English Mastery: Nevada English Language Learner (ELL) Program

September 6, 2013For 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 – 2011-12 $9,019,735 = federal Title III award $119.47 per ELL pupil allocation to Districts $50,000,000 = SB 504 (2013-2015)

$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 Snapshot2010-11 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

1988-89

1994-95

1999-00

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000ELL TestedImmigrant

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?

LanguageSupport

4 to 6 years

Long-Term ELLs

2010-2011 Math CRT Language Arts CRT

Current ELL Students 24% 6%

Former ELL Students:Less than 2 years since

exiting ESL72.1% 58.7%

Total State 68.05% 56.95%

Hispanic 61.0% 42.1%

Black/African American 56.8% 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

(2011-12)

Combined data from Washoe and Clark

County:60.6% of secondary

ELL students are credit deficient

(2011-12)

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 —

Proficiency30%

Student Growth Percentiles40%

Other Indicator(s)10%

Subpopulation Growth Gap Reduction

20%

18

High School Index Point Weighting

Growth and Proficiency30%

Subpopulation Pro-ficiency Gaps

10%Graduation

15%Subpopulation Gradua-tion Gaps

15%

College & Career Readiness

16%

Other Indicator14%

19

Title III Compliance does not secure OCR and DOJ Compliance!

DOJOCR

Title IIINCLB

In addition to program compliance, student performance outcomes factor.

So, what does all of this meanif 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 continuepost-secondary education/workforcetraining.

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!!