| Date post: | 19-Dec-2015 |
| Category: |
Documents |
| Upload: | charity-benson |
| View: | 216 times |
| Download: | 0 times |
CREATING EDUCATIONAL EQUITYFOR ENGLISH LEARNERS
WITH DISABILITIES
Presented April 27, 2015 at theMinority Student Achievement Network Institute
byMembers of the ESOL and Special Education Departments of
Arlington County, Virginia, Public Schools
AGENDA
● Welcome and Introductions● Objectives● Warm-Up● Historical Overview● Language Acquisition Considerations: BICS, CALP● Equity Warrior: ESOL Resource Teacher ● Collaboration with Stakeholders
● Teachers, Administrators, Families● Reflection and Q&A
OBJECTIVES
Participants will be able to…
● Articulate a consensus definition of “educational equity” and identify other categories of equity
● Identify the negative, compounding effects of inequity on students who fall into multiple categories
OBJECTIVES, continued…
•Use data to inform culturally competent instruction
•Understand the difference between Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency, and how language differences affect classroom learning.
•Gather ideas on how to create environments in which dually-identified students can succeed academically and socially
WARM-UP
What is educational equity?
Turn and talk
● How do you define educational equity? ● What are some of the barriers for culturally
and linguistically diverse students? How about for students with disabilities?
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Observation
Question
ResearchFindings
Targeted Solution
ELLs weren’t moving through the system as rapidly as expected
In many cases, those experiencing academic, learning, and/or socio-emotional difficulties were not receiving the services they needed
OBSERVATION
QUESTION
What obstacles stood in the way of students receiving these services?
RESEARCH
A Case Study approach was taken to gather information about the various
reasons and possible solutions
The district’s ESL program and Student Services Programs, including Special Education, were not communicating
systematically.
FINDINGS
Improve communication between ESL, Student Services and Special Education
throughout the district.
TARGETED SOLUTION
FORGING A NEW SPIRIT OF COLLABORATION
ESL, Special Education, and Student Services
ENDURING UNDERSTANDING
Numerous challenges are involved in making sound educational decisions
about English language learners who are experiencing academic difficulties.
NECESSARY FIRST STEPS
• Appoint liaisons
• Encourage regular communication
• Provide staff development to ESL and Special Education teachers
• Jointly examine issues affecting referral and identification
ACTIONS TAKEN
• Formation of Multicultural Assessment Team
• Formation of System-wide Committees of ESL and Special Education Teachers
• Joint professional development at the school and system levels for teachers, administrators, student services staff
LanguageDevelopment
CognitiveDevelopment
AcademicDevelopment
Socialand
CulturalProcesses
Language Acquisition for School, by Virginia P. Collier, 1994
INTERVENTION TOOLSCollaboration to develop:
• The Educational Checklist and Suggested Adaptations: An Intervention Guide for Second Language Learners Experiencing Academic Difficulty
• Bridge Manual: Supporting Sound Decision Making for English Language Learners Experiencing Academic Difficulty
FROM IDENTIFICATIONTO INSTRUCTION
A new paradigm focusing on instruction of English Learners already identified as eligible for special education services:
Dually-Identified students
The Bridge Team Concept
The common misperception that Special Education trumps ESL Instruction
U.S. Dept. of Justice & U.S. Dept. of Education Civil Rights Division Office for Civil RightsAmerican with Disabilities Act ESEA
Dually-Identified students have the right to both services
MEET THE ESOL RESOURCE
TEACHER
A DAY IN THE LIFE…
Advocate for culturally and linguistically diverse students Promote cultural pluralism
Use cross-cultural communication
Demonstrate culturally courageous leadership
Challenge institutional biases
Implement culturally responsive teaching
SOCIAL vs. ACADEMIC LANGUAGE: BICS and CALP
Activity: What type of language? a. My name is __________________ (insert your name in blank).b. I am thirsty. May I please have a drink of water?c. After we finished school in June, my family spent our summer
vacation visiting relatives in Eritrea.d. Worms are called decomposers. They have a special job, which is to
eat leaves, grass, and other things in nature to help break them down into smaller pieces. We are going to study worms more closely by making a compost bag.
e. Your math homework sheet is a review of everything we have learned so far this year: working long-division problems with double-digit divisors, calculating the area and perimeter of various quadrilaterals, working with fractions and decimals, and calculating averages.
Questions/Discussion Topics
1. Which of the above items represented BICS communication? CALP?2. Why were the CALP items more difficult to translate, even with many
years of instruction in a second language?3. Teachers often hear students making comments such as those in (a),
(b), or (c), and then dismiss language as a potential cause when those same students display difficulties in class. Why do you think this is the case?
4. Imagine that you are a student whose teacher has just spoken the words seen in either (d) or (e), but you are not proficient in the English language. Brainstorm a list of things your teacher could do to help you understand what was being said.
5. How does this activity help you to better understand the needs of an ELL student?
“Most students in a second language environment can acquire conversational proficiency in two to three years. These language learners appear to be fluent speakers of the second language. However, students who have acquired only a conversational and not an academic level of proficiency have difficulty when trying to understand and communicate about cognitively complex concepts in the target language, especially in academic contexts.”
(Herrera, S. & Murry, K., 2011)
Advocate for Students of Color
● Initiate contact with stakeholders
● Increase communication among student’s team
Promote Diversity and Individuality
● Know students’ cultural background
● Learn about them● Celebrate their uniqueness ● Support them to embrace
and understand their disability
Use Cross-Cultural Communication
● Demonstrate cultural knowledge and sensitivity
● Communicate with parents so that they can support their child’s learning
Build Courageous Leadership
● Help all students feel important
● Go the extra mile● Challenge norms● Address examples of
cultural oppression
Be an Equity Warrior ● Support culturally-
responsive teaching ● Encourage L1 growth ● Implement
instructional practices based on language and disability needs
● Teach students to self-advocate
ESOL Resource Teacher
COLLABORATING WITH TEACHERS
ATTENDING MEETINGS IS KEY
Involved
Informed
Identity
COLLABORATION/RELATION
P= Professional A= Accept the Advice and ExpertiseC= Consult on Constant BasisT= Trust Your Resource
DELIVERY
T= Testing and Evaluating I= Individual Support P=Pull Out S= Small Group
COLLABORATING WITH
ADMINISTRATORS
Ranked #1 Middle School in Virginia in the 2015 NICHE
Rankings
“…Americans…show…how an enlightened regard for themselves constantly prompts them to assist each other, and inclines them willingly to sacrifice a portion of their time and property to the state.”
Alexis de Tocqueville - Democracy in America
When you act to further the interests of others, you ultimately serve your own self-interest.
HELP ADMINISTRATORSHELP STUDENTS
INITIATIVES SHOULD BE
• Data-driven
• Research-based
• Designed to address accountability requirements
Title III of NCLB requires that each school district in Virginia meet three
Annual Measurable Achievement Objectivesrelating to
Limited English Proficiency students
AMAO 2 – Attainment of English proficiency
The number of LEP students becoming proficient in English will increase by 19%
over last year, based on their performance on the ACCESS test
IN-HOUSE BRIDGE TEAM
• What is it?
• Who participates?
• When does it meet?
• What is its overarching mission?
WHAT IS THE BRIDGE TEAM?
Bridge between Special Education and ESOL teachers and the rest of the school community
WHO IS ON THE BRIDGE TEAM?
– Representative from the Special Education Dept.– Representative from the ESOL Dept.– ESOL Resource Teacher– Administrator with Special Education oversight– Administrator with ESOL oversight
WHEN DOES THE BRIDGE TEAM MEET?
• Meetings– Bi-weekly at beginning of year
– Monthly thereafter
– As the need arises
BRIDGE TEAM MISSION• To facilitate communication among the
professionals serving dually-identified students, and to explore ways in which service delivery can be improved to foster greater achievement.
• To work at each school to create opportunities to strengthen services that directly affect the students identified for Special Education and ESOL services.
Departments of Justice and Department of Education Release Joint Guidance to Ensure English Learner Students Have Equal Access to a High-Quality Education
On January 7, 2015, the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice issued a joint guidance reminding states, school districts and schools of their obligations under federal law to ensure that English learner students have equal access to a high-quality education and the opportunity to achieve their full academic potential.
Disability Discrimination
The Educational Opportunities Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department addresses disability discrimination in several ways, including through its existing desegregation cases and its English Language Learner (ELL) matters. …The Section ensures that dually identified ELL and special education students receive all services to which they are entitled.
A MOMENT TO REFLECTThink about what you know…
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CREATED BY BRIDGE TEAM
• 6-week workshop series• Voluntary (incentive = re-certification credits)• In-house and guest speakers• Opportunities to discuss and collaborate on
addressing current challenges• Practical strategies that could be taken back to
the classroom the next day
TOPICS
• Differentiation – Parts 1 and 2
• Teaching Reading in the Content Areas
• Explicit Instruction of Academic Language
• Crafting Content and Language Objectives
• Reflective Practice and Formative Assessment
COLLABORATING WITH FAMILIES
Professor, Harvard Law School
Areas of specialization include law and education
Advocate for members of racial and religious minorities and for women, children, and persons with disabilities
Making All the Difference, Martha Minow:
With both bilingual and special education, schools struggle to deal with children defined as “different” without stigmatizing them. Both programs raise the same question: when does treating people differently emphasize their differences and stigmatize or hinder them on that basis?
And when does treating people the same become insensitive to their difference and likely to stigmatize or hinder them on that basis?
Making All the Difference, Martha Minow:
The problem of inequality can be exacerbated both by treating members of minority groups the same as members of the majority and by treating the two groups differently. [Does] nondiscrimination mean giving individuals the opportunity to assimilate or accommodating their differences through special programs?
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Does academic equity mean giving dually identified students the opportunity to assimilate?
Or does it mean…
Accommodating their differences through special programs?
WORKING WITH PARENTS
• Choosing between sheltered instruction or general education
• Choosing between the “Least Restrictive Environment“ and self-contained classes
BUILD RELATIONSHIPS SO YOU CAN…
Assist Interpret Guide Reassure
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO COMMUNICATE IS THAT YOU…
• Have shared goals
• Value honesty and candor
• Respect differences of opinion and culture
I’ve learned that people will forget what
you said,people will forget what
you did, butpeople will never forget
how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou
REFLECTION and Q&A
Thank You!• Francesca Reilly-McDonnell
– [email protected]• Melissa Cuba
– [email protected]• Pam Lockridge
– [email protected]• Susan Harrison
