ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF AT-RISK LEARNERS THROUGH EFFECTIVE POLICY & PROGRAMMING

Nonie K. Lesaux, PhD

Striving Readers Comprehensive Public MeetingUnited States Department of Education

November 19, 2010

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FRAMEWORK

1. Context: The 21st Century America

2. Pressing Issues: What Can We Learn From Recent Research?

3. Designing Policies & Practices: How Can We Link What We Know To What We Do?

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CONTEXT: THE 21ST CENTURY AMERICA

• 1 in 5 children is the child of an immigrant• Over 400 different native languages are represented• The immigrant population’s growth rate is 3 times as

fast as that for the overall population• Largest and fastest growing group of immigrants are

U.S. born children of Latino immigrants – 80% of immigrant population

(Fry & Gonzales, 2008; NCES, 2006; US Census Bureau)HGSE

SUMMARY: THE 21ST CENTURY AMERICA

Cultural, linguistic, and economic diversity is a reality for the nation as a whole

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For all settings and all programs serving children

FRAMEWORK

1. Context: The 21st Century America

2. Pressing Issues: What Can We Learn From Recent Research?

3. Designing Policies & Practices: How Can We Link What We Know To What We Do?

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TRENDS IN READING DEVELOPMENT

• Three developmental studies to inform instruction: – Preschool to Early Adolescence (ELLs)– 5-year study, 4th - 8th grade (ELLs)– Comparative study of ELLs and native

English speakers (strugglers, 6th grade)

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Lett

er-W

ord

ID W

LPB-

R W

Sco

res

Age 4.5 Age 5 Age 6 Age 7 Age 8 Age 11 (fall preK) (spring preK) (kinder) (1st grade) (2nd grade) (5thgrade)

National Monolingual Norms

ES: 0.5 0.1 -0.2 -0.2 0.1 0.04

Absolute Rate of Growth National: 135 W-score PointsAbsolute Rate of Growth Sample: 145 W-score Points

Mancilla-Martinez &Lesaux, in press

Prod

uctiv

e Vo

cabu

lary

WLP

B-R

W S

core

s

Age 4.5 Age 5 Age 6 Age 7 Age 8 Age 11 (fall preK) (spring preK) (kinder) (1st grade) (2nd grade) (5th grade)

National Monolingual Norms

ES: 1.8 1.8 1.6 1.3 0.9 1.0

Absolute Rate of Growth National: 45 W-score PointsAbsolute Rate of Growth Sample: 60 W-score Points

Mancilla-Martinez &Lesaux, in press

1 SD below ½ SD below average ½ SD above 1 SD above

Lat

ent

Rea

din

g C

om

pre

hen

sio

n S

core

Average Fitted Score1.

64 SD

5th Grade National Norms

58

Mancilla-Martinez & Lesaux, in press

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90Pe

rcen

tile

Rank

Grade 4

Grade 5

Grade 6

Grade 7

Grade 8

Word Reading Fluency Oral Language Reading Comprehension

THE GAP BETWEEN READING WORDS & COMPREHENDING TEXT

Crosson&Lesaux, 2009; Lesaux, Crosson, Kieffer& Pierce, in press

STRUGGLING COMPREHENDERSIN MIDDLE SCHOOL

Lesaux &Kieffer, 2010HGSE

FOLLOW-UP WORK: BEHIND THESE SCORES

• Think-aloud protocol with a subsample from preK to early adolescence study

• The Dilemma:– they appear to be “active” comprehenders,

i.e., report strategy use and have clearly reasoned processes for finding information

– they don’t bring the word and world knowledge required for comprehension.

• Strategies are a mechanism for leveraging background knowledge; Without the former, the latter is insufficient

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Substantial Variability in Teachers’ Input

TEACHER TALK FINDINGS• Language Minority learners benefited from teachers’ use

of sophisticated vocabulary– Native English speakers showed increases in vocabulary

as a function of teachers’ use of complex sentences– Teachers’ use of sophisticated vocabulary significantly

impacted students’ reading comprehension• Benefitted LM and EO learners equally

• In the absence of intervention the magnitude of this relationship is the same as many intervention

results

Gamez & Lesaux, under review HGSE

FRAMEWORK: EFFECTIVE STATE-LEVEL PLANS

1. Context: The 21st Century America

2. Pressing Issues: What Can We Learn From Recent Research?

3. Designing Policies & Practices: How Can We Link What We Know To What We Do?

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Guidelines for Effective State-Level Literacy Plans, Birth to 12th Grade Guidelines for Effective State-Level Literacy Plans, Birth to 12th Grade

KnowledgeBuilding

reading writing

speaking listening

Birth to 5, Family Literacy Programs: •Revisit supported programs to determine effectiveness for literacy learning

•Focus on impact before focusing on reach•Reallocation of resources for depth

PK-12 Literacy Model:•Supplemental supports for strugglers at all grade levels•closer match to daily instructional content•closer match between reader needs & intervention (assessment-driven)

•Includes a plan to buffer summer learning loss•Closer connections to after-school programs

Guidelines for Effective State-Level Literacy Plans, Birth to 12th

Knowledge-Based

Literacy Instruction

KnowledgeBuilding

reading writing

speaking listening

Large problem spaces Small problem spaces

letters

phonemes

spelling rules

vocabulary

sightvocabulary

phonologicalrepresentations

meaning

syntacticstructure

Genre features

language structuresAdapted from Snow (2007)

know

ledg

ePROBLEM SPACES

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HOW DO WE ACTUALLY DO THIS?

With an integrated, knowledge-based approach, rather than one that simply promises to “balance” skills instruction

need to further problematize the notion of balanced instruction

SHIFTING THE PARADIGMReading Instruction in the Service of…

Reading Skills Content Learning

Shifting the Paradigm in all Learning Settings (con’t)

• An increase in opportunities for academic productive talk, beyond providing responses

• A focus on academic language over conversational language-especially for ELLs-For newcomer ELLs, move quickly from basic/survival English to academic language

• BUT...educators and children need big ideas to talk about• across all settings and program• Talk needs to connect to content learning

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A Big Idea or Question A Big Idea or Question

Read Aloud (narrative & expository)

Read Aloud (narrative & expository)

Novel Study and/or Early Readers

Novel Study and/or Early Readers Extended WritingExtended Writing

Study of Words that Represent Abstract

Concepts

Study of Words that Represent Abstract

Concepts

Collaborative Research Project

Collaborative Research Project Debate in TeamsDebate in Teams

KNOWLEDGE-BUILDING LITERACY INSTRUCTION

What makes a community?

ALIGNMENT WITH COMMON CORE STANDARDS

• Anchor Standards from the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts:– Integration of Knowledge and Ideas– Research to Build and Present Knowledge– Comprehension and Collaboration– Knowledge of Language– Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

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Guidelines for Effective State-Level Literacy Plans, Birth to 12th

Knowledge-Based

Literacy Instruction

KnowledgeBuilding

reading writing

speaking listening

Re-defined adult roles & capacity-building models

•No longer feasible to rely on specialist/specialization models •historically inefficient and ineffective, anyway•universal design for learning (setting-level)

•Expand professional education•Birth to 5 settings•After-School & Family Literacy •Middle & High School Teachers

• Fostering site-level instructional leadership•clear roles for administrators

Guidelines for Effective State-Level Literacy Plans, Birth to 12th

Knowledge-Based

Literacy Instruction

KnowledgeBuilding

reading writing

speaking listening

Re-defined adult roles & capacity-building models

•In many cases, first state-wide indicator of children’s comprehension is 3rdgrade•early literacy assessments are mostly code-based

•Even starting in preK is late!•Partnerships with community & medical providers

•Assessment often focuses exclusively on children and students

-significant reasons to need to assess quality of settings•Ideally within a statewide database

•track development, including language and reading•promote program evaluation

SUMMARY: KEY POINTS• Increased intensity of many support services &

standard practice– including summer & after-school

• Knowledge-Based Literacy instruction– content goals– knowledge gaps rather than skills gaps– professional development plans

• Assessments of language development should begin long before school starts

• PK-12th grade assessment systems – include a significant focus on oral language

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SUMMARY: SERVING AT-RISK POPULATIONS

• Increase opportunities to build oral language skills, from an early age

-assessment-supports link -community-school partnerships

• Favor academic language over conversational English/basic communication

-assessment & instruction -extended discourse through high school

• Formal plan for continued support for reclassified ELLs

-universal design for learningHGSE