+

Don’t Blame the Kids!Grantmakers’ Lessons from Sanger USD’s Success with ELLs

+Why Do We Do What We Do?

+Sanger, California

+Names and Titles

Moderator:Ken Doane Program Director, S.H. Cowell Foundation

Presenters:Kenji HakutaLee L. Jacks Professor of Education, Stanford University

Marcus P. JohnsonSuperintendent, Sanger Unified School District2011 National Superintendent of the Year (American Association. of School Administrators)

Tim LopezArea Administrator, Sanger Unified School District

Central Valley Foundation

Susan McClatchyCo-founder and Board Vice Chair

Lauren WolkovExecutive Director

Annette LieferAssociate Director

Sanger Unified School District

Steven CarlsonDirector of Grants and Program Development

+Investors in Sanger

Established: 1993

Service Area: California’s Central San Joaquin Valley; based in Fresno and Sacramento

Grantmaking:

Primary focus on education programs for English Language Learners (ELLs) in public K-12 school districts

Secondary focus on promoting the First Amendment

Currently active in 7 communities

Investments in Sanger: 3 grants totaling $2.5 million since 2009, including the District Partnership Project with Firebaugh-Las Deltas Unified School District

Established: 1956

Service Area: All of northern and central California; based in San Francisco

Grantmaking:

Focuses are organizational capacity, leadership and teacher professional development in public K-12 schools

Place-based, comprising complementary grants for Education, Family Support, Youth Development, Affordable Housing and Leadership Development in neighborhoods, towns and regions

Currently active in 11 communities

Investments in Sanger: 15 grants totaling $2 million since 2007; also 2 grants totaling $725,000 to Stanford for the ELL Leadership Network

Central Valley FoundationS. H. Cowell Foundation

+Goals of the Session

Gain insight into the norms, practices and tools that have transformed teaching and learning in Sanger Unified School District, and review evidence of the District’s success in lifting student achievement and narrowing achievement gaps, particularly for English Learners.

Assess the function of grants and other Foundation resources in facilitating these results, and learn how grantmakers with different strategies have collaborated in partnership with the District.

Consider the role of Foundation-sponsored partnerships in enabling the District to sustain its success and generate leverage with other districts and education organizations.

+The obligations of Lau: Access to English and academic content

+Stanford University Analysis

• Progress in English

+Stanford University Analysis

• Mean CST ELA Scores for ELs/RFEPs and EOs in Sanger and California by Grade, 2004-2009

+Stanford University Analysis

• Mean CST Math Scores for ELs/RFEPs and EOs in Sanger and California by Grade, 2004-2009

+Stanford University Analysis

+Stanford University Analysis

+Every Child, Every Day, Whatever It Takes!

“It is easier to build a strong child than to repair a broken man”

Fredrick Douglas

+The Power of Professional Learning Communities

The most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is building the capacity of school personnel to function as a professional learning community.

“The path to change in the classroom lies within and through professional learning communities.”

-Milbrey McLaughlin (1995)

+What is a PLC?

“A Professional Learning Community is an ethos that infuses every single aspect of a school’s operation. When a school becomes a professional learning community, everything in the school looks different than it did before.”

-Andy Hargraves (2004)

+Professional Learning Community Defined

An ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve.

“PLC’s operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators.”

-DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Many, (2010)

+Four Key Questions of a Professional Learning CommunityWhat do we want our students to learn?

How will we know they have learned it?

How will we respond when learning did not take place?

How do we respond when learning has already occurred?

+Sequence of Work for PLC Teams

+Keys to Formative Assessments

To determine if an assessment is formative ask:

1. Is it used to identify students who are experiencing difficulty in their learning?

2. Are students who are having difficulty provided with additional time and support for learning?

3. Are students given an additional opportunity to demonstrate their learning?

+Common Formative Assessments Teacher created. Answers questions #2: How will we know when they

have learned it? Typically addresses 1-3 standards depending on

complexity of standard. All teachers of PLC give assessment on same date

(tight) Teachers have ability to adjust curriculum/assessment

map (loose). Data analysis required after each common assessment,

including sub-group data for EL, Special Education. Response plan required after each common

assessment.

+Common Assessment Data Analysis

+Is it easier to Succeed or Fail?

Many students did not do their work and we had no system to address it.

Students were winning the “battle.”

We knew if students were allowed to fail… they would fail.

We knew we had to create a system to begin making it easier to succeed

+Using Data to Drive Instruction for English Learners

ELLA (English Language Learner Assessment) Developed by Key Data Systems CELDT like assessment Given in January and May

ROLA (Reading and Oral Language Assessment)

PLC Common Assessments

+ELLA Background

Created by Key Data Systems to help determine the progress of English Learners’ ability to listen, speak, read, and write in English. K-1, 2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 Versions 1 & 2

Modeled after the CDE CELDT released test questions Multiple choice, correct/incorrect, and short

answer Student and Teacher Versions

+Stanford ELL Leadership Network

1. Sanger Unified School District

2. Firebaugh-Las Deltas USD3. Stanford University4. Fairfield-Suisun USD5. Napa Valley USD6. Tahoe-Truckee USD7. Ukiah USD8. Corning Union Elementary

SD

+Why Do We Do What We Do?