The WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment Mariana Castro Professional Development

Goal This presentation will examine how the WIDA ELP Standards can be utilized in formative assessment. WIDA Consortium

Agenda Academic language and the WIDA ELP Standards Assessment of academic language through Formative Assessment WIDA tools that can be used during Formative Assessment WIDA Consortium

Academic Language and the WIDA ELP Standards WIDA Consortium

What is Academic Language? Academic language proficiency refers to the abilities to construct meaning from oral and written language, relate complex ideas and information, recognize features of different genres, and use various linguistic strategies to communicate Dutro & Moran (2003) What is Academic Language? What does it mean to Construct meaning from oral and written language Relate complex ideas and information Recognize features of different genres Use various linguistic strategies to communicate? Providing Access to Academic Achievement Through Language Development

Academic Language and the WIDA ELP Standards Grade level Cluster Language Domain English Language Proficiency Level Model Performance Indicator WIDA Consortium

Academic Language and the WIDA ELP Standards The model performance indicator shows examples of language expectations at different levels of language proficiency across different domains and ELP standards WIDA Consortium

Academic Language and the WIDA ELP Standards The elements of academic language are implicit in the performance indicator What elements of academic language are needed to “describe”? WIDA Consortium

To describe, the language needed is… A paragraph or set of related sentences Objects of earth or sky, adjectives Correct placement of words depending on their function This is just a short list… the language elements to describe are endless depending on the communicative context. The language elements are targeted according the task and student needs. WIDA Consortium

In short… describe the academic language expected need to be contextualized in the content itself and the learners WIDA Consortium

Assessment of Academic Language through Formative Assessment WIDA Consortium

What is Formative Assessment? Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve intended instructional outcomes (CCSSO FAST SCASS, 2006). WIDA Consortium

A process Language targets appropriate for students and content Assessment tasks that elicit language targeted (these happen during instruction) Assessment tools to record observations of student production or comprehension of language targeted Feedback system to translate feedback into actual modifications to teaching and learning WIDA Consortium

Identifying the language The language assessed should be the language taught; in other words, the language identified in your language objectives Linguistic Complexity: A paragraph or set of related sentences Vocabulary: Objects of earth or sky (sun, Earth, Mars, Jupiter); adjectives (close to, far from) Language Control: comparatives (_er than, more than); superlatives (the _est; the most _)

Assessment Tasks should… take place during instruction be authentic and relevant to the content elicit the academic language being targeted Examples: academic discussion in small/large groups, presentation of research findings, debates, interview with students, posters, brochures, drafts, projects, activities WIDA Consortium

Assessment Task What task will elicit the language you wish Linguistic Complexity: A paragraph or set of related sentences Vocabulary: Objects of earth or sky (sun, Earth, Mars, Jupiter); adjectives (close to, far from) Language Control: comparatives (_er than, more than); superlatives (the _est; the most _) Students work in groups to prepare a poster showing the relationship between objects of the earth or sky. Teacher will observe groups as they work together and listen to/observe language produced in poster draft. WIDA Consortium

Assessment Tool The difference between formal and informal formative assessment is that in formal formative assessment there is a record of the performance Examples: checklists, rating scale, rubric (holistic, analytic, mixed) Your selection of tools should take into consideration the language you want to assess and the assessment task WIDA Consortium

Checklist Advantages Limitations Useful for marking whether the student has mastered the language feature or not Simple to make and use Useful in communicating with students, parents and/ or teachers Do not describe the range or quality of performance Name ___ Date ___ __ I used complete sentences __ My sentences were organized in a paragraph __ I used key words for the unit: Sun, Earth… __ I used words that described distance: close, far WIDA Consortium

Rating Scale Advantages Limitations Provides more information as to the degree to which the student has mastered a language feature Simple to make and use Useful in communicating with students, parents and/ or teachers Can be hard to decide what level to give the specific performance Name: __ Date: ___ Always Most of Some of Never the time the time Used complete sentences Paragraph had a topic sentence Used comparatives and superlatives correctly WIDA Consortium

Rubrics Holistic Rubrics assign a single score to a set of performance criteria Analytic Rubrics separate scores to various criteria Advantages: fixed scales with descriptions of performance at different levels Limitations: Time consuming, hard to develop and use. WIDA Consortium

The WIDA Performance Definitions are an example of a holistic rubric WIDA Consortium

The WIDA Speaking Rubric is an example of an analytic rubric WIDA Consortium

Remember! The checklist, rating scale or rubric are not formative assessment The activity you choose to elicit language is the assessment task, but not the formative assessment Formative assessment is a process and includes these elements, but its most important feature is what you do after you gather the information: you use it to guide your teaching and learning! WIDA Consortium

Using Feedback To adjust teacher’s instruction To adjust student’s learning To shift classroom classroom To implement schoolwide Popham, 2008 WIDA Consortium

Teachers’ Instructional Adjustment Formative assessment helps teachers decide if they need to adjust what they are currently doing or what they plan to do next instructionally In order to do this, teacher must decide when it is a good time to make a decision follow formative assessment process establish what level in student performance will necessitate instructional adjustment, and make the necessary adjustment WIDA Consortium

Example: Chee Meng is a student from Laos who is in second grade. His ELP levels are: listening 4, speaking 3, reading 3, and writing 2. Chee Meng’s teacher, Ms. Mancilla, is teaching a unit on Space. She would like her students to describe the relationships between the planets in the solar system. WIDA Consortium

Language Target One of the activities in class will be to have students, in groups of three, create a poster of the solar system and describe in an oral presentation the relation between the different planets and the sun and the planets and the earth. She would like Chee Meng to write complete sentences describing the relationships between the planets. WIDA Consortium

Formative Assessment Process Language targets: complete sentences; unit vocabulary: sun, names of planets, solar system; use of comparatives and superlatives Assessment task: writing sentences on index cards as they prepare to present their poster Assessment tool: Rating scale (derived from WIDA ELP Writing Rubric) WIDA Consortium

Chee Meng’s Writing ELP level WIDA Writing Rubric Chee Meng’s Writing ELP level WIDA Consortium

Focus on i+1 level and then transform into a rating scale WIDA Consortium

Assessment Tool Always Most of Some of Never the time the time Linguistic Complexity: Simple and expanded oral sentences Complete sentences (subject, verb, complement) Vocabulary Usage: General and some specific language related to the content area Sentences include the names of solar system objects Language Control: Use of syntactic language structures Uses closer to/farthest from correctly Ms. Mancilla has decided that she would like Chee Meng to meet the criteria in the rating scale at least WIDA Consortium

Feedback The record will help Ms. Mancilla provide feedback to Chee Meng, and communicate with other educators, Chee-Meng’s parents and other stakeholders. Ms. Mancilla can keep some criteria for future instruction or modify it as well as the focus of her instruction if Chee Meng still needs to work on one or two criteria. WIDA Consortium

Questions or Comments? For more information, please contact the WIDA Help Desk: 1-866-276-7735 or help@wida.us © 2010 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium www.wida.us