Capitalizing on the Multilingual Advantage: Focus on SIFE Elaine C Klein and Gita Martohardjono RISLUS Forum May 22, 2009

SIFE in the context of the global economy and the educational achievement gap in the US 2

McKinsey Report (2009) State of education in the US: 25 th of 30 in math and 24 th of 30 in science Used to lead the world in HS and college graduation rates, but now: - 18 th out of 24 in HS - 14 th out of 24 in college 3

Impact on the Economy Achievement gap results in lower GDP Losses equal the economic equivalent of a recession: Closing the achievement gap would result in an increase to the economy of: between $2.4 trillion and 4.2 trillion 4

Impact on Individual Income: 8 th grade students scoring in top (v. bottom) quartile in math  12 years later have 40% higher median income Incarceration: 5-8 times more likely for HS drop-out than for college graduate Health: Lower education  unhealthy lifestyles, no medical insurance Civic Involvement: Lower education  Less likely to vote 5

Multilingualism in a Global Economy Having English as your only language is no longer enough Increasing importance of global languages, e.g. Chinese, Hindi/Urdu, Portuguese, Russian “English no longer the dominant language on the internet” - English websites: 75% (1998)  45% (2005) - Internet users: 30% have English as L1 (Graddol 2006) 6

US Needs a Multilingual Population Globalization requires: - knowledge of other countries & cultures - competence in languages other than English. Not enough multilingual US college graduates to meet demands of global economy US students lack cross-cultural skills and are “linguistically deprived.” (Education for Global Leadership 2006) 7

English Language Learners (ELL): An untapped source The largest group of potential multilinguals in the US are ELLs And yet, many ELLs: - don’t finish HS - don’t enter the global workforce For ELLs, the educational achievement gap is even wider 8

The SIFE Research Project

10 Who are SIFE? Subgroup of ELLs Recent arrivals to the US Low literacy Gaps in prior schooling (2 yrs +)

11 Some Facts about SIFE in NYC Schools* Approximately 15,000 “new” and existing SIFE comprise 11% of ELL population Highest % of new SIFE enter 8 th, 9 th and 10 th grades: Approximately 4700 in SIFE evenly distributed in 4 boroughs 59% of SIFE: Spanish native language *Bilingual Education Student Information Survey (BESIS) : NYC DOE Office of English Language Learners

12 Research Questions What are the characteristics of SIFE? How do SIFE differ from other ELLs? What academic competencies do SIFE bring to school in the US? What are the academic needs of SIFE?

13 Overview of Method Phase I (2005 – 2006) Case studies 12 students identified as SIFE 9 th grade 2 NYC high schools Native language: Spanish Phase II: ( ) 18 month Longitudinal Study 103 students identified as SIFE 9 th and 10 th grade 5 NYC high schools Native language: Spanish

Instruments Quantitative:  Intake and exit questionnaire (Spanish)  Literacy and content diagnostics (Spanish and English)  Oral language (Spanish and English)  Syntactic comprehension (Spanish and English typical language development) Qualitative:  Classroom observations  Teacher and student interviews 14

Results: Intake Questionnaire 15

16 Most are from the Dominican Republic, Mexico or Honduras. Most live in the U.S. with only one parent and have family members in their country of origin. Most report high school as highest level of education among family members in U.S.

Strong motivation for school success Positive attitudes towards education in Spanish & English. High levels of self-efficacy & strong expectations that their education will contribute to future success in a job or at college 17

18 Goals and Aspirations

Results: Quantitative Measures of Language and Literacy 19

Oral Language and Syntactic Comprehension Oral Language: Fluent, smooth, intelligible speech; controls appropriate language structure for speaking about complex material. Syntactic comprehension: Within the range of typically-developing native speakers Working memory: Within normal range 20 Typical L1 Development

21 Basic Literacy in Spanish First Grade Phonological & Orthographic Awareness Word Reading Simple Sentence Comprehension Mean % Correct = 96, SD = 4.5 High basic literacy in Spanish

22 Spanish Reading Vocabulary

Spanish Reading Comprehension

Academic Content Areas Math: Majority at/below grade 3 Science: Majority at/below grade 4 Social Science: Majority at/below grade 4 24

25 Summary of Results Academic abilities of 9 th grade students identified as SIFE in NYC range from 2 nd to 5 th grade --at least 4 grades below grade level in native language reading and content knowledge!

26 Comparison Groups Native English Speaker Groups: 9th and 10th Graders Regular ELLs Group: 9th-12th Graders

Comparison of Native Language Reading: English Speakers vs. SIFE 27

Comparison of L2 English Literacy: ELLs vs. SIFE 28

Transfer of Skills 29

30 Transfer of Skills from Spanish to English: Reading Vocabulary

31 Transfer of Skills from Spanish to English: Reading Comprehension

Predictors of SIFE English Reading Scores English Reading Vocabulary: r =.723; p =.000 Spanish Reading Comprehension: r =.519; p =.001

Gains in Spanish Academic Skills

Academic Gains in One Year 1.5 grade levels in Spanish reading vocabulary 1.7 grade levels in Spanish reading comprehension 1 grade level in Spanish math 34

Conclusions SIFE Show typical L1 development: Oral language, syntactic comprehension, and working memory Have basic reading skills Show delays in - Higher level reading skills: (4+ grade levels below expected grade, 9) - Content Area Knowledge: (5+ grade levels below expected grade, 9) But made gains in both 35

36 Tapping the Potential in SIFE Strong bilingual programs: Accelerated instruction to build foundational literacy skills in the native language Native language instruction in content knowledge Develop parallel English programs based on academic literacy skills Develop pathway programs to college - Exit HS with 10 th grade (min) literacy skills and content knowledge

A Critical First Step The New Commission on Skills of the American Workforce concludes that critical interventions are needed for students at risk of falling behind, including ELLs. As a necessary first step, they recommend “[d]etailed screening assessments for all students that need them.” (Tough Choices Tough Times 2008) 37

Online Scoring and Evaluation System (w-SERS) 39

Pre- and Basic Literacy Higher-Level Literacy - Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension - Language Use Content Areas - Math (Science) (Social Science) K-12 Academic Language and Literacy Diagnostic (ALLD)

Capitalizing on the Multilingual Advantage The quality of a country’s education has a direct impact on its economy There is a serious education gap in the US One way to close the gap is to educate our students to be multilingual in order to compete in the global economy ELLs, including SIFE, are our greatest resource in a multilingual/multicultural world!

Acknowledgements NYC Department of Education, OELL Participating schools All participants and teachers RISLUS Research Team

THANK YOU!