PDE Updates from the ESL Program Area

1. PDE Updatesfrom the ESL Program Area August 2014 Linda Long ESL/Bilingual Education Advisor

2. Mission for the Education of ELLs • Provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of education which includes the provision of quality, culturally responsive, and equitable educational programs for English language learners and assurance of their appropriate participation in all aspects of the educational system. • Ensure that its programs will address the needs and rights of English language learners in all its initiatives throughout the entire process of planning and implementation.

3. Vision for the Education of ELLs • Promotes the recognition of English language learners and their parents as cultural and linguistic assets to the Commonwealth’s global initiatives. • Is committed to using its Standards Aligned System to ensure that English language learners receive core curriculum instruction and achieve high levels of academic success.

4. Objectives • Identify current initiatives and their impact on the education of English language learners in Pennsylvania • Propose a team approach to engage educators in collaborative efforts to enhance the academic opportunities and achievement of English language learners • Identify resources, professional development, and technical support available to assist LEAs in implementing a team-focused, student-centered ESL Program

5. Background

6. 2011 ESEA Flexibility • The U.S. Department of Education has invited SEAs to request flexibility regarding specific requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) in exchange for rigorous and comprehensive State-developed plans designed to improve educational outcomes for all students, close achievement gaps, increase equity, and improve the quality of instruction. • College and Career ready Standards • Differentiated Accountability and Recognition System • Effective Instruction and Leadership • Reducing Duplication of Data

7. 2011 ESEA Flexibility • ESEA Flexibility website: • http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/index.html • PA ESEA Request for Flexibility approved August 2013: • https://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/map/pa.html

8. Current Initiatives • Changes in ESEA Accountability • No AYP • New AMOs • Federal Accountability (Title I Schools) • School Performance Profile • Chapter 4 Revisions • Implementation of PA Core Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics • New graduation requirements • Revised State Assessment System • Educator Effectiveness • Implementation of ACCESS 2.0

9. Challenges

10. Shifts • Expectations for ELLs • Expectations for educators • Compliance to outcomes • Incremental change to significant • Achievement to opportunity • Integration of resources

11. ELLs • Double the work • Increased rigor of PA Core Standards • Proficient score on Keystone Exams to graduate • 4 year grad rate cohort • College and career ready

12. Educators • Advocate for the underserved • Remove barriers • Raise the expectations • Close the gaps—opportunity and achievement • Improve outcomes • Increased accountability

13. Compliance to Outcomes • Compliance is no longer enough • LEAs are required to demonstrate effectiveness of ESL Program • Show that ESL Program is causing ELLs to become proficient and academically successful • More than AMAOs • Performing comparable to never-ELL peers • Participating in all aspects of the educational program • Retain/drop out rate comparable to never-ELL peers

14. Incremental to Significant Change • ESEA Flexibility • Systemic challenge requires a systemic change • Accountability • 50% reduction in achievement gap over 6 years

15. Achievement to Opportunity Gaps • Achievement gaps are a reflection of opportunity gaps • LEAs must take positive steps to ensure equity of opportunity and inclusion

16. Integration of Resources • Limited staff • Limited funding • Limited resources

17. Research-Based • Characteristics of High Performing Schools • Clear and Shared Focus • Effective Leadership • High Levels of Collaboration and Communication • High Standards and Expectations • Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Aligned to Standards • Frequent Monitoring of Teaching and Learning • Focused Professional Development • Supportive Learning Environment • High Levels of Community and Parent Involvement

18. It Takes a Team • Foundations of initiatives • Nature of challenges • Focus of federal government • Requirements of regulations • Supported by research

19. Leading by Convening: A Blueprint for Authentic Engagement • Council of Special Education Administrators • National Association of School Psychologists • National Association of State Directors of Special Education www.ideapartnership.org A Team Approach

20. A tool to make explicit the kind of collaboration needed to affect a change in practice • A partnership that builds connections and fosters authentic engagement • Protocols that focus on the value of relationships and shared knowledge and expertise • Rubrics, tools, activities to implement

21. Habits of Interaction

22. Shared concerns: • Commonality of need, purpose, action • Steps to build consensus: • Define issues • Outline knowledge • Develop key principles or mission • Determination of actionable goals Coalescing Around Issues

23. Right mix of stakeholders: • Representative • Purposeful • Knowledgeable • Influential • Right environment: • Welcoming • Scaffold for understanding and gaps • Develop a common vocabulary • Rotate leadership Ensuring Relevant Participation

24. Interactions of Participants: • Model respect • Support personal investment • Acknowledge need for recognition • Work being done: • Revisit shared principles or vision • Structure interactions • Keep all stakeholders informed • Incorporate reflection Doing the Work Together

25. Advantages of Leading by Convening

26. ESL Program Evaluation

27. ESL Program Key Components • Language Instruction Educational Program: • Written ESL policy • Educational approach and instructional model • Identification, placement, exit, monitoring • Planned instruction= ESL and content areas • Assessment • Program evaluation • Staffing and resources • Communication with parents • Professional development for all teachers • Common planning time

28. Program Evaluation Requirement • Each LEA must periodically evaluate its language instructional program to ensure all components are aligned and working effectively to facilitate the acquisition of the English language and academic achievement defined by the PA academic standards. • BEC: Educating Students with Limited English Proficiency and English Language Learners • Each eligible entity that receives a subgrant from a state agency…shall provide such agency…with an evaluation, in a form prescribed by the agency. • Title III 3121 (a)

29. Program Evaluation What Data do we Review? • A Diagnostic Tool for Taking Your Program’s Pulse in ESL Tool Kit at http://toolkit.eslportalpa.info/index.cfm?pageid=4754 • Equity, Inclusion, and Opportunity: Addressing Success Gaps at http://disprop.sites.tadnet.org/pages/115

30. eMetric for ACCESS for ELLs Assessment Data https://solutions.emetric.net/paaccess/

31. eMetric for PA Student Assessments https://solutions1.emetric.net/PA

32. PA School Performance Profile www.paschoolperformance.org

33. PVAAS https://pvaas.sas.com

34. ESL Program Area Updates for SY 2014-15

35. ESL Policy

36. ESL Policy • Each LEA must have a written, board approved ESL Program. • Guidance and NEW sample ESL Policy in ESL Tool Kit: http://toolkit.eslportalpa.info/index.cfm?pageid=4619 • Recorded webinar and power point, “Effective ESL Programs: Meeting the Challenges and Embracing the Opportunities” (August 21, 2013): http://www.eslportalpa.info/index.cfm?pageid=5255

37. Identification, Placement, Exit

38. New Federal Guidance • Information on the Rights of All Children to Enroll in Schools (received June 2014) • Penn*Link released July 2, 2014 • The United States Department of Education and United States Department of Justice have updated guidance to state education agencies to assist public elementary and secondary institutions to ensure enrollment processes are consistent with federal law and provide all students with equal access to an education. • urge local education agencies (LEA) to • review the list of documents used to establish proof of residency, proof of age, use of social security numbers, and documentation of race and ethnicity to ensure that these do not bar or discourage a student who is undocumented or whose parents are undocumented from enrolling. • review enrollment data for precipitous drops in enrollment of any group of students that may signal barriers to their participation.

39. New Federal Guidance • A guidance letter, fact sheet, and a question and answer document that includes examples can be accessed in English and Spanish: • The English guidance documents: • http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201405.pdfhttp://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/qa-201405.pdfhttp://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/dcl-factsheet-201405.pdf • The Spanish guidance documents: • http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201405-sp.pdfhttp://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/qa-201405-sp.pdfhttp://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/dcl-factsheet-201405-sp.pdf • Penn*Link and documents will be posted soon on the ESL Portal (www.eslportalpa.info)

40. Placement is a Process! • Student placement into an ESL or Bilingual Program must be based on the results of the Home Language Survey, the W-APT, and consideration of multiple criteria. • From the Home Language Survey, LEAs identify students with a primary home language other than English (PHLOTEs). From the PHLOTE list, LEAs implement a process to identify students who are in need of English language instruction programs. • Based on further information and the use of multiple criteria, a PHLOTE student may be • formally assessed for English language proficiency (using the W-APT) and possible placement in an English language instructional program • exempted from a formal English language proficiency assessment

41. Exemption from Formal Assessment • There are certain scenarios that may preclude assessment if a student can demonstrate English language proficiency (ELP). • Students should meet two of the following three criteria to be exempted from a formal ELP assessment. Student records for children from other states or school systems can be considered as part of the criteria. • Final grades of B or better in core subject areas (Mathematics, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies); • Scores on district-wide assessments that are comparable to the Basic  performance level on the PSSA; • Scores of Basic in Reading, Writing and Math on the PSSA or an equivalent assessment from another state.

42. Further Information • Further information can be gathered from additional questionnaires, meetings with parents/caregivers, meetings with students, and examination of documents pertaining to the student’s prior education.   • Additional questions for parents/caregivers might include the following: • How many years did your child attend school in your native country? In the United States? • What grade was your child in at the last school he/she attended? • What language does your child most frequently speak at home? • What language do you use most frequently to speak to your child? • What is the language spoken most often by the adults in the home? • Can your child read in your native language? How well? • Can your child write in your native language? How well?

43. Use of the W-APT • If the Home Language Survey, further information, and multiple criteria warrant formal assessment of English language proficiency for potential placement into an English language instructional program, Pennsylvania requires the administration of the W-APT as an initial measure of a student’s English language proficiency. • Parent permission to assess is not required. • W-APT scores, in combination with other multiple criteria, help to determine whether or not a student is in need of an English language instructional program. • For additional guidance • ESL Toolkit under Placement at www.eslportalpa.info • Recorded webinar information and PA-specific guidance document available on the ESL Portal at the following link: http://www.eslportalpa.info/index.cfm?pageid=5255

44. Parent Notification • Placement in a Core ESL and/or a Title III supplemental ESL Program requires parent notification • Within 30 days of the beginning of the school year • Within 14 days of enrollment during the school year • Must be in the parents’ preferred language and mode of communication • Notification must include identification, assessment results, placement, instructional model, how program will address students’ educational needs • Parent Notifications available on TransACT (www.transact.com) • See TransACT website for languages available • NCLB-B2 Notification of ELD Program Placement • Indicates instructional model for Core ESL Program • Indicates instructional model for Title III Supplemental Services, only relevant if additional Title III funded instructional services are available • NCLB-B3 Description of District ELD Program • Provides details of how the Core ESL Program will meet the educational needs of the student • NCLB-B4 Program Withdrawal/Denial of Enrollment from Title III Supplemental Program Only • Enables parents to opt their child out of additional Title III funded instructional services (not Core ESL instruction), only relevant if additional Title III funded instructional services are available

45. Language Instructional Program Exit • Every LEA must include the State Required Exit Criteria in the LEA’s Program Plan for ELLs. • The State Required Exit Criteria for Pennsylvania’s English Language Instructional Programs for English Language Learners (Revised June 2013) must be applied to determine program exit for students after June 1, 2013. • Program exit from the Pennsylvania English language instructional program for English language learners takes place annually between June and September. • Student exit from an ESL or Bilingual Program must be based on Pennsylvania’s exit criteria.

46. Cut-off Score Flexibility in Special Circumstances Following the scoring criteria in the table below, the W-APT may be administered between June and September to students who scored below the minimum cutoff for program exit on the January administration of the ACCESS in order to demonstrate sufficient progress to justify exit. Grade LevelACCESS ScoreRequired W-APT Scores*                         K        Cutoff score flexibility not allowable for Kindergarteners                         1-5                     4.6-4.9                       5.0 in each domain                         6-8                     4.7-4.9                       5.0 in each domain                        9-12                   4.8-4.9                       5.0 in each domain

47. LEP Status for 2014-2015 • LEP status of students for the current school year must be determined by September 30, 2013, and reported in the PIMS October District and School Enrollment Collection. • current ELL • monitor 1 • monitor 2 • no longer monitored • never an ELL • Students reported as current English language learners in the PIMS October District and School Enrollment Collection cannot exit the English language instructional program from October until June. • LEP Status does not change from October to June (DQE edit applies)

48. For more information • For more information on any of these topics, please visit the ESL Toolkit! • Identification- http://toolkit.eslportalpa.info/index.cfm?pageid=4623 • Placement- http://toolkit.eslportalpa.info/index.cfm?pageid=4649 • Exit criteria- http://toolkit.eslportalpa.info/index.cfm?pageid=4651

49. Planned Instruction

50. English Language Acquisition (ESL Classes) • ESL instruction must be delivered via curriculum aligned with PA’s Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening Standards and the PA English Language Proficiency Standards. (BEC, Educating Students with Limited English Proficiency and English Language Learners) • PA English Language Proficiency Standards and PA Core Standards for English Language Arts can be accessed on the SAS Portal at www.pdesas.org . Click on the Standards element. • Guidance related to developing/revising the ESL curriculum can be accessed at: “Effective ESL Programs: Meeting the Challenges and Embracing the Opportunities (August 21, 2013) ”: http://www.eslportalpa.info/index.cfm?pageid=5255 • NEW--During SY 2014-15, PA ELPS Framework for Formative Assessment will be updated to reflect the PA Core Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics.