for native-English-speaking students, suggesting that such teaching is likely to be necessary but insufficient for improving literacy achievement among the English-language learners. It is possible that combining high-quality instruction in the literacy components with efforts to enhance English oral language development in the context of this literacy instruction would lead to higher effect sizes.



support our approach– We work in a bilingual program where first

language literacy development is encouraged while students acquire English literacy

– We explicitly teach phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and writing

• Build on effective methods used with monolingual speakers

• Follow a format of introduce a concept, model and group practice, individual practice, and review

• Develop skills systematically and sequentially• Differentiate instruction



support our approach– We make accommodations to ‘standard’

instruction• Introduce read-alouds (both narrative and expository) to

build oral language proficiency, including vocabulary and listening comprehension

• Provide a lot more scaffolding (e.g., pre-teach some vocabulary, paraphrase text, ask ongoing questions to build comprehension, provide glossaries that include pictures as well as definitions) to ensure students understand the texts they are reading and listening to

• Capitalize on students’ first language proficiency and literacy (e.g., cognate awareness; transition phonics)


Results for First Grade

• No statistically significant differences between treatment and control group on early reading skills– Despite less time spent in reading practice for

treatment groups– All students doing well on early reading skills

• Significant differences between treatment and control groups on standardized measures of oral language proficiency– Vocabulary– Listening comprehension


The SIOP ModelA means for making grade-level academic content (science, social studies, math) more accessible to second-language learners while at the same time promoting their English language development.


The SIOP Model: Sheltered Instruction for Academic Achievement

(Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2004)

• Preparation

• Building Background

• Comprehensible Input

• Strategies

• Interaction

• Practice & Application

• Lesson Delivery

• Review & Assessment


SIOP Model of Sheltered Math Instruction

Scaffolding

Strategies

Math Manipulatives

BackgroundInformation

Math Journaling

StructuredPairwork

Think Alouds

Spoken & Written Math Discourse Development

Feedback


Grade 2 Math Lesson• Typical Gr. 2 math lesson from district

– math presentation & practice– high on teacher talk, low on visuals– lacks systematic treatment of math language

• Enhanced Gr. 2 math lesson in treatment classrooms– explicit content and language objectives– concept definition map– links to prior knowledge and learner background – goal directed oral pairwork (e.g., information gap activities in math) – math Journals


English Phonics Instruction for Students in all-English Program

• Phonics reviewReview of previously learned reading concepts (e.g., ch, ng)Word study review (affixes)

• New concept introductionIntroduction of new reading concepts using four modalities-visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile

• Reading and spelling practice Reading, spelling, and writing practice of new concepts

• ReviewNew day’s learning2-3 previously learned concepts


Transition Phonics Instruction for Students in Bilingual Program

• Phonics reviewReview of previously learned reading concepts (e.g., ch, ng)Word study review (affixes)

• New concept introductionIntroduction of new reading concepts using four modalities-visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile

• Reading and spelling practice Reading, spelling, and writing practice of new concepts

• ReviewNew day’s learning2-3 previously learned concepts


Phonics Instruction for Students

• Alignment of phonics instruction and reading practice

• In the transition program, explicit instruction in similarities and differences between English and Spanish word reading, spelling, and grammatical conventions


English Reading and Skills Practice for Students in English-only Program

• Students learn second grade concepts– Second grade MacMillan reading program used to

give students practice reading connected text and building skills

– Schedule• Days 1-2: Whole class guided reading of decodable story• Days 3-4: Small group differentiated instruction using

SAILL Safari/teacher choice of materials to reinforce reading concepts

• Day 5: Skill instruction and assessment • Day 6: Flex day


English Reading and Skills Practice for Students in Bilingual Program

• Bilingual Program– Students learn first and second grade concepts– First grade MacMillan reading program used to

give students practice reading connected text and practice reading skills

– Schedule• Day 1: Guided Reading of Decodable Story• Days 2-3: Teacher choice to reinforce reading concepts• Day 4: Skill• Day 5: Assessment • Day 6: Flex day


Spanish Reading and Skills Practice for Students in Bilingual Program

• Very similar to English reading and skills practice– Days 1 - 2: Guided reading of decodable text,

including pre-teaching of vocabulary– Days 3 - 4: Differentiated instruction to build

decoding and comprehension and to learn reading skills

– Day 5: Assessment and review in Spanish of concepts introduced in the English expository text

– Day 6: Flex day


Grammar and Writing: English and Spanish

– Day 1: new grammar concept or skill (e.g.,plural nouns)

– Day 2: grammar mechanics (e.g., letter writing conventions)

– Day 3: grammar assessment– Day 4: Writing– Day 5: Writing


Writing: English and Spanish– 5 week sequence for each genre (e.g. personal

narrative, persuasive writing)• Week 1: Modeling: present genre, explore the structure

of the genre• Week 2: Group drafting: group practice to develop ideas

and structure, group drafting)• Week 3: Students draft composition • Week 4: Student revisions (genre and conventions)

based on teacher feedback• Week 5: Students produce finished composition based

on teacher feedback


Oral Language Development• Use of rich children’s literature and

expository text to build oral language proficiency, literacy and content knowledge– Teacher’s guide– High quality children’s literature and

expository text aligned with second grade science curriculum

– Picture cards


Oral Language Development: Schedule

• Days 1 and 2– Pre-teach key words– Interactive Reading– Closing Discussion

• Days 3 and 4– Interactive Reading– Closing Discussion– Extending Word Meaning

• Key Words• Basic Words• Other Words and Phrases

• Day 5– Assessment


Oral Language Development• Techniques

– Pre-teaching of key words• use of visuals and act-outs (grade 1)

– Interactive reading• Using pictures and demonstration to clarify meaning• Paraphrasing key vocabulary and complicated chunks of

text• Building background knowledge• Questioning techniques that allow the teacher to model

comprehension strategies and clarify text (visualizing, drawing inferences, making connections from text-to-text and text-to-self, summarizing, inferring word meaning


Oral Language Development• Techniques (cont.)

– Closing discussion• Predictions and inferences • Compare/contrast • Summarization• Connect text to own experience• Evaluate the book

– Extending word meanings• Basic words connected to theme (e.g. vehicles)• Other words and phrases (e.g., idioms and other words that are challenging such

as phrasal verbs, words with multiple meanings, adverbs, prepositions)– Review

• Use of glossary that includes pictures of all the words and games– Assessment

• Vocabulary• Comprehension


Oral Language Development

• Techniques (cont.)– Partner-talk– Repeat, elaborate, and rephrase


Education is not the filling of a pail, but a lighting of a fire

William Butler Yeats

Documents

Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V “Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap” Project SAILL: Success through Academic Interventions in Language and Literacy