STANDARDIZATION It’s Not a Bad Word!

Before Standardization Between 4 Adult Schools, CBET Classes and Offsite Classes, ALL ESL classes had different curriculum, timeline and content. Some classes didn’t use books, just worksheets. CASAS paired scores and benchmarks were minimal. Professional development was limited to back-to- school meeting, professional development day and technology academy. No curriculum foundation on which to build and offer professional development. Completion was based on subjective observation. No standard for promotion.

ESL Core Text List A1234 Oxford Basic Picture Dictionary & workbook Oxford Picture Dictionary & Beginning workbook Oxford Picture Dictionary & Intermediate workbook FoundationsExpressways 1Expressways 2Expressways 3Expressways 4 English No Problem, Literacy & Workbook English No Problem 1 & Workbook English No Problem 2 & Workbook English No Problem 3 & Workbook English No Problem 4 & Workbook Stand Out Basic Stand Out 1Stand Out 2Stand Out 3Stand Out 4

Why Standardize? Mainstream curriculum for transient student population. Consistency for students. Increase student outcomes and retention. Provide an constant academic base to ESL instruction. Establish a foundation of common goals between adult schools and all ESL teachers. Establish teacher accountability for administrator evaluation. Create professional learning communities in all program areas.

Core Text Adoption COMMITTEE SELECTION: Teachers were invited from each adult school, each level, morning, afternoon and evening classes. Highly opinionated, highly critical, but strong teachers were chosen for buy-in purposes. A total of 8 teachers selected, 2 from each adult school Commitment of 1 year Teachers were paid to be on the committee through our Workforce Investment Act (WIA) grant.

Core Text Adoption TEXTBOOK EVALUATION: 5 Textbooks were selected by the ESL Resource Teacher for committee evaluation and review. Criteria for evaluation was based on content, book layout and organization, assessments, teacher’s edition, ancillaries, CASAS competencies and alignment to ESL course outlines. Publishers gave a presentation – 1 every other week Teachers judged the textbook within their ESL level. Rubrics were created and used for evaluation. Teachers were given 3 hours of paid time for each book they reviewed at home. Committee met each week to listen to the presentation and then the following week, discuss their opinion of the textbook.

Core Text Adoption TEXTBOOK SELECTION: Selection had to be unanimous. Open discussion about pros and cons of each book. All materials available to be reviewed again. Public voting. Hang-up: Single vs Multi-level classes Solution: 2 different core textbooks – 1 for single level and 1 for multi-level.

Core Text Staff Development IMPLEMENTATION: Met with the Director of Adult Ed. and all administrators. Director sent out an to all ESL teachers: 1.Introduction of the new Core Text 2.Expectations 3.Time Frame 4.Further details by ESL Resource Teacher Both publishers came back to provide staff development. Both publishers brought in current teachers from other agencies who were using the textbook in their classes. All other textbooks were removed from the classrooms. Classroom sets of textbooks were cut back from 20 to 10. Expectations were clearly set by administrators and the ESL Resource Teacher. Provided a platform for teachers to give constructive feedback. Paid observation time for teachers needing additional help. 90 minutes of class use per day.

Core Text Staff Development ONGOING STAFF DEVELOPMENT: Constant reinforcement. Administrative support. Paid staff development throughout the year. Textbook author visit (2 nd year of implementation to address issues). Place for teachers to share successes and constructive feedback. No hammer used/Gentle encouragement. Creation of the ESL Professional Learning Community.

Professional Learning Community DEFINITION: “A Professional Learning Community, (PLC) is an educational team committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. PLC’s operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous, job– embedded learning for educators.” Adapted from Learning by Doing by Dufour, DuFour, Eaker, Many ©2006

Professional Learning Community COLLABORATIVE TEAMS FOCUSED ON LEARNING The driving force of the collaborative culture of the PLC is the team. Educators work together interdependently in collaborative teams to achieve common goals for which they are mutually accountable. Teams work together to identify essential learning, develop common assessments, analyze student achievement data and support one another by sharing strategies and material. Teams work together in an ongoing effort to discover best practices and to expand their professional expertise to improve student learning outcomes.

Professional Learning Community ESSENTIAL LEARNING What do we want our students to learn? – YES What do we want to teach our students? – NO Essential knowledge/skills that teachers will ensure all students will learn. The essential knowledge/skills that teachers will continue to re-teach and re–assess until they are learned. These are the essential learning that a student MUST know to be successful at the next level. The more specific the essentials, the better the process of coordinating instruction, assessment, and interventions. A student cannot pass to the next level without the essential learning.

Professional Learning Community PLC COORDINATOR TRAINING State level – CalPRO PLC Institute Administrator commitment Funding COMMITTEE SELECTION: 2 Volunteers from each adult school. Preference for diversity in ESL levels and assignments. Ongoing commitment. Preference for those struggling to teach from the core textbook.

Professional Learning Community PLC GOALS: Identify Essential Learning for each chapter of each textbook. Create a pacing guide for all teachers to use. Create assessments for each essential learning placed on the pacing guide. Ongoing revision of both items. Continuous teacher feedback. Student centered curriculum based on teacher observations.

Pacing Guides and Assessment PACING GUIDES: Living and breathing document. Continuous feedback. Based on identified essential learning. Guide and not restrictive. Required for all ESL classes to follow. Used in teacher observations and evaluations. ASSESSMENTS: Based on pacing guides. May need to revise existing assessments to include essential learning. May need to revise orientation and intake process.

Assessment Sample Side by Side Plus 3 – Unit 1

ESL Resource Website

Ongoing Staff Development 1.ESL Resource Website 2.Back to School Meeting 3.Professional Development Day 4.Special training as requested 5.ESL/ABE Summits 6.Onsite PLC teachers 7.Dedicated ESL Teacher on Special Assignment 8.Technology Academy

Ideal Process 1.Identify Essential Learning for each level of ESL. 2.Adopt a core textbook based on essential learning. 3.Create pacing guide for adopted core textbook. 4.Create assessments for each essential learning identified. 5.Ongoing revision of pacing guides and assessments. 6.Data analysis through CASAS and course completions. 7.Constant teacher feedback to the PLC committee members for review. PATIENCE! COMMITMENT! FAITH! MORE PATIENCE!