ANA SAINZ DE LA PENA: Welcome to the RtII and ELL series. Webinar number one, a cultural, linguistic, and ecological approach with English

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1 ANA SAINZ DE LA PENA: Welcome to the RtII and ELL series. Webinar number one, a cultural, linguistic, and ecological approach with English language learners using a multi- tiered system. My name is name is Ana Sainz de la Pena. I am an educational consultant with the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network. And I will be guiding you through the wonderful journey of the information provided in this webinar. My colleague, Paula Zucker and Dr. Connie Cochran have collaborated at the developing this webinar. One feature of this RtII and ELL webinars is that it will provide information for the attendees as well as provide handouts and other resources for trainers if they would like to use this webinar either during the session that they can have with their teachers and in order to enhance, we are providing handouts with extended activities. One of those extended activities is the one that we have developed with case scenarios. So after the information is provided, you can go into our website and find the handouts. And we have the RtII and ELLs extended activity handout with the case scenarios as I mentioned before. We also have the RtII and ELLs October webinar checklist. The checklist has been developed with intention of helping you review the information and at the same time, offering you a tool so you can apply the information that you are receiving through the webinar into real situations. That means that when you go back to your schools, you can use the checklist to go over some of the procedures that you have to collect data and how to use that data with English language learners in an RtII framework. The checklist also helps for trainers if they are going to use the case scenarios, they can use the checklist to provoke dialogue and have small group work in how to deal with the different students that are portrayed in those case scenarios. Together with those two important documents, we also have the PowerPoint that you are going to see throughout the webinar. And we also have included the resources, that means the two articles that we have used to - - as a resource to develop the background knowledge of this webinar. The two articles are entitled, Cultural Responsive Literacy, and a Cultural Linguistic and Ecological Framework for RtI. You can find all of these documents in our website the PaTTAN website. If you click in the calendar in which the date of this webinar was presented, that s October 17 th. You will be able to access this information. As you know, PaTTAN s mission really, you know, focused on the supports and initiatives that the Bureau of Special Education has in regards to build the incapacity in all local educational agencies in how to deal and how to support children with special needs. It is also our goal to ensure that all children will have at least the chance to participate in the least restrictive environment. The outcomes of our 1

2 webinar are very important, so you can target and somehow look for a way to identify these outcomes through that checklist that we have developed for you. The first important outcome is to help you understand the importance of collecting data about your English language learners that is going to be crucial for them participate fully in an educational program. The other part of the outcomes also, you know, look for a way to make you reflect in what you have in place and what needs be enhanced or changed in your school districts. A lot of consideration needs to be taken in those decisions that we make about the educational programs for ELLs. And with this webinar, our intention is to make you reflect in what you have in place and also what needs to change or what else do you need to be asking to students and parents. And also, the last outcome is to identify a systematic process for examining the specific background or variables or ecologies for ELLs. What we mean by that is that how are we systematically using the information that we have to impact the programs for English language learners in our districts. There are many questions that we ask about ELLs, but not enough questions are asked about what else do we need to know about their linguistic, cultural, and academic backgrounds to provide appropriate instruction and interventions. We know that we have the home language survey, which is a document is required by the Office of Civil Rights when we have students coming into our district. But those four questions are not enough to design a program. We also know that we have information from the perspective of implementing the WEDA access test, which is the WAPT, which is a placement test for all prospective, or candidates, to be participants in an ESL program that measures English language proficiency. But that information is important, but is not the only information we need to have effective ESL programs. So now that we know that we have these questions, it s very important also to understand that once we have the information, then how is it shared? Who gets the information? Where does it go from that person? All of these questions will be addressed as we go through our webinar. First of all, we would like to focus our attention in defining what is response to instruction and interventions in Pennsylvania. As we know, RtI, as it s known throughout the nation, is a framework that assists students, teachers, and parents to focus on the needs of the students and how to develop interventions so these gaps are closed before we make any kinds of decisions about referring students to special education assessment. So response to interventions integrates students assessment and evidence- based instructional interventions. That word is very important. Evidence- based instructional interventions. What evidence do we have that the instruction that we re using with these children is really working? So that is very, not only important, but I think it is of essence to start looking at RtII from the perspective of not just a multi- tier framework but also that it needs to be evidence- based. 2

3 Critical features of RtII. The very first and most important feature is the screening, the data, that we get from students that are not moving ahead at the same pace as other students. The data needs to be collected and analyzed in teams and then decisions have to be made in how are we going to implement interventions for these students, so we work together to close that gap. Then the other part is how do we monitor the effectiveness of instruction? So what is happening in the classroom that is really working with all students to achieve those goals that we have in our lesson? The other feature is implementing a multi- tiered, evidence- based against, here comes the same term, evidence- based instruction that match the student s instructional needs. And that is also something that we need to reflect on because in many instances, what some schools are doing is just looking for programs to implement within, you know, the time for interventions. So how is that program really, you know, developed in a way that it matches the student s needs? In many instances, there are very few intervention programs, you know, commercially- made programs that address the needs of your English language learners. So how are you dealing with that? It s a very important question because if we are not asking these questions, then, you know, look at the title, critical features. Then maybe if we are not going to these, you know, critical features, maybe we re not doing RtII. This is the pyramid, you know, in how this multi- tiered approach works. The most important tier in RtII is tier one. Tier one needs to address the needs of all children during core instruction. That s the very first step. Before we go into thinking about interventions, we have to make sure that our tier one instruction addresses the needs of the children that are sitting in our classroom. This includes also the ESL program. ESL is core instruction. And as we know in Pennsylvania, an ESL program is not only ESL instruction. It also what happens with the children when they are in other core content areas. So how are the needs of ELLs addressed during core instruction in all content areas as well as in the ESL classroom? This other pyramid of multi- tiered interventions, or multi- tiered program, is very interesting because when we talk about RtII, many times people just think about elementary approaches. We have to understand that we have programs presently in Pennsylvania that are RtII frameworks that are implemented with secondary students. And even though schedules really present you know a challenge to implement RtII at the high school level and at the middle grades level, we have developed this framework for secondary programs. Notice that in tier one, you are also addressing the needs of English language learners through the infusion of the English language proficiency standards throughout the 3

4 content core instruction. So that step is very important when you look at RtII. So I will like you to refer to this structure whenever you work with students that are at the secondary level. Equity is very important when we talk about RtII. RtII if maybe there is one very important feature about RtII, it is that it forces teachers to sit down and collaborate and talk about their students learning and how to improve student achievement. So if that is so important, if that is something that a core feature of RtII, we have to understand what are those premises for equity. Definitely the first one is very crucial to look at. High expectations for all students and how it is part of the civil rights of students to really have access to quality education. So that is the very step. Are we providing access to all children to learn? Or with opportunities to learn so they will be able to achieve their academic goals. We also need to understand as educators that there is a whole body of research that tells us that we need to incorporate the knowledge that these students bring through their life experiences, cultural experiences, and how the inclusion, the using of that knowledge will really create programs and opportunity for the student to acquire knowledge in concept development in math, social studies, literacy. So we need to understand that it is not just all students, I m giving them everything that I can give to all of them. But first we need to know who are these students? What are they bringing to the table? And that is one of the outcomes of this webinar. Now based on these students backgrounds, once I know what they bring to the table, I need to use that information to plan accordingly, not only for instruction, but also for assessment. So the first part really is how do we know who are these children? In many instances and in many books that we read about ELLs, there s always that part that says, and for ELLs, you need to bring pictures. ELLs in general, yes, they re English language learners. But there are different levels of language acquisition that these children bring to the table. So it will not be the same program or the same strategies that I need to use with a student that is at a level four than a student that is a newcomer at a level one. So we need to understand and content teachers need to be trained in how to look and what does it mean to be a level one student entering as opposed to a level five student, you know, bridging. So we need to understand that not all ELLs are at the same level of language proficiency. They are a heterogeneous group. There are, in our state, more than 200 different languages represented. Of course we all know that Spanish is the largest minority language represented among our ELLs. That the enrollment of these children have increased 114% in the last ten years while the general enrollment in our schools is going down. That there are, you know, some languages that are more highly represented 4

5 than others. And if you work in districts that are very diverse, we know that Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian students. We re getting more Arabic students who come, you know, as refugees. We also have Korean students. We have students from Cambodia that speak Khmer, which is Khmer in English. We have many students that come from India that speak Gujarati. We have French and French Creoles, students coming from Haiti. So there is always that diversity in language development as well as language experiences that our students have. When we talk about linguistic backgrounds, and a good friend of mine, Dr. Aida Walqui, has done a lot of research in the area of language development with adolescent ELLs. And one article that she wrote about how close the language of the student is to the English language or how far it is is going to indicate how, you know, what kinds of accommodations and what kinds of tasks we need to have with our students. And that is also something we need to take into consideration. Somebody that speaks a romance language such as Spanish, Portuguese, French, or Italian will have, you know, less difficulty in understanding and producing some of the sounds of the English language and the semantics of the English language as opposed to somebody that speaks Chinese or somebody that speaks Arabic. There is, you know, that - - we need to have that fence that the closer the language is to the structure of the English language, it will be easier for the student to figure out not only sounds of the language but also the grammatical structures, sentence structure, and so forth. The same way with having, you know, an alphabet that is different from the alphabet that we have is going to post a, you know, taller barrier, I will say, for students who come from those backgrounds. The other - - the quote that we have here from [inaudible] is also very important to consider, that sometimes, you know, children who come to us in kindergarten, for example, haven t had a chance to fully develop their native languages at home and now they have to acquire a second language. Those children present more of a challenge than a child that has arrived here in fourth or fifth grade with already literacy skills in their native language. So we have to take that into consideration. Children who come with native languages that have been developed to maybe a fourth, fifth, or even a higher grade have a better background knowledge or linguistic knowledge of language than children who sometimes were born here are second or third generation immigrants and are really, you know, come with less language than the children who come already literate. We also have a test. Please consider that as part of the way to know where these children are in that process of acquiring English. The entrance test or the placement test is the WAPT. It s mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. And that will give us five different levels of English language 5

6 proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Remember they are entering, beginning, developing, expanding, and bridging. Other features about students linguistic background that are important to consider will be sometimes we have English dominant ELLs. They only speak English, but they have very limited academic vocabulary due to other social cultures circumstances. We need to consider that when we design a program for these children. Sometimes we have students who have experience with the English language because they were born here or they live here at some point and then they went to their countries, their parents countries, and then came back. Well, they may have strong social language, but limited academic language. Again, we call them in the ESL jargon, BICS and CALP. It s important to consider that because I have heard sometimes teachers that do not know that basic interpersonal communication skills develop very fast as opposed to CALP, cognitive academic language proficiency that develops, you know, in more - - it needs more years to be fully developed and sometimes they just think that their ELLs do not need to be supported by the ESL teacher. So it is important that we take a look at what is going on with - - in regards to academic language. It is also important to note that we need to know whether these children are literate in their first language, in their native language. Another question that we need to ask, and I personally experienced this when I was working in a very diverse district, was that there are students who come from South America that speak indigenous languages. That means that not all students who come from South America speak Spanish as their native language. There might be students who come from rural areas in Central and South America that speak their indigenous languages. Like for example, if somebody comes from Peru and is - - lives in the mountain area in Peru and speaks Spanish as their second language because their indigenous language might be Quechua. So let s not jump into conclusions that because the student comes from a country where Spanish is the dominant language, they are proficient in that language. Ask questions about that. It s important. It s part of what is going to help you make decisions about how to teach these children. The background experience, as we were saying before, how useful it is to know who are these children in regards of the experiences that they bring, experiences that might life experiences, that might be school experiences, and that will help us really make decisions and understand sometimes the gaps that they have. Country of origin is important. More than 80% of ELL are born in the USA. That is something to consider when we design programs for English language learners. Not all of them are newcomers. As we know, the statistics show that we have many ELLs who are second and third generation. And why are they in our programs? Because they have limited academic language 6

7 proficiency. And that is why they are there, not because they don t speak English. In many instances, they have a very strong social language, but they do not have academic language. So think about how would your ESL program really be articulated when you have students who already have that social language but do not have academic language. What kinds of strategies would you use to develop academic language with these students? It is also important to note that there are several studies. Valdes and Figueroa did a very important study about the differences in language patterns when you are a newcomer as opposed when you are a second generation and a third generation ELL. It is also crucial that you know the immigration pattern of the student. There are many students who move back and forth from the mainland to the island if in the case of the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico. And then they come back. So if that is the case, children who maybe will start will come as newcomers actually in quotes, newcomers, in middle grades might not be really newcomers because they could have been in this country during kindergarten, first, and second grade and then now they are coming back in eighth grade. Questions need to be asked about that. There is a study, the Risley study, Hart and Risley study that considers the fact of students deficiencies or gaps in oral language development when they start school due to the fact that they belong to low socioeconomic groups. We need to understand or consider that the Risley study is widely used to really bring the awareness of the importance of oral language development and the importance of including activities that are going to help students develop more language in order to develop strong literacy skills. But we also need to understand that in the Hart and Risley study of 2005, there were no bilingual families included. They were not ELL families included. So ask questions to parents. Many times we will be assuming certain socioeconomic status for our students that maybe are not the ones that they really used to have in their countries. Many immigrants that are professionals, sometimes when they come to this country, if the adults, the parents do not speak English proficiently, they take jobs that might be - - might not reflect their cognitive abilities or their academic abilities. And the assumption is that maybe they do not have, you know, education when indeed in their countries, they lived in a different socioeconomic group. And when they move here, they have to start from, you know, from a lower kind of job because of the language barrier. So talk about that with parents when you meet them and find out more about how to support the students and how to support them at home to develop strong skills. Parent interviews are crucial to get information about how do they feel about literacy development and also the importance that they will give to either maintaining the language or not at 7

8 home. And also, you know, how important it is that they talk to their children and to read at home, even if it is in their native languages, it also, you know, very beneficial for students to have that opportunity to develop more language. And native languages is something that is going to help them if they have strong native language, it s going to help them to develop their second language better. Another feature of background experience, it will be, you know, what kinds of environments did these students live in when they live in their countries. It is very different a student that comes from an urban environment than one that comes from a rural environment. There is also a difference in the kind of education that they get. In many countries, children who are raised in rural environments do not have the same opportunities to get full day education or even full year education as children who live in urban environments. The refugee experience is also - - adds another layer to the academic development of these children. There are children who live in refugee camps for two, three years before they come to the United States. And the education that they get in these refugee camps are usually, you know, very limited. You will have also students with limited formal schooling, that means students who are maybe 13, 14 years of age and they have never been to school or they have been to school only one year or two years. How do you develop a program for students who are at high school age or middle grade age when they have that tremendous gap? So those are some of the questions that you need to ask before you place students in your programs. Ask questions about the school year calendar. Not all schools throughout the world have the same schedules. I can tell you that for example in Peru, school starts in March and ends in December. So that posts, you know, a challenge to place students in what grade do we place them? Do we place them in the grade that they have completed already, or do we place them in the second semester of a grade that they haven t had a chance to experience? So those are the questions that you need to ask before you place students in your programs. And I already said that in some countries, the school day is not the same as our school day here. In many instances, students go to school just in the morning or just in the afternoon, so their days are shorter. And it s not the same to have a third grader that has been in school in full days than a third grader that has been in school only half days. So these are some of the questions that you need to ask about their academic background. We have talked a lot about the linguistic and the background of the student. These are the questions that we posted at the beginning. So what do we need to know about their linguistic, culture, and academic background to provide appropriate instruction and interventions? Are you using that information to make decisions about how are you going to either enhance or target your ESL program with your students? Now that if you know that information, is the ESL teacher the only person that 8

9 needs to know this information? How do you share this information with other teachers? Who needs to be collecting the data and who needs to be really on top of this data so it is appropriately used to support students? Who makes decision about these students? Is that the person that really has this information, or is it the decision just made by using maybe scores from DIBELS or maybe scores from access for ELLs or the WAPT? Are those the only important scores that we need to know? How do we set goals for our students? How do we know that our goals are realistic for them if we do not have this important information? In one of the articles that you will have as a handout, a cultural, linguistic, and ecological framework for response to intervention with English language learners, you will find these quotes. And I think that, you know, in closing this section, I think this summarizes the importance of asking questions in addition to your home language survey. The time spent in asking specific questions about a student s background will yield benefits in planning assessment and instruction. The formal and home literacy experience of ELLs will also provide insights about their instructional needs. Important quotes that we need to keep going back to it to know how to better or how to improve or enhance our programs. The same we know our students, we need to know our program. And with that, what we are going to analyze is that tier one instruction for our ELLs. If we re saying that ESL is core instruction, how are we articulating our ESL program with the content in literacy, with the content in math, social studies, and science? How are we collaborating with other teachers to develop a program that is more consistent and that is perceived as a way to support these students throughout the school day, not just with the ESL teacher? So we re going to opportunities to learn, and this part is considered part of what I said before, the civil rights that these children have to access to quality education. RtII is predicated upon effective research- based and appropriate instruction in the general education classroom or tier one. So are we addressing the needs of all children that in that tier one? RtII also tells us that we need to deliver instruction that is scientifically validated with a high degree of fidelity to the curriculum. So if we look at our curricula for literacy, for ESL, and other content areas, how are we addressing the needs of the children who are ELLs within that curriculum? Do we have specific activities and tasks that bring the attention of that content teacher to the different levels that these children or the different tasks that these children will have to perform according to their levels of English language proficiency. If we are doing that, then we are providing these children with opportunities to learn. If we are not doing that, then we are not providing equal access to education. There is a very, you know, interesting and large growing - - or a variety of research, excuse me, that talks about how to support English language learners in literacy development. And there s also, you 9

10 know, many studies that show us that in reality, there it seems to be that ELLs are not really receiving appropriate literacy instruction. And that happens because in many instances, somehow in some systems, school systems, the responsibility of teaching ELL especially, you know, if we talk about in our state in Pennsylvania, when I talk to some district central office people or even principals, they always emphasize that it s the ESL teacher that the one that is responsible for the instruction of these children. When indeed, that is not true because it is - - the ESL teacher is essential to support the development or the acquisition of English language in listening, speaking, reading, and writing areas. But is the whole faculty, all of the teachers in the school who have ELLs the ones that are responsible to help these children develop content knowledge. So how do we marry both? How do we marry the expertise of the ESL teacher the expertise of the literacy teacher, of the reading specialists? How do we put those two together to work in collaboration so we really address the needs of these children in a more cohesive way? And that is something that we need to answer by providing professional development. Throughout the nation, we see that many teachers who have English language learners in their classrooms do not have, or haven t had a chance, to get a specific training in how to work with English language learners at different levels of English language development. So training and development of expertise within every school that has English language learners should be part of that overall plan of building capacity. Not only the ESL teacher needs to know how to teach ELLs, everybody in the school needs to be able to address these students needs. And that is part of, you know, the general plan that we need to consider in schools that are exhibiting not a lot of success at teaching English language learners. When we look at those PSSA groups, if we have ELLs who are not achieving standards, then the question has to go back and let s take a look at the professional development plan. Let s take a look at those root causes. Why is this happening? How come other schools with very similar populations are really making gains? So what do we need to do in order to improve that? Another barrier that we find within our state is a very large representation of English language learners in special education. With that, we re not trying to say that English language learners cannot have a need in - - you know, cannot have a deficiency or cannot have barriers, cognitive barriers to learn. English language learners as well as any other child may exhibit some difficulties if that is the case in cognition. They are not free of that. But at the same time, we need to understand that English language learners need to have opportunities to learn. That if the gap is created because we didn t develop programs that are going to support their literacy development and will be rigorous enough that the goal will be to help them achieve grade level standards, then we cannot go back and say that the 10

11 student now has an achievement gap due to a deficiency in a cognitive process. When indeed, it is either lack of rigorous instruction that created the gap or on the other hand, it will be lack of experience with the language and strong ESL instruction that has created the gap. So as it says here on the slide in many instances, they re making - - people are making decisions to place students in special education without considering the fact that we need to have more information about second language acquisition. We need to have more information about the background knowledge of the student about - - and compare that student to peers who have come almost at the same time who have experienced the same difficulties, but they have overcome those difficulties. So lots of data needs to be collected before we make decisions about eligibility of ELLs to be tested for special education. And that is what is bringing us back to RtII and how important that is. Everything really boils down to opportunity to learn. We have to really look at RtII as a way to - - or as a promise for us, educators, in the ESL field to provide these ELLs with opportunities to learn and with the right interventions without - - and to collect, you know, data. So we will not be making these decisions just based in comparisons of tests developed for native speakers in which, you know, ELLs because of their language barrier will probably get, you know, lower scores. So the use of RtI without a foundation in culturally and linguistically appropriate instruction may lead to greater disproportionality both under and over representation of ELLs in special education. So if we do not look at RtII from the perspective of data in that linguistic and background knowledge as well as how that is going to affect instruction of students in the classroom if we don t look at all of these variables before we make those decisions, then we will be falling into the same kind of pattern that we have had for years. And that is, you know, referring or you know, having more and more ELLs represented in special education. So we have talked about who are our students and the importance of knowing our program. So what needs to happen? What do we need to do to ensure that RtII as a framework, framework, will address the needs of these children. What do we need to do? And we re going to look at that. First of all, we need to have a systematic process for examining the specific background variables or ecologies of ELLs that impact academic achievement in a US classroom. What that means is that we need to have a process in place. We need to have procedures in place. And not just procedures that change from one year to the other or that only one teacher knows about, but something in writing. All coordinators of ESL programs as well as sometimes it is only the ESL teacher that is supposed to be coordinating the whole program because she is the program according to the word around the school, but in reality, the program is the instruction that happens in ESL as well as in the classrooms. But what we need to have is something in writing that needs to be shared with everybody else in the school system. A handbook that 11

12 shows procedures for all of the different features that we have said are important data that we need to collect, a process and a person that is going to share that experience. We need to look at grading, who s going to be doing the grading, who s going - - you know, how are we going to grade. Don t forget that grading is part of that systematic process. And grading of ELLs boils down to local decisions. So try to address that before the school year starts and have it in writing, or if you haven t done that, you need to start looking into that because, you know, report cards are coming and I always get phone calls from districts asking me about grading of ELLs just one week before report cards need to be out. So we have to be proactive, and that s why we need to have a systematic process for examining, you know, the specific backgrounds of these children as well as what happens during the school year. So these are the features we talked about. These are the important parts of that process. Who s collecting this data and where is that systematic process for examining this data to make decisions? So that s the first thing that needs to happen. Second, once we have all of that information, let s take a look at our programs and see what is happening in the classroom. Is the classroom really the context or the environment in which these children will be able to learn? What are some of these factors that are going to influence the success of this child? Are we looking at what is happening in the classroom as a way to address their needs? Now we know the data, so how are we addressing of these children? Do we have culturally responsive instruction happening in our classrooms? When we talk about culturally responsive, we re talking about are teachers really connecting with the students in order to teach new concepts? How are we using the experiences of these children to develop programs that are going to work with them? How are we promoting collaboration between the ESL teacher and the content teachers? And how is the principal as the administrator making sure that this is happening in the classrooms? That there is time for collaboration that all the information that is provided is really reflected in how these teachers are teaching. Administrators need to include as part of their walkthroughs. Something in relation to the teachers are addressing the needs of all students by doing ABC. And in those ABC, you need to include by providing culturally responsive classroom and connecting with the experiences that these children bring to the table. Information is important as we know, but it s not only the information that our students bring to us, report cards from their countries, interviews with parents, the English language proficiency level, whether they are literate in their language or not. But also we gather information constantly in, you know, every day we get new information about these children as we teach them. So how are we using formal and informal assessments to gather information now during 12

13 the school day to make these decisions about RtII, about interventions, about how to improve the classroom environment or the classroom instruction in tier one. Are these assessments tools valid and reliable for ELLs? In many instances what I have heard is sometimes that they use only one assessment. Most of the time, you know in elementary grades, dibbles to make decisions about a tier placement. We have to understand that when we talk about universal screening in RtII, we are not talking about one test, we re talking about everybody gets assessed, that s universal screening. But it doesn t mean that it s only with one assessment and it doesn t mean that it has be only that assessment. You need to use other assessments to also support tier movement and instruction during tier two or tier three interventions. Okay, so that is important. Are we using WAPT and ACCESS scores as part of the discussion to make decisions? How are we using also the English language proficiency standards to develop instruction and assessment? All teachers who have ELLs need to know the English language proficiency standards. And you can access them at our SAS Portal. If you click on Standards and the screen opens and then you look at the screen that has, you know, the standards there, you re going to see a dialogue in the middle of the page where it says Download Standards. Look for that dialogue and you will see that you will have, you will click and download Standards and the whole menu of the standards that we have in Pennsylvania will come up. Well, scroll down and you will find the English language proficiency standards. That needs to be shared with all teachers. And it has wonderful information to improve your instruction and your tasks development in your classrooms. What needs to happen next? Interpretation of all assessment data. Very important piece of information that we need to continue to remind teachers and administrators. Data needs to be interpreted in a fashion that is going to bring more information to improve our programs. In many instances, sometimes we don t have all the data that is required to make this decision specifically about ELLs. It is amazing to see that even though access for ELLs have been part of our PSSA or Pennsylvania assessment system for the last five years as part of the no child left behind. The same way we have PSSA, we have access for ELLs. And they are both of the no child left behind accountability measures. Even though that is very important, there s many people that still do not use access for ELLs for data to make decisions about ELLs. They still do not know what it is. They still do not understand why we need to implement that assessment that is, you know, proof of yearly growth. That the same way we have AYP, we also have AMAOs, annual measurable achievement objectives. And those are just as important and as crucial as AYP. That there are districts that presently have to develop improvement plans because their ELLs are not meeting annual measurable achievement objectives. So if we know all of that, why we 13

14 do not have at the table people who are knowledgeable about second language acquisition, knowledgeable about the assessments that are effective to bring to the table to make decisions about ELLs. We need to have ESL teachers as part of your data team, as part of the teams that make decisions about ELLs. We need to have reading teachers, reading specialists understanding what are the levels of English language development. So that conversation, that collaboration will be definitely, you know, equitable for our English language learners. This is also a quote from the article that we sited before. The article that is a cultural, linguistic, and ecological approach to RtI with English language learners. It s important that we go back to this quote regardless of the tools for screening and progress monitor and use and within an RtI with ELLs. These tools effectiveness will depend significantly on the ability of educators to develop a level of expertise and proficiency in their use. Along with skill in investigating each child s experiential, linguistic, and cultural background. The very components that form the context within which plans must be made for appropriate instruction and interventions. In short words, we can have all kinds of assessment tools to help us make decisions about native speakers. But if we re using these tools with English language learners and we re making decisions about English language learners without including tools that have been, you know, normed or validated for ELLs, we will be almost like shooting in the dark because we will not be able to help these children achieve. And then RtII, the RtII framework will not be implemented with consistency, number one, but more so with equity. We need to take into consideration that factors such as first and second language acquisition, methods and programs for instruction in the native language, the interaction between linguistic, cognitive, and academic development are all areas to be mastered so that evaluation of ELLs, whether via screening or progress monitoring, can be applied equitably and appropriately. If we are not using not only tools but if we do not have that background knowledge about these variables of first and second language acquisition, if we do not know how to evaluate whether these children are making progress, then we are not implementing RtII appropriately. In 2004, Kovalevsky and Fraise wrote - - or developed a very important study that they presented in the National Center on Response to Interventions. And they refer particularly to language and minority students. And they consider RtI as having potential benefits for our ELLs. But the red section of this quote really shows us the importance of this implementation to be equitable for our ELLs because if RtI is to fulfill this promise, it will be necessary to provide a firm grounding in how language and culture 14

15 interact with education and cognition to produce the development and growth and high achievement desire for ELLs. So we have to look again, what are the tools that we re using? What data are we collecting? Who s making those decisions? How are we measuring whether the decision that we made for interventions is really effective? How are we progress monitoring? How are we collaborating to make this happen? From a cultural, linguistic, and ecological framework for response to intervention with English language learners comes our last quote here. Our future rests on the promise of next generation. Accordingly, we must develop the capacity to respond to an increasingly diverse student population and ensure that these and all children develop to their fullest potential. By building on the cultural wisdom and linguistic knowledge students bring with them, we can help all children succeed. And again, RtII can bring wonderful, wonderful things for - - or wonderful opportunities to learn for our English language learners. But it all depends in how, who, why, and the monitoring of this process that is going to bring the results that we want to see. The resources that we have listed here will provide you with many good information as well as strategies and more information about how to support English language learners in a multi- tiered framework. Please visit these places frequently. As educators, we need to keep up to date information in how to work with English language learners and their families. It is our responsibility as educators to continue researching, reading, and learning more so we will be providing in our practice, programs that will help all children achieve. Thank you for visiting our website and listening to this webinar. We will continue to support English language learners within the RtII framework. And we will continue with our series this year. We have nine webinars that we will be presenting. Our next one will be in November 10 th. And I hope that you can join us. If you would like to send us questions or comments about this webinar, my contact information is on the screen. And again, my name is Ana Sainz de la Pena. I am an educational consultant with the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network within the RtII initiative. I oversee English language learners. So if you have any questions in regards to the webinar or you would like to learn more about what other training opportunities there are, please me. You can also Dr. Connie Cochran or Paula Zucker. They both work with me as RtII and ESL technical assistance facilitators. And I would like to thank you again. 15