ELL Assessment Fall Update September 14, 2009 Event #35297 TEA Student Assessment Division

Session Outline Some demographics and performance General assessment updates to prepare for this year and future testing programs TELPAS updates TAKS updates Connecting ELPS and TEKS with TELPAS, LAT, and TAKS 2

Please Note! This PowerPoint will be posted on TEA Student Assessment “ELL Assessments” page early this week 2 important assessment letters from TEA: September 2, 2009 letter outlining field-test activities and other studies that require district participation (notification to districts of actual participation to occur in late September) Letter to go out soon with important student assessment program updates for

Demographics and Performance Number of ELLs in Texas public schools has grown from about 570,000 in to over 800,000 in More than 90% of ELLs are Spanish speakers Performance gap between ELLs and “all student group” has narrowed in many grades and subjects over years of TAKS Performance of “M2 former ELLs” and “all student group” is comparable 4 Term ELLs is used interchangeably with LEP students

Some TAKS Math, Science, Social Studies Spring 2003 and 2009 SubjectGradeGroup Change Math4 All - Eng ELLs - Eng ELLs - Spn Science5 All - Eng ELLs - Eng ELLs - Spn Math (Primary) 8 All ELLs Social Studies 8 All ELLs Math10 All ELLs Science10 All ELLs All – Eng = all students in state who took TAKS in English Panel recommended (PR) standards used; LAT results not included

Some TAKS Language Arts Grades 2003 and 2009 SubjectGradeGroup Change Reading4 All - Eng ELLs - Eng ELLs - Spn Writing4 All - Eng ELLs - Eng ELLs - Spn Writing7 All ELLs Reading7 All ELLs Reading (Primary) 8 All ELLs ELA10 All ELLs All – Eng = all students in state who took TAKS in English Panel recommended (PR) standards used; LAT results not included

Spring 2009 TAKS: All Student Group* Compared to M2 Former ELLs** (Primary Administrations) Reading/ELAMath GradeAllM2 AllM * All student group = all students in state who took TAKS in English * *M2 former ELLs = students in 2 nd year of monitoring after reclassification as non-LEP

Grades 3–12 TELPAS Results: % Students at Each Proficiency Level Listening B I A H Speaking B I A H Reading B I A H Writing B I A H B = Beginning I = Intermediate A = Advanced H = Advanced High New Test Former Test (RPTE)

General Updates 9

Release Tests 2009 TAKS release tests available on TEA website TELPAS reading tests scheduled for release summer 2010 (since first administration of new version was 2008) 10

Vertical Scale Reminder Vertical scale to become primary reporting scale for grades 3-8 TAKS reading and math this year Last year some performance standards were adjusted slightly to conform to vertical scale based on educator panel recommendations Resulting changes in standards take effect this year This information was communicated in letter to districts dated March 5, 2009 See March 5, 2009 letter and other resources on TEA website for details 11

Reminder ― Additional TPM Reports Coming Additional Texas Projection Measure (TPM) reports to be available to districts in September To include Confidential Student Reports and campus and district summaries As shown on next slide, Confidential Student Reports (CSRs) to show graphic with vertical scale progress from 2008 to 2009 TPM projection to next high-stakes grade Brochures in English and Spanish to be available to explain CSRs to parents 12

Example Student Graphic 13

HB 3 Effect on Spanish TAKS Eliminated Spanish versions of grade 6 reading and math tests Effective this school year 14

HB 3 Effect on SSI Eliminated grade 3 reading as part of SSI Students in grades 5 and 8 required to participate in accelerated instruction; otherwise, can’t be promoted if fail TAKS Effective this school year 15

HB 3 Effect on Study Guides Print versions of TAKS study guides were eliminated effective this school year Interactive online study guides to be available for current printed guides Interactive guides for grades 3-5 math will be added this spring for English and Spanish TAKS 16

Testing Calendar Changes Grades 5 and 8 SSI reading to be given on same schedule as SSI math (early April and mid-May) Grades 5 and 8 LAT math and reading to be given in mid-May SSI week In January 2010, no stand-alone TAKS field tests for grade 4 and 7 writing or grade 9 reading For details, see revised Student Assessment Testing Calendar on TEA website 17

HB 3 and End-of-Course (EOC) Tests EOC assessments to become graduation requirement for students entering grade 9 in 2011–2012 school year 12 EOC assessments to be administered; students must meet cumulative score requirement within each of 4 subject-area strands to graduate Law requires student’s score on each EOC test to be worth 15% of student’s final course grade 18

HB 3 and End-of-Course (EOC) Tests Certain EOC tests developed and available for use; others still under development Field testing to continue for tests under development TEA to begin mandatory EOC testing involving representative samples of students to start work to establish standards See September 2, 2009 letter for details 19

HB 3 Requirements for Replacing TAKS, Grades 3-8 New testing program to be implemented spring 2012 Program name will not be TAKS Better link to and preparation for EOC assessments and college readiness Back-mapping from English III and Algebra II Tests to reflect TEKS revisions 20

HB 3 Effect on ELL Inclusion Policies HB 3 made minor changes to provisions for ELL exemptions, exit level test postponements, and linguistic accommodations New provisions for unschooled asylees/refugees included Commissioner rules to be revised accordingly and reflected in LPAC assessment manual (to be updated in December) Rules to be in effect for this spring’s testing 21

Discussions about ELL Inclusion Policies for New Testing Programs Plans to examine whether ELL inclusion and accommodation policies should change in conjunction with new testing programs Plans involve examining what other states do surveying research on linguistic accommodations evaluating feasibility related to logistics and costs getting input from practitioners and national experts 22

TELPAS 23

Holistic Rating Training TEA trained new and returning TELPAS trainers in July and early August Anyone conducting training this school year must have been trained this summer by TEA Fall Level 1 training window: Jul 27 – Oct 23 (qualification window is through Oct 30) 24

Holistic Rating Training Training packets for Level 1 participants can be ordered using online order form at: erTrainingMaterialsOrderForm erTrainingMaterialsOrderForm Packets provided at no charge Packets can be used for both fall 2009 and spring 2010 Level 1 rater training (as long as supplies last) 25

New Supplemental Refresher (Level 2) Training Requirements Current thinking (not final yet): Per language domain, rate at least 5 of 7 students correctly If fewer than 5, review rating feedback carefully and seek clarification as necessary Then retake corresponding level 1 domain Rating at least 4 of 5 students correctly in level 1 considered sufficient; if fewer rated correctly, additional review to be encouraged Districts to use this information in ultimately assigning raters and establishing validity and reliability procedures 26

Later Launch Date for Level 1 Training for Grades 2-12 Launch date will be February 1 (rather than mid-January as in past) Launch date coincides with launch of qualification and other Level 1 and 2 courses Level 1 trainees will not have to wait for qualification window to open 27 Reminders: Vast majority of Level 1 training should occur in fall In spring, Level 1 course is offered to cover extenuating circumstances

Online Course Completions and Qualification Rates More than 100,000 TELPAS rater online courses completed each year in last two years Of these, about 15,000 a year were Assembling and Verifying Writing Collections course Qualification rates: 90% last fall 89% last spring 28

Reading Interface Change Transition to enhanced TELPAS reading interface to occur in spring 2010 To make transition, this spring some districts to use original interface and some to use enhanced interface Before results reported, comparability study to occur to ensure original standards maintained Districts to find out interface assignment in September; each district to use just 1 interface Administration directions and student tutorials to be produced for each interface 29

Verification Time Before Scoring Last year there was a 5-week assessment window to conduct TELPAS assessments and submit information for scoring This year there will be a 5-week assessment window In addition, there will be a few extra days allowed for testing coordinators to use to verify student records in online system before scoring begins 30

Inclusion of ELLs Receiving Special Education Services ELLs served by special education should be able to be assessed with TELPAS except in very rare cases Be sure decisions made on individual student basis and domain by domain If decision made not to require participation, maintain well-supported documentation of reason 31

Expanded Qualification Requirements Beginning in Beginning in , listening and speaking to be added to qualification component for raters of students in grade 2 or higher Same number of students per qualification set – rating of writing, listening, and speaking within each set; qualification overall, not by domain Raters already qualified won’t have to qualify again Beginning in , qualification requirements to apply to K-1 raters too – all domains to be included 32

Audits and Other Validity Studies Plans include periodically – comparing TELPAS with other English language proficiency tests analyzing rater performance on training activities conducting audits of ratings assigned during live assessments 33

TAKS 34

Plans to Replace TAKS in Grades 3-8 New testing program for grades 3-8 to be implemented in spring 2012 Field testing for new assessments to occur in spring 2011 New information booklets to be available online in

Steps to Develop New Tests Tests to change to reflect legislative intent New tests to reflect TEKS revisions Districts to implement revised language arts TEKS this year and revised science TEKS in Educator committees to help with test design Educator committees have been convening to help design new reading and writing tests Still in initial planning stages for math, science, and social studies 36

New Reading and Writing Tests Summer 2009: Educators from across state participated in focus group meetings Fall 2009: Larger advisory group meetings with educators to take place to seek further input on new assessments 37

Topics discussed with summer focus groups: Design of new tests (number of passages and items, length of tests) Content eligible for testing Types of genres from revised TEKS to include at each grade level (fiction, poetry, drama, expository, persuasive) Inclusion of reading selections that have been previously published (autobiographies, poems, etc.) Use of dictionaries on tests New Reading and Writing Tests 38

Additional writing focus group topics: Whether to include student expectations from previous grades (e.g., include student expectations from grades 2, 3, and 4 on grade 4 test) Types of prompts to assess at grades 4 and 7 Number of prompts to include on new tests Embedding of field-test prompts and items rather than having separate field tests New Writing Test, Continued 39

New Reading and Writing Tests Fall advisory groups will – review prototype items to guide field-test item development continue discussion of test design topics from focus group meetings 40

Frequently Asked Question on Elimination of Grade 6 Spanish TAKS Scenario: Jorge is in his 2 nd year in U.S. schools. Last year he was in a 5 th grade bilingual class and took Spanish TAKS. His TELPAS reading rating was intermediate. He is now in a 6 th grade bilingual class. The LPAC is concerned that he may not acquire academic language proficiency in English in time for the spring TAKS tests. Can he be exempted this year even though he took TAKS in Spanish last year now that there is no Grade 6 Spanish version? 41

Answer Because Jorge is in a grade in which there is no longer a native language test, he is in Category 2. He will be able to be exempted if he meets both the general and specific exemption criteria for Category 2 students in the second school year in the U.S. If he meets the exemption criteria, he will take LAT reading and math tests. Remember, exemption decisions are to be made in spring, not fall. LPACs will evaluate how much progress the student has made up to the time of testing. 42

Connecting ELPS, Content Area TEKS, TELPAS, LAT, and TAKS 43

44 Texas English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) outline instruction districts are to provide in order for ELLs to have full opportunity to learn English and succeed academically are to be implemented as an integral part of instruction in each TEKS foundation and enrichment subject contain essential knowledge and skills (student expectations) for second language acquisition contain proficiency level descriptors (PLDs) that match those used for TELPAS require linguistically accommodated instruction

46 Cross-Curricular Student ExpectationsELPS Learning Strategies ListeningWriting Speaking Reading 5 Strands

47 Listening PLDs from ELPS formatted for classroom use and TELPAS

What’s the connection between the ELPS and TELPAS? ELPS and TELPAS are integrally aligned Teachers trained as TELPAS raters are trained to use PLDs in formative assessment all year long 48 ELPSTELPAS

PLDs and Linguistically Accommodating Instruction As part of the ELPS, all teachers are to use to monitor growth in English language proficiency as their ELLs learn more English linguistically accommodate instruction according to the proficiency levels of their ELLs Beginning Intermediate Advanced AdvancedHigh

Linguistic accommodations are – the heart and crux of the ELPS an integral part of content instruction not primarily about TAKS testing 50

51 What do the ELPS say about linguistically accommodated instruction? 19 TAC Chapter 74.4 (b)(2) says under school district responsibilities: School districts shall provide instruction in the knowledge and skills of the foundation and enrichment curriculum in a manner that is linguistically accommodated (communicated, sequenced, and scaffolded) commensurate with the student's levels of English language proficiency to ensure that the student learns the knowledge and skills in the required curriculum. 19 TAC Chapter 74.4 (c) says above each set of cross-curricular second language acquisition student expectations: In order for the ELL to meet grade-level learning expectations across the foundation and enrichment curriculum, all instruction delivered in English must be linguistically accommodated…commensurate with the student’s level of English language proficiency. Applies to all teachers, all TEKS

Linguistically accommodating instruction means appropriately… communicating instruction sequencing instruction scaffolding instruction 52

Now is a good time to be thinking about… making sure teachers know each ELL’s proficiency levels sending teachers to TELPAS training if they have not yet been trained as raters – it’s a good way to get them to use the PLDs in instruction giving teachers other types of professional development opportunities to help them learn how to make effective linguistic accommodations 53

Consider ways to help teachers… provide students with plenty of opportunities to use language at current proficiency level, as well as to develop language of increasing complexity integrate academic language instruction into content area instruction and provide multiple opportunities to use academic language in meaningful contexts 54

Linguistic accommodations are most effective when… they are used routinely throughout the school year they are reviewed and adjusted periodically as students learn more English 55

56 Linguistically Accommodating Instruction When implemented effectively in instruction, linguistic accommodations accelerate learning of academic content and English reduce the length of time and the degree to which linguistic accommodations are needed during instruction and TAKS testing

Linguistically Accommodated Testing (LAT) Only eligible immigrant ELLs qualify to take LAT administrations of TAKS Only allowable linguistic accommodations used routinely in instruction and testing may be provided to students during their LAT administration. 57

Common Linguistic Accommodations Instructional AccommodationAssessment Accommodation Providing native language support Spanish TAKS, Spanish LAT, oral translation on English LAT Paraphrasing and simplifying language to aid understanding LAT - clarification and linguistic simplification Using pictures, gestures, and concrete objects to aid understanding LAT - clarification and linguistic simplification Helping student decode English wordsLAT - reading words aloud Encouraging students to ask questions to check understanding LAT - clarification and linguistic simplification Helping students learn to use dictionaries in class and on tests LAT - bilingual and English dictionaries Customized bilingual glossaries of essential vocabulary LAT math and science - bilingual glossaries Allowing students additional time and more breaks to read and process lengthy information TAKS and LAT - more frequent breaks; 2-day administrations of LAT reading and ELA tests 58

Some linguistic accommodations aren’t permitted or applicable during state assessments but are key during instruction: Examples: Preteaching essential basic and content- based vocabulary Interacting with ELLs to check their understanding Providing peer assistance Sequencing and scaffolding information presented 59 Remember the instructional focus…

60 Using TELPAS and ELPS to Inform Instruction Administrators To prepare for a new school year, use TELPAS results to evaluate whether students are making appropriate progress in learning English Teachers At beginning of school year: Use prior spring’s TELPAS proficiency level ratings as starting place to guide linguistically accommodated instruction All year: Use ELPS student expectations and PLDs to monitor progress and adjust linguistic accommodations accordingly

Future TETNs with ELL Assessment Info September 21 ● 10:45-12:45 ● event # 5159 Special Education Assessments Update on Accommodations Manual, to include info on linguistic accommodations December 16 ● 9:00-12:00 ● event # Annual LPAC Update* January 13, 2010 ● 1:00-3:00 ● event # TELPAS Spring Online Training January 26, 2010 ● 9:00-12:00 ● event # TELPAS Electronic Submission System February 12, 2010 ● 9:00-12:00 ● event # 4905 LAT Procedures *Open to ESCs only 61

Texas Assessment Conference December 6-9, 2009 ELL Assessment Sessions ELL Student Assessment Update TELPAS Online Testing and Data Collection TELPAS Holistically Rated Components for Testing Coordinators 62

Need additional information? Go to and click on ELL Assessment Informationwww.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment Call the TEA Student Assessment Division at (512) us at Thank you! 63