The State of the State: A Report on English Language Learners in Massachusetts MATSOL CONFERENCE, May 4, 2012 Framingham, Massachusetts 1 The Office of English Language Acquisition & Academic Achievement presents

ELL Enrollment Statewide is at ~ 70,000 and Has Increased 57% Since 2000 This trend indicates that by 2021, ~20% of all MA students K-12 will be ELLs Source: 2011 SIMS 2

The Number of MA Districts Enrolling at Least One ELL Nearly Doubled between 2000 & 2012 Source: 2011 SIMS 3

ELLs by Program Enrollment Source: 2011 SIMS 4

5 MA Schools Serve ELLs with a Wide Range of English Language Proficiency - MEPA Levels 2011 Source: 2011 SIMS

Sorted by highest rate in 2010 – Source MADESE SIMS 2011 THE DROP OUT RATE 6

Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE)  Exact numbers still unknown; growing population with compelling circumstances and needs  A pilot count will begin in FY2013 report as per definition compiled by SIFE working group  Data to share next time this year 7

8 RETELL Rethinking Equity and Teaching for English Language Learners

SEI Education  Knowledge and professional standards are in place for English as a Second Language (ESL) Teachers  No standards specific to teaching Sheltered English Immersion (SEI)  Category trainings were recommended but not required  Introduced teachers to concepts of SEI and ELL education  Needed to be revamped to reflect updated research in the field  Department of Justice says state has duty to mandate preparation and training for SEI teachers Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 9

Three Touchstones for RETELL Initiative  Benefit ELLs by strengthening their instructional program  Grounded in sound research on educational practice  Feasible to implement on a large scale Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 10

SEI Endorsement – Attached to Licensure  Obtained through ESE-approved course of study or its equivalent  All core academic teachers: Early childhood, elementary, teachers of students with moderate and severe disabilities, teachers of English, reading, language arts, mathematics, science, civics and government, economics, history and geography, possibly voc tech  SEI Administrator Endorsement: Administrators who supervise and evaluate core academic teachers Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 11

English Language Learners and their Teachers  ELLs are enrolled in 324 school districts of ~400 districts (81%)  ELLs are enrolled in 1,499 schools of ~ 1,824 schools (82%)  Taught by 31,595 teachers  26,888 teach Core Academic Subjects  Only 8% (2,045) of these teachers hold an ESL license 12

Content Teachers Trained in Categories 1-4  17,882 MA teachers have taken at least one of the four current category trainings  ~ 1,000 MA teachers have taken all four category trainings  Note: these data are very approximate 13

Survey of ELL-Dedicated Courses in Massachusetts Educator Preparation Programs 14  Response from 38 out of 89 programs (43% survey response rate)  Only 11 (29%) programs offer ELL-dedicated courses  71% (27 programs) do not offer ELL-dedicated courses  Most courses are only partially ELL-dedicated  85% reported spending less than 25% of course time on ELL-dedicated content

Educator Preparation  New SEI knowledge standards will be embedded in every relevant preparation program by July 2013  Eventually, every educator who graduates from a preparation program in Massachusetts will have earned the SEI endorsement Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 15

License Renewal Changes  By 2016, all core academic teachers in MA will hold the endorsement  150 Professional Development Points (PDPs) needed to renew an educator license:  15 PDPs related to ESL/SEI  15 PDPs related to instruction of students with disabilities  90 PDPS in content or content-based pedagogy  30 PDPs in an elective Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 16

Implementation  Approximately 25,000 incumbent educators require endorsement  Roll out will begin with high incidence/low performance and work down to low incidence/high performance  Cost of $7 million  Summer pilot for ~150 educators  Full implementation September 2012  Administrators course to be developed Fall

Additional Components of RETELL  SEI coaching – to support and strengthen instructional practice in the classroom  Proposed educator license requirements for English as a Second Language (ESL) license – presently out for public comment: = =6816  Socioemotional/sociocultural component  150 hour internships for educators who add a license Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 18

World Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA)  New system of standards, curriculum and instruction for ELLs – aligned to new MA curriculum frameworks adopted by Board in 2010 – through multi-state consortium  New English language proficiency state assessment – ACCESS – aligned with these standards, beginning January 2013  Technical assistance provided to districts Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 19