ELL Professional Development Plan

By Frank HernandezNW Regional Educational LaboratoryProgram Advisor, ELL Unithernandf@nwrel.org

THE HORSE STORY

• Common advice from knowledgeable horse trainers includes the adage, “When the horse dies, dismount.”

Seems simple enough. Yet in designing our professional development plans for the ELL program we often choose from an array of other alternatives which include:

• Trying a new bit or bridle• Switching riders• Appoint a committee to study the dead horse• Riding the horse for longer periods of time• Saying things like, “This is the way we’ve always ridden this

horse”• Arranging to visit other sites where they ride horses more

efficiently• Increasing the standards for riding a dead horse• Creating a test for measuring our riding ability• Comparing how we’re riding now with how we rode 10 or

20 years ago• Complaining about the state of horses these days• Coming up with new styles of riding• Tightening the cinch• Blaming the horse’s parents, the problem is often in breeding

The Best Dentist Story

• Is the new criteria proposed in this story familiar?

• Is there anything wrong with the criteria?

• Would there be other factors that you could suggest?

No Child Left Behind – Title III

Required Activities

• Increase English Proficiency by providing a high-quality language instructional programs based on scientific research

• Provide high quality professional development to classroom teachers, principals, and administrators

Title III Professional Dev. Requirements:

• Designed to improve the instruction and assessment of LEP children,

• Designed to enhance the ability of such teachers to understand & use curricula, assessment measures, & instruction strategies for LEP children

• SBR demonstrating effectiveness increasing English Proficiency or the subject matter knowledge, teaching knowledge, and teaching skills of such teachers

Requirements Cont.

• Of sufficient intensity and duration (not to include activities such as one-day or short-term workshops & conferences, and teachers are being selected for training by instructional need)

• Have a positive and lasting impact on the teachers’ performance in the classroom (is there evidence it is being applied & students are benefiting)

Go from…

Random acts of improvement

Goals and Measures

Reduce theAchievement gap

to this…

Aligned acts of improvement

Goals and Measures

Reduce theAchievement gap

Advanced Baldrige: Principles and practices for performance excellence. Jim Shipley and Associates: Integrated system solutions pp 39.

Mapping and Aligning the Curriculum to Improve Student Learning

with a Component for Learners of ESL

Start

What are our students’ test scores?

Which content area needs our attention?

What am I teaching in that content area?

What are others’ teaching in that content area?

What are the State Standards for the content area?

What do the state tests assess?

How does our map align with the State Standards and assessments? - What is missing? - What is redundant? - What is taught at the wrong time?

Make changes…

in what is taught

in when it is taught

in how it is taught

What are our students’ learning now, according to classroom assessments and observations?

What are the English language goals?

What are research-based methods f or teaching ESL learners?

English Language Proficiency-AMAO’s

Progress in learning English: AMAO’S

• Language proficiency definition

• Language proficiency progression

• Aligned to Language Arts Standards

ELP linked to Content Standards: AYP

• The content area vocabulary

• The tasks to perform in each content area

ELL Data

• AMAO Standards & AYP Benchmark Results• By State Cohort Requirements• By District Cohorts: (examples)

– Ethnicity and/or languages– Gender– Intact v new (and/or age of entry)– Drop Out, Graduation Rates– A.P. or I.B. Course participation– Participation in extracurricular activities

An Effective Professional Dev. Plan result in:

Appropriate Staff Accountability:

• Lesson Development• Curriculum• Instruction – to

include both ELD & Content classes

Appropriate Admin. Accountability:

• Supervision• Instructional

Leadership• Professional

Development

STAFF ACCOUNTABILITY

• Lesson Development to include: supporting background knowledge & language goals by L2 proficiency level

• Curriculum to include: District identified materials & supplemental resources

• Instruction to differentiate by student L2 proficiency level

Lesson Development

• Shelter Instruction

• CALLA

• SDAIE

• SIOP

• GLAD

TYPES OF CURRICULUM

• Taught: What teachers decide to teach

• Learned: What students actually learn

• Assessed: What is tested

• Official: What the public adopts

• Hidden: What is taught but not included in public curriculum

• Null: What is not taught by teacher choice

“The improvement of student learning is inextricably tied to the improvement of the instructional practices carried out by the professionals at the school.”

(Knapp, 2003, pp 51)

Administrative Accountability

• Supervision: An expectation that education leader would know what it looks like in a classroom

• Instructional Leadership: Data analysis, review of program objectives and department meetings would be linked to student needs

• Professional Development: A long-term, comprehensive program of sufficient intensity to create lasting changes in instruction would be developed by district administration

STAFF DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Staff / Professional Development

Paraprofessional and

Support Staff

Certified Staff Administration Parents

Program and strategies to increase the English proficiency of ELL students

(Example 1) Trainings by year in program/Dist. Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Programs and strategies to increase the academic achievement of ELL students in the core academic subjects

(Example 2) Trainings by instructional component Social - Affective Metacognitive Cognitive

Incorporating technology into curriculum, instruction, and programs

(Example 3) Trainings by staff needs Awareness

and/or intro. to skills

Mastery of skills by follow-up activities or mentorship’s

Trainer of Trainers or capacity building activities

Program Decision

• Number of ELL Students

• Student Needs - Data

• Number of Languages

• Language Concentrations

• District Capacity

• Subtractive v Additive

THE LIFEBOAT THEORY

• It’s how I learned to swim.

• Everyone I know learned with this method.

Thomas-CollierStudy

Reading Program

Program Type Grade 11 Cost

ESL Pullout 11 $1194

Immersion 23

TBE 32

One-Way DBE 54

Two-Way DBE 70 $876

Strategies for Small & Rural S. D.

• Cluster ELL students in classes with appropriately trained teachers: elementary = grade blends, secondary = content courses on alternate years

• Place bilingual assistants with cluster students• Use high-quality ESL curriculum for ELA• Utilize Mexican curriculum materials available

through Consulate (INEA, Telesecundaria)• Utilize supplemental secondary materials (PASS)• Utilize qualified student mentors (Spanish 4 level)

“If you always do what you have always done, you’ll get what you have always gotten.”

The Wizard of OZ