RTi for English Language learners

1. RTifor English Language learners Patty Cornelius, M.Ed. ESL Liaison, Lakota Local Schools

2. 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

3. 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

4. Why focus on ELLs? • 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 non-disabled students Source: Movit, Peytrykowska, and Woodruff, 2010

5. Factors that Contribute to the Gap • Ineffective or poorly trained teachers • 56% of teachers in the U.S. have at least one ELL in their class, but only 20% are certified to teach ELLs • Lack of access to appropriate instructional and assessment materials • 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

6. Considerations for ELLs • Language proficiency • Academic English • Background knowledge • Formal education history • Culture

7. The Role of Culture Activity • 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

8. Tier 1: The Core • ELLs need to be included in the core! • Language development should supplementnot supplant • Historically, ELLs have often been pulled out of Tier 1 core instruction and have not been exposed to contentstandards in the same manner and at the same level as their English speaking peers. • Language development is a Tier 1 responsibility! • Core instruction must be differentiated so that it is comprehensible for all language levels

9. Effective Core Practices for ELLs • Systematic Attention to Language Development • Content and language objectives made clear • Focuses on developing the content specific language • Explicit 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

10. 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 • 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. Other Important Aspects of the Core • Culturally relevant texts available in the classroom • Learning materials are inclusive and avoid stereo-types • Higher level thinking skills are utilized • Cooperative learning groups with clear expectations • Opportunity for interaction with native English speakers • What else?

14. Before moving to Tier 2, Closely examine Tier 1 • 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)

15. Parents as Resources • 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: • 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

16. Progress Monitoring for ELLs • 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. Turn and Talk • How might you gather information about a student’s reading ability in his or her native language?

20. When ELLs Need More… • Interventions should be: • Purposeful • Intentional • Explicit

21. 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

22. Targeted Tier 2 Interventions for ELLs • 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

23. Key Questions to Consider in Tier 2 for ELLs • 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

24. Tier 3 • 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

25. When to Evaluate Further • “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

26. Jigsaw Activity • 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

27. 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

28. References/Resources • 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.

29. Contact Information Patty Cornelius Lakota Local Schools patricia.cornelius@lakotaonline.com (513) 200-6834 cell (513) 777-2258 office