English Mastery: Nevada English Language Learner (ELL) Program September 6, 2013 For NNELI Program Overview – Background and Demographics – WIDA – World Class Instructional Design and Assessment – Senate Bill 504 – State Legislated Programs – Title III – Federal Required Programs My Perspective Question and Answer Jonathan Gibson – Nevada Department of Education

Nevada Title III funding –  $9,019,735 = federal Title III award  $ per ELL pupil allocation to Districts  $50,000,000 = SB 504 ( )  $0 Title III money can be used to meet federal requirements to serve ELL students – Title III funds can only be used by Districts to supplement their ELL programs; testing and nearly all staffing must be paid for out of the Districts’ General Funds

Nevada ELL Program Snapshot Data  76,517 ELL Identified Students  More than 1 out of every 6 (17.5%) of Nevada’s Students  Approximately 134,000 identified and former ELL Students  Almost 1 in 3 (31%) of Nevada’s Students 67,754 Hispanic ELL; 101,756 Hispanic not active ELL 0.1% more Hispanic than White students in Nevada

ELL Students Tested and Immigrant Student Counts

Languages  More than 120 different languages spoken  5 most common native languages:  Spanish – 88.5%  Tagalog – 5.1%  Filipino – 2.1%  Chinese – 1.6%  Vietnamese – 1.2%

Who is Identified ELL?  Children age 3 to 21 enrolled in school and:  Native language is not English; or  Home environment includes a language other than English; and/or  Speak a language other than English with peers. AND  Whose difficulties in Speaking, Reading, Writing or Understanding English may be sufficient to deny:  Proficient achievement on State Assessments;  Achievement in classrooms instructed in English;  Opportunity to participate fully in society.

Academic English is the language needed for students to engage with content material and succeed in content classrooms and assessments. If we gave the English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA) to ALL students, what percentage would qualify for ELL services?

Language Support 4 to 6 years Long-Term ELLs

Math CRTLanguage Arts CRT Current ELL Students24%6% Former ELL Students: Less than 2 years since exiting ESL 72.1%58.7% Total State68.05%56.95% Hispanic61.0%42.1% Black/African American56.8%39.5% Nevada Report Card: NDE Accomplishment: Percent of Nevada ELL Students Passing the State CRTs

Concern: we are just beginning to feel the effects of a surge of Long-Term ELLs in our Secondary schools. LONG TERM ELLS: Identified ELL for more than 5 years; and Not made Academic Language Progress for 2 or more years

In Clark County, 42% of secondary ELL students are Long-Term ELLs ( )

Combined data from Washoe and Clark County: 60.6% of secondary ELL students are credit deficient ( )

How does this happen? What are the solutions?

WIDA in a Nutshell:  34 state consortium – and growing  Directed by the States – University of Wisconsin  Standards: The Language of:  Language Arts  Math  Social Studies  Science  Academics – school  Assessment System  WIDA Standards match academic content with language supports for given language proficiencies  Common Core + WIDA + CCSSO (language framework) => content mastery + academic language

SB 504 in a Nutshell:  Clark and Washoe: Zoom Schools - fully funded:  Pre-K  Full day K  Reading Centers  Summer Programs  Remaining Districts Apply for Specific Programs  English Mastery Council - Recommend:  Criteria for …and Review District ELL Plans  TESL Endorsement Criteria – including who…  TESL Higher Ed Courses of Study (curriculum)  State English Language Development Standards

Title III in a Nutshell:  NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND – NCLB  T3 – not relieved under the Waiver AMAO I (progress), II (achievement) and III (content achievement)  Nevada School Performance Framework: T1 has new targets for ELL, SpEd, FRL  Office for Civil Rights (and NCLB) - Program:  Identify ELLs  Develop a Program  Ensure staff, materials and facilities  Develop English assessment and exit criteria  Evaluate and improve program  Department of Justice – Performance

Elementary and Middle Schools — Index Point Weighting — 18

High School Index Point Weighting 19

Title III Compliance does not secure OCR and DOJ Compliance! DOJ OCR Title III NCLB In addition to program compliance, student performance outcomes factor.

So, what does all of this mean if you are an ESL teacher?

ELL Program Objectives: ELL students will: Develop Academic English Proficiency; Successfully master content requirements; Meaningfully engage with teachers, peers, and content material in the classroom setting; Graduate with the ability to continue post-secondary education/workforce training.

What does it all mean? To me it means: You have an opportunity of a life-time! Significant interest from legislators and instructional leaders… Significant range of understanding to (significant) misunderstanding… Significant NEED, and… …. Significant return on your investment!!