K-2 Teaching Artist Project: Boosting the Oral Language Skills of English Learners through the Arts

K-2 Teaching Artist Project Improving Teacher Quality grant 2007-10 USDE Arts in Education grant 2010-14 Awarded to UCI & San Diego USD 30 schools (15 served by each grant) 5 schools started project each year The K-2 Teaching Artist Project had two phases: 3 years of capacity building (when the lessons were created, while served 15 schools) and 3 years of intensive research (which will be the focus of our discussion today) In 2007-10, the project was funded by an Improving Teacher Quality grant from the CA Dept. of Education/CPEC; in 2010-14 the project was funded by Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination grant from the U.S. Dept. of Education. The implementation phase of each grant lasted for 3 years, with a new cohort of 5 schools beginning the 2-year teacher professional development process each year. A total of 30 schools were served.

What Prior Research Shows Oral language key to English learners gaining fluency, literacy skills The performing arts, especially drama, have been shown to improve oral language Research has shown that oral language development is the key to helping young English learners gain oral English fluency and literacy skills. In addition, studies have shown that the performing arts, especially drama, can be effective tools for improving oral language.

Project Goals Enhance oral English language development among English language learners Provide all children at participating low SES schools with standards-based arts lessons The objectives of this project were: 1st, to enhance the oral English development of English learners in the primary grades; 2nd to provide all children in the participating classes with standards-based arts lessons. The challenge was that many teachers had received little arts training in their teacher certification programs. So, the teachers would need on-going support if they were to successfully implement the arts lessons in their own classrooms.

Implementation Strategy Teacher co-teaches 28 arts lessons (14 theatre, 14 dance) with professional teaching artist (TA) The year after the TA visits, teachers teach the same lessons alone After a 2-day introductory workshop, our implementation strategy was to have professional teaching artists go into classrooms and co-teach weekly 50-minute arts lessons with the teachers. In 2010-14, experts in theater or dance came to each teacher’s classroom for 14 weeks in the fall semester and for 14 weeks in the spring. During the week between the visits from the teaching artists, teachers carried out follow-up activities that built upon the arts skills their students had learned.

Participating Schools In 2007-10, schools signed up on a first-come, first-served basis. In 2010-14, Title 1 schools were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups The project served Title 1 schools in neighborhoods with large numbers of immigrant families. In 2007-10, schools signed up for the project on a first-come, first-served basis. This was helpful in getting teacher cooperation. But we could not accurately measure the effectiveness of the project. So, in 2010-14, we decided to randomly assign the 40 Title 1 schools that had not yet been served to treatment and control groups.

Active Language Learning In theater and dance lessons, children hear, see, respond at the same time Children self-correct when their response is visibly incorrect Teachers can see & assist any who do not understand The key to the enhanced language learning in the theater and dance lessons is that children are able to hear oral language, see visual cues, and respond to the teacher’s prompts at the same time Children see the responses of others and self-correct when their own response is visibly different Teachers are able see the response of each child and to assist any children who do not understand

Teachers Take Over Year after they co-teach with a TA, teachers take on responsibility for implementation However, they can also call on district resource teachers for assistance The year after co-teaching the lessons with a teaching artist, the classroom teacher taught the lessons on his or her own with support from the resource teachers from the district’s Visual and Performing Arts Department. The school’s master schedule was adjusted to provide an hour each week for arts instruction

What Teachers Reported “About 95% of my kids are ELs. At the beginning of the school year, half did not talk at all. But in the arts lessons they are excited, using their vocabulary.” Teachers were interviewed about their experiences. Examples of typical teacher responses are provided on this slide and the 3 following slides. One teacher commented: “About 95% of my kids are English learners. At the beginning of the school year, half did not talk at all. But in the arts lessons they are excited, using their vocabulary.”

What Teachers Reported (2) “Every teacher I talk to will say that the ELL children now understand the language because they physicalize it.” Another teacher said: “Every teacher I talk to will say that the English learners now understand the language better because they can physicalize it.”

What Teachers Reported (3) “When we were discussing characters from stories, I’d say: ‘Remember when you had theatre, how you felt when you acted it out…?’” A third teacher pointed out: “When we were discussing characters from stories, I’d say: ‘Remember when you had theatre, how you felt when you acted it out…?’”

What Teachers Reported (4) When we acted it out, more of the kids were engaged, even the kids who couldn’t say the words yet. At the beginning of the year, they copy movements. Eventually, they understand how to say that, using language. A 4th teacher observed: “When we acted it out, more of the kids were engaged, even the kids who couldn’t say the words yet. At the beginning of the year, they copy movements. Eventually, they understand how to say that, using language.”

Challenges In theatre and dance, much of the impact of a lesson comes from expression, tone, or movements not conveyed well by written lesson plans Teachers said it was difficult to remember details of arts lessons a year after the teaching artist visits A major challenge that showed up in the second year of the project was that, in theatre and dance, much of the impact of a lesson comes from the teacher’s expression, tone, or movements -- which are not conveyed well by written lesson plans alone Teachers said it was difficult to remember all of the details of a lesson the year after they had co-taught the lesson with a Teaching Artist.

Streaming Videos of Lessons To assist teachers in recalling lesson details, each lesson was videotaped Streaming videos of lessons and lesson plans were made available, free of charge, on-line (1D) To assist teachers in recalling lesson details, each of the lessons was videotaped. Streaming videos of these lessons -- along with written lesson plans and other materials -- were made available, free of charge, on-line

Standardized Test Score Analysis * The California English Language Development Test (CELDT) was used to measure the language development of ELs. * All English learners who had not been reclassified as English proficient had to take it each September The CA English Language Development Test – or CELDT – was used to measure the language development of English learners All English learners who had not been reclassified as English proficient had to take it each September

Findings for 2010-2012 We measured growth in speaking and listening skills the year that teaching artists worked with students The treatment group showed marginally significant gains over the control group (β = 0.06; p < .056) on CELDT speaking scores. We increased the dosage in 2012-13 To make sure that the treatment was consistent across classrooms, we measured growth in speaking and listening skills during the year that teaching artists worked weekly with students In 2010-12, (working 50 minutes per week with the teaching artist) the treatment group showed marginally significant gains over the control group on CELDT speaking scores.

Findings for 2012-2013 In 2012-13 we asked 5 schools to dedicate a gym period to arts. Teachers repeated the arts lessons; so students got 2 arts lessons/week The treatment group was found to significantly outperform the control group (β = 0.13; p < .05) on CELDT speaking scores. In 2012-13 we asked the 5 schools that were entering their first year in the project to spend 2 50-minute periods each week on the arts lessons. Instead of just doing the follow-up activities, the teachers repeated the entire arts lesson they had done with the teaching artist. That year, the treatment group was found to significantly outperform the control group (β = 0.13; p < .05) on CELDT speaking scores.

Replication We will submit a proposal to IES to replicate the project in Lynnwood USD. Each teacher would get 2 teaching artist visits each week in their 1st year in the program (& 1 in yr 2) We have submitted a proposal to IES to replicate the project in Lynnwood USD. We would randomly assign their 12 elementary schools to treatment and control groups One change will be that the CELDT is being phased out and will be replaced by the ELPAC test, which is aligned with the new English language development standards and the Common Core. We are interested in also looking at the social-emotional impact of the arts intervention and plan to use the Child Trends teacher surveys for that purpose.