McNulty_Giving EL Teachers a Quantitative Voice: Creating Common Language Assessments

Giving EL Teachers a Quantitative Voice: Creating Common

Language Assessments

Kate McNultyEL Instructional Coach

Anoka Hennepin School [email protected]

Anoka-Hennepin ISD 11

2011-2012•MN adopts WiDA•ACCESS test

2012-2013•MDE Review•Shift in

instruction•Lesson Plan

Template

2013-now

•Writing Assessments

•Collaboration•PLCs•WiDA Growth

Report


MDE ReviewJanuary 2013

Finding:Observations, interviews, and a review of the documentation indicate that [instruction] seems to be overly focused on literacy and English language arts rather than language development in all content areas as prescribed in the English language development standards. The focus on academic achievement supersedes attention to English language development with the role of the ESL teacher co-mingled with that of content support, rather than having a clear emphasis on language development.


Reading (Receptive) Language Growth


Listening (Receptive) Language Growth


Speaking (Productive) Language Growth


Writing (Productive) Language Growth


2014-2015 Shifts

EL PLCs

EL Coach

Writing Assessments


Attributes of Productive PLCs

1. Members who work interdependently toward unified goals

2. Collective creativity and inquiry

3. Shared values and vision

4. Supportive conditions that encourage interaction

5. Action orientation with documentation of results

Gottlieb, p.10, 2012


PLC/Assessment Partnership

1. Potent strategy for promoting school and district improvement

2. Teachers become decision makers/leaders and transform their roles within schools

Darling-Hammond, 1996


Common Language

Assessments

RationaleDefinition

FrameworkExamples and

Implementation


What is a common language

assessment?“Common language assessment is a set of mutually agreed-upon language measures or tasks, embedded in instruction, along with uniform procedures for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data across multiple classrooms.”

Gottlieb 2012


Other Common Characteristics

✿ Mutually agreed-upon timetable✿ Creating and using same directions for

language tasks

✿ Checking for reliability of scoring to ensure the same interpretation of student work

✿ Interpreting results the same way (rubric)✿ Using the information to make the same

kinds of decisions (determining growth, grouping, etc)

Gottlieb, p. 7, 2012Anoka-Hennepin ISD 11

Building Blocks of Common Assessment

(Gottlieb)Phase 1: Planning

Phase II: Design

Phase III: Refinement

Phase IV: Inspection

Phase V: Maintenance


• Create and Pilot 1 Assessment/Grade13-

14• Write and

implement 3 assessments for grades K-5

14-15

• Review and refine if necessary15-

16

Planning


Measure Academic Language

Connected to Content

During EL Time

Mirror ACCESS

Dipstick

Design


Academic Language✿ Discourse Level: language beyond

the sentence in both written and oral form✿ Sentence Level: grammatical

structures and syntax associated with sentence-level meaning

✿ Word Level: social & academic; general, content-specific, and multi-word expressions


Discourse LevelFeatures Definition ExamplesLanguage Functions

“The purpose to which language is put, the purpose of an utterance rather than the particular grammatical form an utterance takes” (Sauvignon, 1983, p. 13)

Identify, classify, sequence, explain, distinguish

Genres Abstract, socially recognized ways of using language (Hyland, 2007)

Narratives, arguments, expository texts

Speech Events

“Activities, or aspects of activities, that are directly governed by rules or norms for the use of speech. An event may consist of a single speech act, but will often comprise several.” (Hymes, 1972, p.56)

Oral reports, presentations, demonstrations


Progression of Language Functions

Complex

Expressing Needs/LikesDescribingRetelling/RelatingMaking PredictionsComparingSequencingDefining

More Complex

Asking Clarifying QuestionsContrastingSummarizingCause & EffectExplainingInterpretingEvaluating

Most Complex

PersuadingGeneralizingDrawing ConclusionsHypothesizing/SpeculatingSynthesizing

Pozzi, D.C. (2004). Forms and functions in language: Morphology, syntax.Anoka-Hennepin ISD 11

Refinement14-15

Many Language functions in a grade

Content Dependent (Some)

Split between Language Level

Aligned with end of Trimester

15-16Same language function

per grade (Except K)

Language Dependent

One per grade

Assessments in beginning, middle and

end year


Writing Assessment Evaluation and Timeline

✿ Separate rubric for K

✿ 3 assessments per year (September, January, and June)

✿ Utilize WiDA Consortium rubric to get an “overall” score


Ongoing: Inspection

1. Interpret students’ work samples using rubrics.

2. Create benchmarks as milestones for common language assessment

3. Communicate standards-referenced results to stakeholders

4. Follow the multi-step data analysis process


How can this work for you?

* if it’s in place+ something that you would like to add


Questions?


Education

McNulty_Giving EL Teachers a Quantitative Voice: Creating Common Language Assessments