Kristen Pryor ENDR 559 Section 2 Professionalism and Support for all English Learners Critical Assessment 1: Efficacy

and Advocacy for ELL Students Research Paper

ELL Students and Common Core Assessment The entire nation is focused on implementing Common Core State Standards (CCSS) to ensure that all students will receive the same level of education. One has to consider many angles when designing content specific curriculum that is intended to span the United States. However many have noticed that there is little specific acknowledgement of the challenges for English Language learners1 within the CCSS. Are English language learners (ELL) going to be held to the same requirements as mainstreamed students? Will educators be allowed to make accommodations for students who struggle with the language of the test but understand the content material? Will there be altogether different standards for ELL students or should there be? More importantly, how do we as educators make sure that ELL students are receiving the highest quality of instructions suited to their specific learning needs while still addressing the CCSS? I first became aware of the disparities that were going to come from SMARTER Balanced Assessments during staff meetings at the middle school I was placed at for my student teaching. How the CCSS is going to be fully integrated over the next few years is a hot topic and everyone is interested in how it will effect themselves and their students. As a staff, we examined a language arts SMARTER Balanced Assessment for the eleventh grade. The goal was to understand how we could prepare our students now, so when they get to high school they will be able take a test of this magnitude. The assessment requires students to analyze primary source documents, summarize the findings in them, and create a professional presentation of the ideas on both sides of an issue. After presenting the
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Rhonda Coleman and Claude Goldenburg. The Common Core Challenge for ELLs. Principal Leadership, February 2012, page 46.

information without giving an opinion on the issue, the students would be told they are now required to choose a side on the issue and prepare a speech for someone else to give addressing the issue. This task was slightly overwhelming and the time constraints were harsh. As a staff we were surprised how authentic the assessment was and how the assessment felt more like a simulation experiment rather than a test. The context was scientific in nature and at first many of the staff thought it was a science assessment. But the exam was really testing CCSS related to analyzing primary source arguments, writing informational texts, and constructing an opinion based on relevant source material. Performance based assessments have long been thought of as the premiere method for authentic authentication of student knowledge. However, such assessments are expensive to develop, score, and administer.2 Sadly, all government funded assessment must be paid for through the government and therefore must have very specific criteria. Surprisingly enough the United States Department of Education has high expectations for the Race to the Top Assessments.3 Within the list is a recommendation for ELL students which states, assessments must include English language learners (ELLs) and students with disabilities and include appropriate accommodations.4 Ron Dietel argues that any test with language demands is also a test of language skills for ELLs which means that they are not just being tested on the content material but also in how well they understand the language that the test is being administered in. The language in the SMARTER Balanced assessment discussed above would have to be greatly modified for a lower level ELL student, as would the primary sources. Stanford University is leading the research on how to structure support for ELL students under the CCSS. Professor Kenji Hakuta has identified two keys areas that undergird the recommendations put forward by the creators of the CCSS: 1. Teaching ELLs the mainstream academic content that all students must learn.

2 3

Ron Dietel. Testing to the Top: Everything but the Kitchen Sink? Kappanmagazine.org May 2011, page 33. Dietel, page 34. 4 Dietel, page 34.

2. Helping ELLs develop proficiency in English, particularly the academic English in oral and written language that is foundational to the content standards.5 Hakuta argues that while content material is important, students will not be able to master the content until they can master the language skills to decipher the content. I strongly believe that students should know common academic language, without such language students will not be able to understand questions. I have found that while students may know the content language, however, they lack the academic knowledge to understand what exactly the question is asking them. Academic language folds into Hakutas next point about using academic language in writing and orally. ELL students need time and to practice their new language so that it sticks with them. This practice has a place in a general education classroom and would be a benefit to all students not just English Language Learners. Author Rhonda Coleman advocates for using English Language Development classes to teach ELL students the academic language that is required for students to be able to master the language needed in order to understand the context of the content material6. While I have never had a pleasant experience in an ELD classroom I can imagine that with the right organization and methodology ELD could be successful for ELLs. In order for an ELD classroom to be successful students must be engaged in material that is interesting to them, they must feel that they are learning this information for a reason, and they need to see the end goal that they are striving toward. In the ELD classroom I observed the end goal for the students was to pass the ELPA test so they could get graduated out of the ELD program. While this is a tangible goal, I think the students should be thinking more long-term; how does learning all of this prepare them for college or a career? So the question remains, what can we do to support ELL students to insure that they are being tested to the full measure of their abilities so they are really prepared for life? ELL students must be assessed differently when considering the CCSS. In language arts specifically, ELL students should be
5 6

Rhonda Coleman. The Common Core Challenge for ELLs. Principal Leadership. February 2012, page 46. Rhonda Coleman, page 50.

held to the same content standard but their developmental level of English proficiency must be considered.7 Accommodations that are recommended by Hakuta8 include modifications in: Targeting both language and content objectives in all lessons. Making instruction and expectations extremely clear, focused, and systematic. Using visuals, charts, and diagrams to aid in comprehension. Using the primary language for support. When choosing reading material use familiar content. Provide practice and repetition.

All of these strategies, when put into place, can be effective at preparing students to be career and college ready. Diane August calls for creating ELL students who are prepared for life outside of a k-12 support system. The most important skill we much help them develop is the ability to demonstrate their independence.9 In order to demonstrate independence students need to be able to request clarification and ask relevant questions, [they must also] become self-directed learners, effectively seeking out and using resources to assist them.10 These strategies would be extremely effective for all students to master in order to be successful. So what can general education teachers do to help ELL students on a daily basis so they will be prepared not just for the new types of performance based assessments they will be required to take but in their life after high school? I believe that the standards can help general education teachers plan for ELL students. Ive noticed that the CCSS help teachers develop more focused content specific lesson plans. If within each content area, teachers also focus on language skills needed to be successful in the objectives of the lesson then the methods of differentiation can become clearer. I would advocate for meetings between core content teachers at similar levels of students to meet together in a Partners In
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Diane August. English-language Learners and the Common Core Standards . Center for Applied Linguistics, 2010. Rhonda Coleman, page 48. 9 Diane August, 2010. 10 Diane August, 2010.

Learning Community group to strategize how to best help ELL students. If all of the teachers got together to plan out what subjects were going to addressing which language objectives there could be a continuum reached. By doing this students would receive instruction throughout the day that was continuous with the language objectives, while still focusing on content specific subject material. This situation would be most effective in a middle school environment where students are traveling between many teachers throughout the day. In an elementary setting, I could see including the Learning Resources Center teaching in grade level PLC meetings to gain clarification about the goals for students in their grade level and developmental levels. When using the Common Core State Standards accommodations should be made to support English Language Learners. Our goal as teachers, should not be to get students to pass the tests (although the tests are important). We should be teaching them how to learn, how to find information, and how to interact with others. Those are the skills that all students especially ELL students need to know. They need to be able to ask for help, interact with their peers effectively, and how to use information that they have learned. The CCSS and SMARTER balanced assessments seek to find out if students have learned those skills. For English language learns, authentic real-life assessments should be the best assessment if they truly know the information. Teachers can scaffold information and skills so students will develop the necessary abilities to be able to demonstrate content knowledge through reading, writing, and speaking. These abilities are key to becoming career and/or college ready which is the ambition of the Common Core Standards.