© 2010 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium www.wida.us

The WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment

Mariana CastroProfessional Development

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 2WIDA Consortium

Goal

This presentation will examine how the WIDA ELP Standards can be utilized in formative assessment.

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 3

Agenda

Academic language and the WIDA ELP Standards

Assessment of academic language through Formative Assessment

WIDA tools that can be used during Formative Assessment

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 4WIDA Consortium

Academic Language and the WIDA ELP Standards

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 5

What is Academic Language?

Academic language proficiency refers to the abilities to construct meaning from oral and written language, relate complex ideas and information, recognize features of different genres, and use various linguistic strategies to communicate

Dutro & Moran (2003)

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 6WIDA Consortium

Academic Language and the WIDA ELP Standards

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 7

Academic Language and the WIDA ELP Standards

The model performance indicator shows examples of language expectations at different levels of language proficiency across different domains and ELP standards

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 8

Academic Language and the WIDA ELP Standards

The elements of academic language are implicit in the performance indicator

WIDA Consortium

What elements of academic language are needed to “describe”?

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 9

To describe, the language needed is…

A paragraph or set of related sentences

Objects of earth or sky, adjectives

Correct placement of words depending on their function

This is just a short list…

the language elements to describe are endless depending on the communicative context. The language elements are targeted according the task and student needs.

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 10

In short…

describe the academic language expected

need to be contextualized in the content itself and the learners

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 11

Assessment of Academic Language through Formative Assessment

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 12

What is Formative Assessment?

Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve intended instructional outcomes

(CCSSO FAST SCASS, 2006).

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 13

A process

Language targets appropriate for students and content

Assessment tasks that elicit language targeted (these happen during instruction)

Assessment tools to record observations of student production or comprehension of language targeted

Feedback system to translate feedback into actual modifications to teaching and learning

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 14

Identifying the language

The language assessed should be the language taught; in other words, the language identified in your language objectives

Linguistic Complexity: A paragraph or set of related sentencesVocabulary: Objects of earth or sky (sun, Earth, Mars, Jupiter); adjectives (close to, far from)Language Control: comparatives (_er than, more than); superlatives (the _est; the most _)

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 15

Assessment Tasks should…

take place during instruction

be authentic and relevant to the content

elicit the academic language being targeted

Examples: academic discussion in small/large groups, presentation of research findings, debates, interview with students, posters, brochures, drafts, projects, activities

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 16

Assessment Task

What task will elicit the language you wish

WIDA Consortium

Linguistic Complexity: A paragraph or set of related sentencesVocabulary: Objects of earth or sky (sun, Earth, Mars, Jupiter); adjectives (close to, far from)Language Control: comparatives (_er than, more than); superlatives (the _est; the most _)

Students work in groups to prepare a poster showing the

relationship between objects of the earth or sky. Teacher will observe groups as they work together

and listen to/observe language produced

in poster draft.

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 17

Assessment Tool

The difference between formal and informal formative assessment is that in formal formative assessment there is a record of the performance

Examples: checklists, rating scale, rubric (holistic, analytic, mixed)

Your selection of tools should take into consideration the language you want to assess and the assessment task

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 18

Checklist

Advantages Limitations

Useful for marking whether the student has mastered the language feature or notSimple to make and useUseful in communicating with students, parents and/ or teachers

Do not describe the range or quality of performance

WIDA Consortium

Name ___ Date ___

1.__ I used complete sentences2.__ My sentences were organized in a paragraph3.__ I used key words for the unit: Sun, Earth…4.__ I used words that described distance: close, far

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 19

Rating Scale

Advantages Limitations

Provides more information as to the degree to which the student has mastered a language featureSimple to make and useUseful in communicating with students, parents and/ or teachers

Can be hard to decide what level to give the specific performance

WIDA Consortium

Name: __ Date: ___ Always Most of Some of Never the time the time

Used complete sentences

Paragraph had a topic sentence

Used comparatives and superlatives correctly

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 20

Rubrics

Holistic Rubrics assign a single score to a set of performance criteria

Analytic Rubrics separate scores to various criteria

Advantages: fixed scales with descriptions of performance at different levels

Limitations: Time consuming, hard to develop and use.

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 21

The WIDA Performance Definitions are an example of a holistic rubric

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 22

The WIDA Speaking Rubric is an example of an analytic rubric

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 23

Remember!

The checklist, rating scale or rubric are not formative assessment

The activity you choose to elicit language is the assessment task, but not the formative assessment

Formative assessment is a process and includes these elements, but its most important feature is what you do after you gather the information: you use it to guide your teaching and learning!

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 24

Using Feedback

To adjust teacher’s instruction

To adjust student’s learning

To shift classroom classroom

To implement schoolwide

Popham, 2008

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 25

Teachers’ Instructional Adjustment

Formative assessment helps teachers decide if they need to adjust what they are currently doing or what they plan to do next instructionally

In order to do this, teacher must 1. decide when it is a good time to make a decision

2. follow formative assessment process

3. establish what level in student performance will necessitate instructional adjustment, and

4. make the necessary adjustment

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 26

Example:

Chee Meng is a student from Laos who is in second grade. His ELP levels are: listening 4, speaking 3, reading 3, and writing 2.

Chee Meng’s teacher, Ms. Mancilla, is teaching a unit on Space. She would like her students to describe the relationships between the planets in the solar system.

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 27

Language Target

One of the activities in class will be to have students, in groups of three, create a poster of the solar system and describe in an oral presentation the relation between the different planets and the sun and the planets and the earth.

She would like Chee Meng to write complete sentences describing the relationships between the planets.

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 28

Formative Assessment Process

Language targets: complete sentences; unit vocabulary: sun, names of planets, solar system; use of comparatives and superlatives

Assessment task: writing sentences on index cards as they prepare to present their poster

Assessment tool: Rating scale (derived from WIDA ELP Writing Rubric)

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 29

WIDA Writing Rubric

WIDA Consortium

Chee Meng’s Writing

ELP level

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 30WIDA Consortium

Focus on i+1 level and then transform into a rating scale

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 31

Assessment Tool

Always Most of Some of Never the time the time

Linguistic Complexity: Simple and expanded oral sentencesComplete sentences (subject, verb, complement)

Vocabulary Usage: General and some specific language related to the content areaSentences include the names of solar system objects

Language Control: Use of syntactic language structures Uses closer to/farthest from correctly

WIDA Consortium

Ms. Mancilla has decided that she would like Chee Meng to meet the criteria in the rating scale at least

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 32

Feedback

The record will help Ms. Mancilla provide feedback to Chee Meng, and communicate with other educators, Chee-Meng’s parents and other stakeholders.

Ms. Mancilla can keep some criteria for future instruction or modify it as well as the focus of her instruction if Chee Meng still needs to work on one or two criteria.

WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 33

For more information, please contact the WIDA Help Desk:

1-866-276-7735 or help@wida.us

Questions or Comments?

© 2010 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium www.wida.us