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EDL520 Instructional Leadership

English Learner Standards Reflections

English Learner Standards Reflections

To illustrate English Learner Standards (ELS) covered in EDL520, and since seven out of eight ELSs have been incorporated into four assignments I will list the individual standards verbatim, followed by a reflection on how the linked artifact meets the standard (in italics). 


 

5.09 Quality Standard I: Educators are knowledgeable about CLD populations 

5.09(1) ELEMENT A: Educators are knowledgeable in, understand, and able to apply the major theories, concepts and research related to culture, diversity, and equity in order to support academic access and opportunity for CLD student populations. 

5.09(2) ELEMENT B: Educators are knowledgeable in, understand, and able to use progress monitoring in conjunction with formative and summative assessments to support student learning. 

For ELS 5.09 A and B, the EDL520 M4 Discussion post is listed as the assignment that addresses this standard. However, the EDL520 M2 Critical Thinking Assignment much more thoroughly addresses this standard. This slide deck initially reviews the data and root causes that have led to this READ Act initiative, it then provides a parent presentation in slides 8-16 further explaining the rationale. The slides illustrate the creation process; the feedback I received urged the inclusion of the green and blue students into the initiative. The slides describing the initiative specifically address 5.09B by outlining the use of progress monitoring to guide instruction. The background slides identify the English Language Learners (ELLs) within the red cohort and address how gains will be made for those and all red students. It utilized the Circle Map Protocol (Colorado Department of Education n.d.), and justifies why Dibels 8 is an appropriate measure (Amplify MClass n.d.). This initiative is important because CCS NWEA and CMAS test scores are lower than state and national norms, ELLs contribute to these low scores, and this initiative seeks to rectify that. The progression of assignments through EDL520 has helped design what needs to be included in the READ Act initiative and how these components will be implemented. While 5.09 A is not specifically addressed in the initiative, CCS uses CKLA as our Language Arts curriculum; it takes an integrated approach for social studies content including the concepts and research related to culture, diversity, and equity in order to support academic access and opportunity for CLD student populations. The Reading Coach, in addition to this READ Act Intervention, is also our Literacy Coach and has conducted a CKLA / Colorado Core Standards Crosswalk to facilitate an annual implementation timeline based on our multigrade setting. 

 

5.10 Quality Standard II: Educators should be knowledgeable in first and second language acquisition. 

5.10(1) ELEMENT A: Educators are able to understand and implement strategies and select materials to aid in English language and content learning. 

5.10(2) ELEMENT B: Educators are knowledgeable of, understand, and able to apply the major theories, concepts and research related to culture, diversity and equity in order to support academic access and opportunity for CLD student populations.

5.11 Quality Standard III: Educators should understand literacy development for CLD students. 

5.11(2) ELEMENT B: Educators understand and implement strategies and select materials to aid in English language and content learning. 

In the EDL520 M2 Critical Thinking Assignment, the READ Act initiative is described. While the content is not explicitly tied to a curricula, language acquisition is targeted through the Structured Literacy approach which breaks down language into its base phonemes, (Orton-Gillingham, n.d.), and assesses those phonemes through the Dibels 8 Benchmark and Progress Monitoring (Amplify MClass, n.d.). This addresses 5.10 A and B, and 5.11 B. Three out of three elementary English Language Learners (ELLs) in the school fall into the red (lowest) level of proficiency on the Dibels 8 assessment. This initiative is designed for those learners and their red peers, and demonstrated our approach to second language acquisition and literacy development.

 

5.12 Quality Standard IV: Educators are knowledgeable in the teaching strategies, including methods, materials, and assessments for CLD students. 

5.12(1) ELEMENT A: Educators are knowledgeable in, understand, and are able to use the major theories, concepts and research related to language acquisition and language development for CLD students.

5.12(2) ELEMENT B: Educators are knowledgeable in, understand, and are able to use progress monitoring in conjunction with formative and summative assessments to support student learning.

In the EDL 520 M4 Critical Thinking Assignment, the READ Act initiative is described, including the evidence-based approaches that are the basis for the initiative. An excerpt from Part 2 of the assignment follows:

‘This intervention plan uses the promising evidence-based strategy of universal screeners, differentiated instruction, and progress monitoring (Institute of Education Sciences, 2009) to achieve the READ Act goal of ensuring that all students achieve high levels of reading comprehension by the end of third grade. The intervention uses CDE Science of Reading and Structured Literacy approaches to ensure students have phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding skills, leading to reading fluency. This strong evidence-based strategy (Institute of Education Sciences, 2016) will further support the achievement of the READ Act goals. Students who are identified with the Dibels 8 universal screener will receive differentiated instruction on phonics and decoding by teachers who are being coached and shown how to provide this instruction. Progress monitoring will track the efficacy of this intervention. This model follows the READ Act expectation that all identified struggling readers will receive a READ Plan, RtI or MTSS programming, and monitoring of outcomes. (Abram, 2019). This initiative will formalize the systems of support, and document the efficacy of the interventions through progress monitoring. It will address the needs of all ten students who were red or yellow at the 2023/24 EOY testing session, and since three of those ten students were the whole of CCS’s English Language Learners (ELLs), it will also address those learners in a targeted way.’ 

Additionally, Educators will receive Professional Development, and classroom observations and coaching, as described in the EDL520 M8 Discussion assignment. This instructional training is modeled after the work of Strike, K. T., Sims, P. A., Mann, S. L., & Wilhite, R. K. (2019, p/ 187, Appendix B). These artifacts directly address English Learner Standard 5.12 A and B.

 

References


EL PD Hours Matrix w/ overview and reflection expectations

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