Aligning Instruction to Standards and Assessments for English Language Learners Meeting # 3 Aug U.S. Department of Education, Title I, Enhanced Assessment Grant Iowa SEC-ELL State Consortium

SEC-ELL Consortium Iowa, Florida, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin CCSSO WCER WestEd PD consultants Expert Advisers

Study Questions 1.To what extent do English language learners have opportunity to learn the subject content specified in state academic standards and assessed on state assessments? 2.What is the relationship of academic English language development standards and assessments to state academic standards? 3.What instructional practices and strategies are used to teach academic English language skills across different subject areas or courses? 4.What is the relationship between the extent of alignment of instruction to standards and student achievement?

Study Goals/Methods  Overall Purpose: Improve academic achievement of English language learner students  Use Data in Ed improvement: Use SEC data tool/methods— augmented with linguistic analysis--to measure and report the degree of alignment between instruction, state standards, and student assessments for English language learners in a sample of classrooms and schools in the Consortium states.  R&D ELL Assessment/standards: Advance and improve the SEC alignment procedures and tool to increase capacity for applying the method to English language development practices and materials.  Technical assistance/Training (PD) State level: Provide expert technical assistance for Consortium States to apply alignment analysis results to improve the quality and validity of assessment instruments for ELL students.

 Technical assistance/Training (PD) Local level: Demonstrate/lead PD and TA with study districts and school leaders toward using data for improving practices for ELLs and other students.  Evaluate: Work with states to analyze growth in student achievement in relation to the degree of alignment of classroom instruction to standards (i.e., differences in “opportunity to learn”). Or, Analyze change in practices /alignment  Address State Questions and Needs –improving ELL education e.g. Differences in practices, Alignment of content/language, Variation by ELL programs and by district/school, Teacher prep/conditions  Project Outcomes: Disseminate products and findings to education leaders across states. Implement tools/processes with other states

SEC ELL Project Meeting #3 Objectives  Initial Data Analysis / Leader Training Describe Interpret Apply  State project development Workshops, training, schedule  Identify findings, issues, questions What have we learned Plan next steps, calendar

Project Timeline Project Planning / State questions Dec-Jan 08 Survey / Method developmentFeb – Mar Alignment coding/ Data collectionApr – June Initial analysis – year 1Jul – Aug ********* State & within state workshops/plansSept – Nov Technical assistanceJan – Feb 09 Evaluate progress / resultsMarch 09 [Extend project ]

Project Timeline– 2 Year 2 Data collection Apr – May 09 Analysis of Follow-up or New data June – July Report study findings and recommendationsAug – Sept State workshops– Disseminate, Implement Fall 09 Provide training Evaluate results

SEC-ELL Study Design: (2) How to Measure Language Demand ELD Standards, Assessments, Classroom Instr. Var. ELL practices 5) What are the R & D results? Formative, Implementation Validate surveys, coding Change in Practices (yr 2) Expand use (1) Develop SEC–ELL Tool SEC model: Practices + Content Online data system State ELL needs Study Questions (3) Alignment analysis/coding by Grade level ELD + Subject Stands, Assess. Training 4 person teams Are the tools and model working? (4) Collect/ Analyze Data by State-- districts, schools Facilitator training Web-based tool ELD teacher Content teacher w/ELL How to report and use data? PD model? How to measure alignment? S x A x I

SEC Rationale Assessment Standards Curriculum

Key Question -- SEC Tools Research into Practice How can Educators obtain reliable, valid data to determine Alignment of instruction with required standards and assessments?

Questions Addressed by SEC Data How can in-depth data on content of instruction be collected and reported in a reliable, comparable survey tool to analyze teaching content in relation to standards, assessments, achievement? How can methods of teaching practices be compared across classrooms, schools, districts, and states? How can enacted curriculum data be reported in a manner to encourage use by teachers to improve instruction?

Applications Alignment analysis --instruction, standards, assessments Instructional improvement in schools Needs assessment/ Evaluation Indicators – monitoring change over time

School & Class Description Instructional Activities General Problem Solving Activities Pairs & Small Group Work Use of Hands-on Materials Use of Calculators/Computers & other Ed. Tech. Assessment Use Instructional Influences Instructional Readiness Teacher Opinions Professional Development Types, Frequency Content, Active, Collegial, Coherence Instructional Content Topic x Cog. Demand Survey Sections

English Language Arts & Reading The SEC Data-set SUMMARY MEASURES ContentPracticeClimateProf. Dev./// Science Instructional Content Instr. Activities Tchr. Char./Opinions/Beliefs Professional Development Mathematics Social Studies

Content Maps

Steps in SEC Development Models: TIMSS, NAEP, Analyze assessment OTL interest of States, Porter/ Smithson research, Studies of curriculum s CCSSO Science Assessment project Develop Math/Science surveys-’98-’01 (NSF) Field study, Reports format, Alignment method SEC Collaborative – 12 to 18 state members MSP-NSF Longitudinal Eval. of Teacher PD Data PD study – 5 urban districts, 40 mid schs ’02-’06

Cont. -- Steps in SEC Online data collection and reporting 10,000 teacher surveys / year content alignment documents / year ELAR survey/framework ’02-’04 Social studies survey/framework 3 rd Annual summer conf “Using Data” Iowa/9 state SEC ELL project 07-09

SEC Collaborating Organizations Council of Chief State School Officers Wisconsin Center for Education Research Learning Point Associates/NCREL TERC Regional Alliance DEC Project Measured Progress (assessment development and PD)

SEC Collaborative offers Core Components of SEC tools/services 1)Surveys with teachers – report instruction 2)Alignment analysis – content code standards and assessments 3)How to use Data – knowledge, skills 4) Leader development – 2-3 meetings/yr 4)In-state workshops: a) orientation b) use of data

SEC Surveys and Alignment: States 10,393 SEC Surveys Math 1993 Science 3646 ELAR 80 Soc Stud 131 Alignment content analysis Standards or Assessments 1000~ Schools Data use

The intended curriculum: State content standards— What students should learn The enacted curriculum: What teachers teach The learned curriculum: Student outcomes based on school learning The assessed curriculum: State (and other) assessments— tested learning Analyzing Alignment Linquistic Complexity by Language Demands A neutral linguistic taxonomyA neutral content language Topics by Cognitive Demand

K-12 Mathematics Content

Basic Algebra

The Goal To render quantitative descriptions of instruction, standards, and assessments using a common language in order to facilitate comparisons and analyses of the three domains of a standards-based approach to education reform and their relationship to one another.

To Facilitate Comparisons Academic Content ELL Lang. Acquisition Academic Content ELL Lang. Acquisition Academic Content ELL Lang. Acquisition

The Two Dimensions Of Content What students should know [Topics] And… Be Able to Do [Expectations for student performance]

Describing Instructional Content SEC utilizes a two-dimensional taxonomy based on: Topic by Cognitive Demand BCDEF

The Content Matrix

… adding levels of relative emphasis yields a 3-D construct