Overview of OELL: Accomplishments, Challenges & Next Steps

1

BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Office of English Language Learning

Overview of OELL:

Accomplishments,

Challenges & Next Steps

School Committee Meeting

June 24, 2015

2


OELL Vision

All English Language Learner students (ELLs) will graduate as life-

long learners and engaged global citizens with the capacity to

demonstrate critical thinking and 21st century skills to succeed in

postsecondary and/or career pathways.

Our ELLs will be empowered with a foundational knowledge of

bilingual and cultural literacy skills to become future leaders and

agents of positive change in the workforce and their communities.

3

SY14-15 First Language of ELLs in K2-12

Asterisk indicates that BPS offers a language specific ELL program for those linguistic communities. Data for K2-12

students as of January 5, 2015 “allwithtests” file from BPS OIIT.

Language #

Spanish* 9,372

Haitian* 1,308

Cape Verdean* 1,152

Chinese* 837

Vietnamese* 807

Portuguese 295

Arabic 260

Somali 256

French 128

Other 985

Total 15,400


4

SY14-15 Distribution of ELLs by ELD Level (K2-12)

Data for K2-12 students as of January 5, 2015 “allwithtests” file from BPS OIIT. *As of this data file, there are 77 LEP

students with a “blank” ELD level; these students are included as ELD Level 1 in this table.

*In addition, there are 4 students coded as LEP with ELD 6 or P. These students are excluded from this table.


5


Long-Term Strategy to Sustain Success

★ Conduct consistent program

evaluations to inform program

improvements

★ Provide technical assistance and

school visits

★ Sustain a cadre of highly effective

staff

★ Supports with WIDA and ESL

curriculum

★ Provide consistent monitoring

support

★ Provide consistent training on the

requirements of the DOJ Agreement

★ Provide high quality Supplemental

Programming to ELLs to equip

students with college readiness and

career skills

Establish and track measurable benchmarks

6


Supplemental Services for ELLs

Collecting Parental Input to Inform Supplemental Services Offerings

ELL Program Choice Recommendations for Parents

Workshops and Programs for Parents and CBOs

Supporting ELL Students and Families

7


Key SY14-15 Accomplishments

➔Students: Increased the portfolio of supplemental (summer/after-

school) programs for ELLs with a focus on STEM and 21st century career

skills. To increase participation, we are identifying programs where ELL

students are already attending, and working with the CBO to

incorporate ESL into the programming, or to replicate their

programmatic structure and content.

➔Teachers: Partnered with WIDA to create a customized and

advanced WIDA PD Blended Course to support teachers of ELLs in

creating lessons that include robust language objectives,

scaffolds/supports for differentiation, and appropriate assessments,

that are aligned with Common Core and WIDA ELD standards. WIDA

has been encouraging other states to replicate this blended learning

model.

➔Families: Dispatched our Newcomers Assessment & Counseling

Center staff to Welcome Centers on Saturdays to better

accommodate families during peak ELL assessment time.

8


RETELL Training (2012- 2015)

RETELL Overview SY 12-13 SY 13-14 SY 14-15 TOTAL

RETELL Teacher Courses Offered (Full, Long, Short)

12 35 32 79

RETELL Admin Courses Offered No courses

offered 9 5 14

Total Teachers Successfully Completed RETELL (DESE 3/31/15 file)

177 765

385 (Does not include

Spring 2015 registrants)


Spring 2015 registrants)

Total Admin Successfully Completed RETELL (DESE 3/31/15 file)

0 147 Data not yet

provided by DESE


SY 14/15 registrants)

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s

RETELL Initiative aims to improve the academic achievement of ELLs.

9


Key SY 14-15 Challenges

10


Reporting ELL Services to the US Department

of Justice: December Para. 54 vs. April Para. 54 Reports

December 2014 Logic Rules:

If the ESL Instructional Type was

not in compliance, no other

components of ESL were counted

as being in compliance.

April 2015 New Logic Rules-- the “flat panel”

approach

Each component of ESL-- method, teacher

certification, minutes, and grouping-- are considered

independently. This allows us to pinpoint the nature

of any ESL service shortfalls.

11

BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Office of English Language Learners

District Overview of ESL Compliance: “Flat Panel” View April 2015 Paragraph 54 Report

ELL students with:

Approved ESL

Instructional

Method

All Teachers

Teaching ESL Who

Are ESL Certified

Appropriate Amount

of ESL

Total LEPs Total % Total % Total %

Elementary 7,359 5,531 75% 6,014 82% 6,340 86%

Secondary 5,807 3,932 68% 4,786 82% 4,494 77%

Total 13,166 9,463 72% 10,800 82% 10,834 82%

The “Flat Panel” view of ESL compliance equally weights the four components of ESL-- Delivery

Method, Teacher Certification, Amount of ESL, and Grouping*-- to reflect the level of ESL services students

are receiving.

The four panels, displaying these components of ESL, are independent of each other and allows District to

identify areas of concern to apply specific remedies.

*April 2015 Paragraph 54 report. ESL Grouping data is not presented here. Total excludes 17 schools reported separately/not

included in reporting due to in-district charter school status, lack of use of SIS for scheduling, and/or alternate forms of ESL

instruction (e.g., dual language).

12

BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Office of English Language Learners

ESL Minutes: Deeper Dive How many of the requisite ESL minutes are students receiving by ELD level*?

* Students with a “blank” ELD are not included in this chart.

82% of all

LEPs

receive

the

requisite

ESL

minutes.

12% of all

LEPs

receive

some, but

not all of

the

requisite

minutes.

13


2014 MCAS ELA Performance

Source: MA DESE DART for ELLs (October 2014), http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/dart/. Data

excludes in-district charter schools.

Total tested

Warning/

Failing Needs Imp.

Proficient or

Higher

Level 1 97 69% 25% 6%

Level 2 419 76% 21% 3%

Level 3 1,437 54% 39% 7%

Level 4 2,300 25% 57% 19%

Levels 5&6 1,897 7% 49% 44%

6,553 33% 45% 21%

2,608 4% 29% 67%

Non-ELL,Non FELL 16,299 15% 28% 57%

25,460 18% 33% 49%

All MCAS tested students

ELL

Formerly ELL

All Students

2014 MCAS ELA Achievement Levels

Only ELL students tested in both MCAS and ACCESS

AC

CES

S

Pro

fici

ency

Leve

ls

http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/dart/

http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/dart/

14


2014 MCAS Math Performance

Source: MA DESE DART for ELLs (October 2014), http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/dart/

Total tested

Warning/

Failing Needs Imp.

Proficient or

Higher

Level 1 107 71% 25% 6%

Level 2 423 72% 21% 3%

Level 3 1,451 58% 39% 7%

Level 4 2,295 33% 57% 19%

Levels 5&6 1,896 12% 36% 52%

6,611 39% 33% 28%

2,613 9% 33% 58%

Non-ELL,Non FELL 16,355 24% 28% 48%

25,579 26% 30% 44%

Formerly ELL

All Students

Only ELL students tested in both MCAS and ACCESS

AC

CES

S

Pro

fici

ency

Leve

ls

All MCAS tested students

ELL

2014 MCAS Math Achievement Levels

15


OEL

L Constructing DOJ Services Report for SY 15-16

School 1...School 130

A B SY 14-15

15

SIS Form

Course Catalog

PeopleSoft

Principals will be able to access their school’s report of ELL services compliance online,

updated daily.

SY 15-16

Data Warehou

Data Warehouse

Report 55

Report…n

Report 54

16


DOJ Services Report on Data

Warehouse: SY15-16

17


Questions

Documents

Overview of OELL: Accomplishments, Challenges & Next Steps