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Instructional Program for English Learners
Young people from all over the world enroll in the Roseville Joint Union High School District's schools. Some arrive with a strong education from their native country and have academic skills in their home language. Other students arrive with little or no formal education. Many English Learners (ELs) have been in school in the United States for a number of years but still do not have a sufficient level of academic English and struggle with reading. Yet some English Learners are born in the United States and entirely educated in the United States. This wide array of students creates challenges for out teachers. For these reasons, the Roseville Joint Union High School District has chosen the Visions series as a key component of our English Language Development (ELD) program.
By law, all teachers and schools are required to provide an education whereby English learners can access the core curriculum. (CDE, 2011) This is accomplished by (a) all teachers being authorized for instruction to English Learners, (b) schools and/or teachers providing at least 30 minutes per day of English Language Development, and (c) schools and/or teachers providing Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English to all ELs in all other courses.
Academic English for Secondary Students.
The materials are high-interest, and based on national and state standards and include specialized strategies for ELs. Because of the wide variation of ELs, Visions seeks to ensure that all students become proficient users of academic English and allow them to transition to the mainstream. No two students are alike and as they move toward fluency,
Magnet Program at Roseville High
The Roseville Joint Union High School District operates a magnet program for English Learners at Roseville High, and offers occasional specialized classes at Oakmont High for English Learners.
Program at Oakmont High
Oakmont High School has initiated courses designed to meet the needs of English Learners. One of these courses is the Academic Language Proficiency course, which designed to develop academic language in students. The course istargeted towards the needs of English learners in 9-12 grades.
The school also offers a section of ELD English level 4 & 5 as a combined class.
Specialized Courses
All courses offered by the Roseville Joint Union High School District as a policy of equal opportunity for all. The district shall assure that all teachers are duly qualified to teach the course and have the proper English Learner authorization from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
The magnet program for English Learners is housed at Roseville High School. It consists of the following segments:
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Student ELD Level (Using descriptors matching the state CELDT levels) |
English Language Development Instruction |
Content-Based and SDAIE Classes available |
Structured English Immersion classes available. |
Primary Language Courses available |
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1 - Beginning |
ELD English 1 (180 minutes daily) |
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Individualized Immersion Math*** |
Spanish for Native Speakers 1 Spanish for Native Speakers 2 |
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2 - Early Intermediate |
ELD English 2 |
Content-Based Academic Preparation |
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3 - Intermediate |
ELD English 3 |
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4 - Early Advanced |
ELD English 4 |
SDAIE Algebra 1A/1B SDAIE Algebra 1 SDAIE Biology SDAIE Earth Science SDAIE Government/Economics SDAIE U.S. History SDAIE World History |
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5 - Advanced |
ELD English 5* |
Academic Language Proficiency |
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Mainstream |
CP English 9 through 12* |
*CP English 9-12 are the standard mainstream English courses. CP = "College Prep" the classes denoted with * are approved by the University of California as meeting the English course requirements for admission.** Meets University of California A-G requirements for World Languages.
***Any student needing the coursework provided in this course may enroll regardless of language needs.
Both Oakmont High and Roseville High currently offer a section of CAHSEE English Language Arts Test Prep. The student clientele are both English Learners and mainstream students who have either (a) not passed the CAHSEE ELA in prior attempt(s), or (b) have been identified by the counselors as having a high likelihood of not passing the CAHSEE ELA test.
Instruction for English Learners shall address the academic needs of the students, including addresses self-esteem and cross-cultural understanding. The Board encourages staff to participate in cooperating with other local education agencies to share options; strategies, research and knowledge to better inform district programs.
The CELDT is given to all students in California public schools who meet either the following requirements:
a) The students is potentially
considered an English Learner by virtue of
the family's responses to the four questions
on the Home Language Survey. (Potential English Learners) b) The student has previously
been identified as an English Learner by the
state of California. (Identified English
Learners.) (CDE 2011)
The test is determine the level of the student's English language development. Once the school knows a students' CELDT level, we can also determine the best program for the student.
Some Frequently Asked Questions about the CELDT
Question Response for Potential
English Learners Response for Identified
English Learners Who decides if the student
must take the test? The State of California
requires public schools all students who are
potential English Learners based on the
family's answers to the four questions on
the Home Language Survey. The State of California
requires public school all students who are
potential English Learners based on the
family's answers to the four questions on
the Home Language Survey. Can the student test out of
the program? Yes. By scoring high enough
the first time the student takes the test,
he/she can be designated "IFEP - Initial
Fluent English Proficient". Yes. Students who are already
identified as English Learners can test out
of the program by meeting the state and
district requirements to be redesignated. See California guidelines for
reclassification. See Roseville Joint Union High
School Redesignation Criteria. When is the CELDT given? Within 30 days of enrolling
in a California public school. Within 30 days of the start
of the school year. Why is the Roseville district
testing in the summer? The test usually takes 2 and
a half hours to administer. We are testing
in the summer in order to minimize the time
students miss class. The test usually takes 2 and
a half hours to administer. We are testing
in the summer in order to minimize the time
students miss class. What if the student misses
the summer testing window? The student will be tested
during class time. The student will be tested
during class time.
Staff Responsibilities
Superintendent Responsibilities
The Superintendent or designee shall assure that procedures are in place to provide for the identification, assessment, placement and reclassification of English Learners under state law and regulations.
The district has adopted a set of reclassification criteria based on state administrative regulations.
The Superintendent shall annually evaluate program results, in producing data of students' academic achievement and their progress towards English proficiency.
Site Administrative Staff Responsibilities
The site Principal bears the primary responsibility for the implementation and monitoring of daily ELD instruction as required under state regulations. In accordance with the regulation, each student shall have English Language Development instruction for at least 45 minutes per day provided by a teacher with a Cross-cultural, Language and Academic Development (CLAD) certificate or its equivalent. Teachers without proper certification must acquire an Emergency CLAD certificate and be actively engaged in obtaining permanent CLAD certification by August 1, 2010. This responsibility includes:
1) Assignment of fully credentialed teachers who have the CLAD certificate to classrooms with English Learners, including both Structured English Immersion (SEI) and English Mainstream (EM) settings;
2) Proper placement of ELs based on their level of English proficiency, with the assistance of the counseling staff and the district English Learner coordinator
3) Regular supervision of the Language Development Resource Teacher (LDRT) to ensure that coaching and ELD lesson modeling is occurring;
4) Collaboration with the district English Learner coordinator and the ELD department coordinator on all aspects of managing the ELD program; and,
5) Full knowledge of the District's adopted ELD instructional program in order to provide informed leadership to all staff.
Site Principal Responsibilities
The site Principal carries the primary responsibility for the direct implementation and monitoring of the ELD program on a daily basis. This responsibility includes:
1) Assisting the administrative and counseling staff with teacher assignment and EL classroom placement;
2) Receiving full training in the use of the adopted ELD program by attending all District professional development sessions;
3) directly teaching the ELD program in classrooms and/or with small clusters of ELs in order to become proficient in the use of the program and to provide coaching/modeling opportunities for teachers;
4) regularly observing classroom ELD lessons using the ELD/SDAIE Lesson Coaching Form to ensure that ELD is being delivered daily, conducted preferably with the site Principal and Literacy Coach; and,
5) Managing the distribution and use of all instructional materials provided for the ELD program and maintaining an inventory of those materials.
English Learner District Coordinator Responsibilities
The district English Learner coordinator carries the primary responsibility for the oversight of the implementation of the ELD program. This responsibility includes:
1) Coordinating the ELD program at all sites and with District leadership responsible for literacy;
2) Planning and conducting training in the use of the ELD instructional materials for teachers, resource teachers, principals and other staff;
3) Ordering and distributing ELD instructional materials;
4) Conducting regular classroom observations of ELD lessons using the ELD/SDAIE Lesson Coaching Form to ensure that ELD is being delivered daily,
5) Completion of governmental regulatory paperwork.
Challenges
The English Language Development Department has determined that the program needs to be further developed to better meet the needs of the students. The learning needs the department has identified and seeks to address are:
Compliance with Law
The most fundamental issue is the failure of the district to comply with law in providing at least 30 minutes of English Language Development to English Learners on a daily basis. (CDE 2011)
One Hundred Percent Teachers.
The most important element of a quality program is the classroom instruction. The department seeks highly motivated, well-trained teachers and then seeks to provide additional staff development support for the teachers. It is important that all teachers operate at 100% of their capability, and the capability is increased through sensible, well-planned, research-based staff development. The department's philosophy is to support teachers so they can be at their full capability at all times, and continuing to grow as professionals.
One hundred percent instructional aides.
Quality programs use instructional aides to assist the students with language development and accessing the core curriculum. The roles the instructional aides perform in the classroom include:
- Small group tutoring.
- One-one-one instructional assistance.
- Correcting student work.
If one hundred percent teacher in the classroom is good, then two are better. The program seeks to develop the skills and knowledge of the instructional aides to the point where their skills and knowledge match those of the one hundred percent teachers.
Training and Transformation
The EL program is in the process of transforming the way we do business. The old model was to place language aides in classrooms. The new model is to
a) Place language aides in classrooms where primary language support is needed.b) Place aides in classrooms where higher levels of English capability are needed to assist with learning to write.
c) Use language aides to help with community outreach.
d) Use aides to assist with research and grant writing.
e) Staff according to seasonal labor needs, peak hour labor needs, as well as staffing with an eye towards flexibility.
f) Use machine translation as an initial step in translating documents.
The approach we take to language aides will change, and training the current staff is a major component of the training. The goal is to for aides to be the second teacher in the classroom; functioning at the 100% level.
Appropriate curricular materials
The department seeks to use high-quality instructional materials written for English Learners for instruction. The department also seeks high quality supplemental materials. All materials need to be designed for accessibility by English Learners. Materials need to be written for high school students to state standards. Materials need to be written in accordance with the scientific research on instruction and learning.
Research Base for ELD and SDAIE Programs
Researchers have found a number of variables that correlate either positively or negatively to English Learner achievement English Language Arts as well as in content classes. Although research has found a number of external factors attributed to social and economic conditions serve as predictors for students achievement, researchers have also found variables that transcend down draft effects of poverty.
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Across California, schools serving similar types of student populations can vary widely in how well they score on their Academic Performance Index. The 237 elementary schools in the sample that this research team studied (serving 127,335 K-5 students) were drawn from a fairly narrow band in terms of student demographics (percent low income, English learner, ethnic/racial subgroups). Yet their 2005 EL&endash;API scores varied by as much as 256 points (Williams 2007, 21). |
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- It was found that alignment with standards in various ways contributed to higher students achievement. In particular, curriculum aligned with the state standards for ELA and Math produced higher levels of student achievement .
- The use of an ELD specialist for pullout instruction is positively correlated with EL gains in API, ELA proficiency and on the California Standards Test for English Language Arts.
- Implementing standards-based curricular programs are highly correlated with higher scores on state standardized testing.
The RJUHSD program is based in practices confirmed by educational research. Many of the practices found to be effective for promoting student achievement are already part of the district's instructional platform. Programs show positive results when (a) English is taught through academic content, (2) learning strategies are explicitly taught focusing on developing thinking skills and problem-solving abilities; and (3) there is continuous support for staff development in the SDAIE strategies (Collier 1995).
The magnet program at Roseville High uses instructional techniques based on educational research. These techniques are referred to as "Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English." The strategies are a collection of instructional techniques commonly used with English Learners, but that are also effective with mainstream students as well. Williams (2007) notes "Using ELS or SDAIE techniques are more positively correlated with higher math scores on the CST."
Researchers at California State University, Long Beach studied various classrooms where "sheltered instruction" was being provided. As an outcome of their research, they developed a framework for SDAIE instruction called "Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP)" They have published their findings and a number of teachers have been trained on the SIOP model. Researchers have found that students who are instructed using the SIOP model score significantly higher and gain more English writing skills than students who are not instructed using SIOP (Howard 2007).
High school students with limited academic schooling in their native language do less and less well in academic courses taught in English due to the academic and cognitive demands of the higher grade levels (Collier 1995). In quality bilingual programs, English Learners score on par or higher than native speakers after 4-7 years and typically score or above grade level in their native language (Collier 1995).
Alignment with curriculum standards is an important aspect of creating a quality program. A coherent curriculum aligned with state standards is strongly correlated with higher EL achievement (Williams 2007). Furthermore, Williams (2003) also determined that attitudes and perceived levels of support are also key to quality programs. Teachers perception of strong support for the EL program was correlated with higher EL-API scores (Williams 2007).
It is clear that for a ELD program to serve its students well, it must be strongly correlated with the staff development. Well defined plans for improving instruction, and goals of improving state testing scores were highly correlated with improved performance on state tests (Williams 2007, 16).
Collier (1995) found that students who are not in a socioculturally supportive environment do not do well with English learning (2).
Teachers whose work was focused on teaching the academic content standards for ELA and math had higher levels of students achievement (Williams 2007).
Higher achieving schools have principals who report the school has up-to-date instructional materials, support for providing supplementary instruction for struggling students, enough instructional materials for all students and support for facilities management (Williams 2007, 15).
ESL programs need to meet students academic, cognitive, emotional, social and physical needs (Thomas 2002). Schools need to offer meaningful, thematic units that capture the students' interests (Thomas 2002).
Key Strategy: Implementation of SIOP Instructional Framework
The English Language Development Department has decided to adopt the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) as an instructional framework for all classes. SIOP is a a research-based set of instructional strategies that promote language learning.
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The SIOP model represents the results of more than 10 years of research by Jana Echeverria, MaryEllen Vogt, and Deborah J. Short (2004). SIOP provides teachers with an observation instrument that also serves as a tool for planning, implementing, and reflecting on lesson delivery. The SIOP model gives teachers a structure for how to teach what students need to learn in terms of both the language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English and the specific content students need to learn along with their grade-level English-speaking peers. (Cobb 2004) |
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Instruction Based in Research: Students Teaching Students Model
The department has also had success with a Students Teaching Students class run by Suzanne Sharif. Her STS class meets at the same time as the the ELD level 1 class. Sharif trains the STS students on effective tutoring strategies. In turn those students provide small group instruction, usually 1:1 with the ELD students. The ELD students benefit from having extensive interaction with native English speaking peers.
A key portion of this approach is the effective use of a Language Aide, María Holloway. Ms. Sharif provides the credentialing, curriculum choices, instructional choices and leadership for the two classes, which meet at the same time in the same room. She will focus her attentions on one group of students, while Mrs. Holloway focuses her attention on the other group of students. The two groups of students are together for the peer tutoring approximately 3 times per week for an hour and a half each time. Language learners depend on native speakers to modify their language for pronunciation, syntax and vocabulary choices. (Collier 1995). Language development can be enhanced by extensive interactions between English Learners and native English speakers (Howard 2007). Having students interact with native speaking peers is not enough, rather the native speaking peers need to be trained in working with and promoting language development in the non-native speakers (Howard 2007). English learners have difficulty producing native-like speech in English. Part of this comes from a lack of speaking opportunities with fluent English speakers (Howard 2007, 14) Ms. Sharif is looking for ways to expand the STS model to other classes.
Curriculum and Instruction Based in Research: Spanish for Native Speakers
The Spanish for Native Speakers program (courses 1 and 2) was created to reinforce the language spoken by many of our students. It is a course that is both aligned with the English Language Arts curriculum and yet is taught in Spanish.
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Research shows that losing a native language is associated with lower levels of 2nd language development, academic under achievement and increased psychosocial disorders (Howard 2007, 25). |
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The course address academic needs of students in a variety of ways. Students who were born in the United States and speak Spanish at home have a chance to develop their Spanish language skills. For many of those students, this course may represent the first time they have addressed their native language through reading and writing.
Students who are recent immigrants to this country can continue their language skills development while developing their proficiency in English. Research has shown that language skills learned in one language transfer to another. So using a literature, grammar and standards-based curriculum in Spanish will transfer as skills to English (Krashen 1997).
Research References
California Department of Education. English Learner Instrument (Including NCLB). 2011. Accessed at www.cde.ca.gov/ta/cr/documents/el201011c.doc on 14 October 2011
Cobb, C. 2004. Improving Adequate Yearly Progress for
English
Language Learners. Naperville, IL: Learning Point
Associates.
www.learningpt.org/pdfs/literacy/aypell.pdf
(accessed July 31,
2009).
Echevarria, J., Vogt, M.E., & Short, D. (2000).
Making content comprehensible to English language
Learners: The SIOP model. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Howard, E. R., Sugarman, J., Christian, D., Lindholm-Leary, K. J., & Rogers, D. (2007). Guiding principles for dual language education (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. http://www.cal.org/twi/guidingprinciples.htm (accessed October 21, 2009).
Krashen, S. (1997) Why Bilingual Education? ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools Charleston WV. www.texastextbooks.org/pdfs/Why_Bilingual_Education.pdf (accessed November 27, 2009)
Thomas, W.P. & Collier, V.P. (2002). A national study of school effectiveness for language minority students' long-term academic achievement. Santa Cruz, CA: Center for Research on Education, Diversity, & Excellence. http://www.crede.ucsc.edu/research/llaa/1.1_final.html
Williams, T., Hakuta, K., Haertel, E., et al. (2007). Similar English Learner Students, Different Results: Why Do Some Schools Do Better? A follow-up analysis, based on a large-scale survey of California elementary schools serving low-income and EL students. Mountain View, CA: EdSource. http://www.edsource.org/iss_research_SimStu_initial.html (Accessed November 24, 2009).
Legal References
California Education Code, Sections 300-340, 44253.5-44253.7, 44560, 48985, 52015, 52160-52178.4, 52180-52186, 54000-54041, 60040, 62000-62005, Code of Regulations, Title 5 Sections 3935, 4300-4320; 20
United States Code, 1701-1704; Casteñeda v. Pickard (5th Cir. 1981) 648 F. 2nd 989, Teresa P. e al v, Berkeley Unified School District et al, (2/14/89) 724 F. Supp. 717