2 Current NPD Grant Projects

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1 Julia S. Austin, PhD University of Alabama at Birmingham NPD Project Directors Meeting NABE Current NPD Grant Projects Shelby STARS Sheltered Teaching Accommodations for Reaching Success (LEA partner Shelby County Schools, AL) 2011: 39 schools, 28,186 Ss (1,538 ELs = 5.5%) Project HEART Homewood Educators Accommodating, Reaching, & Teaching LEA partners Homewood City Schools and Etowah County Schools 2007: HCS 5 schools, 3,340 Ss (262 ELs = 7.8%) 2009: ECS 23 schools, 9,341 Ss(230 ELs = 2.5%) SETESOL Richmond 1

2 Project Goals Goal 1: Preparing (in-service) teachers to work effectively with ELs using Sheltered Instruction and other ESL Best Practices Goal 2: Assisting pre-service teachers to earn teachers certification that will prepare them for teaching ELs Goal 3: Preparing other SCS academic personnel (administrators, counselors, etc. ) to better serve the educational needs of ELs Goal 4: Assisting higher education faculty in preparing all teachers (pre-service and in-service) to work effectively with ELs Three Areas of Success Promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Improving ELs achievement Enabling more data-based decision making SETESOL Richmond 2

3 NPD Grants: OELA (and OBEMLA) Project NTNS: New Teachers for New Students Distance-delivery ESL certification (KSU s model) at several school systems across Alabama Project EQUAL Partnership with Shelby County Schools (SCS) Shelby STARS Sheltered Teaching Accommodations for Reaching Success Project HEART Homewood Educators Accommodating, Reaching, & Teaching STEM Shelby STARS and Project HEART LEAs requested support in math and science. STEM was not originally part of grant. Request was met through grant s PD component. Course designed and implemented (2010) Strategies for Teaching Math and Science to ELs Designer/instructor: Cindy Hunt, veteran teacher science (22 yrs), EL (3 yrs), & state EL coach (1 yr) To date, 41 teachers have taken this course Evaluation = ongoing SETESOL Richmond 3

4 ELs Achievement Project EQUAL and Shelby STARS SCS: Decrease in ELs receiving services as of 6 th grade Reason: Improved achievement PK-5 th (50 certified-esl teachers and 100+ ESL-certified content teachers) Increase in ELs graduating from High School Reason: Difficult to define: FLEPs no longer receive EL services Project HEART HCS: Increase in ELs pass rate in fall English classes Reason: Summer EL book clubs novels & projects 76%-94% in grades 9-12 (Spezzini & Becker) ECS: Increase in ELs exited to monitoring Reason: Data currently being analyzed Data-Based Decision Making (DBDM) What type of data? Quantitative and Qualitative Cumulative (in progress) and summative (final) Gathered/analyzed by LEA, NPD project, and/or UAB Who are the decision makers? UAB: project directors, SOE administrators LEA: administrators, teachers (e.g., action research) What happened as a result of NPD grants? 5 examples of DBDM (from one or more grants) SETESOL Richmond 4

5 1 st example of DBDM: Project EQUAL Data: Year 1 evaluation Mentoring workshops => minimal mentoring ESL licensure courses => spontaneous mentoring Evaluation Plan: Continual Improvement Model Decision: New focus for teacher mentoring We requested adjustment; it was approved by OELA. Funding was redirected from workshops to tuition. Outcome: More teachers took courses, and this produced more collaborative mentoring. (Spezzini & Austin, 2010; Spezzini, Austin, Abbott, & Littleton, 2009) 2 nd example of DBDM: Project EQUAL & Shelby STARS Data: EL performance indicators LEA gathered/analyzed data; they identified more success at schools with site-based ESL teachers. Decision: Local funds to hire ESL teachers SCS used own funds to create new ESL positions. Outcome: More ESL positions (& ESL-certified teachers) 2002: 6 ESL teachers (only 2 were ESL certified) 2011: 52 ESL teachers (all are ESL certified) and 100+ ESL-certified content teachers SETESOL Richmond 5

6 3 rd example of DBDM: Project HEART Data: Year 1 & Year 2 evaluations Insufficient number of teacher fellows Possible reasons: Changes in HCS administration and a very small school system *Unexpected letter from Etowah City BOE seeking assistance. *ECS new ESL teacher had been a Fellow in Project EQUAL. Decision: Redirect funds to ECBOE Request sent to OELA to add a new LEA partner in Project HEART. Outcome: Outstanding response from ECS (project goal is being met) 4 th example of DBDM: Combination of all NPD grants Data: SOE s preparation for teaching ELs 1 st source: Project evaluations (annual & final) of ESL seminars (& syllabi revisions) for UAB faculty. 2 nd source: UAB surveys student exit & LEA administrators Additional training is needed for teaching ELs. (Spezzini & Austin, 2011) Decision: A retreat for entire Curriculum & Instruction faculty Reaching All Language Learners Institute (RALLI) A SIOP Tale: First Experiencing, Then Implementing Outcome: Adopted the SIOP model by SOE faculty to use in teacher preparation courses SETESOL Richmond 6

7 5 th example of DBDM: Combination of all NPD grants Data: Findings from multiple Action Research projects in teacher preparation courses Second Language Acquisition, Methods & Materials for Teaching ESL, Special Topics in ESL: K-12, Teaching ESL in a Multicultural Society, Phonology for ESL Teachers, Teaching ESL Through Reading and Writing, Strategies for Teaching Math & Science to ELLs Decisions: Changes, additions, revisions in classroom activities, school and system-wide support for parental involvement, registration procedures, support materials Outcomes: Teachers are empowered to be agents of change, parental involvement increased, ELs transition easier into new schools. Assessment/Evaluation Activities LEA Employee and enrollment numbers; feedback from school principals on effectiveness of ESL-certified teachers EL achievement data State-mandated assessments, graduation rates, # of ELs receiving services & rate of exiting services Program (including course evaluations) Pre-/post-surveys of grant fellows Focus groups Telephone interviews with ESL coordinators and school administrators Tracking data on progress of fellows in program Follow-up studies + EL achievement data Classroom observations (initially videos, but now in person observations) Fellow written reflections (periodically during & after program completion) and performance on course projects & high stakes assessments SETESOL Richmond 7

8 Measures of Long-Term Impact of NPD Projects Teacher Fellows and Pre-Service Fellows became ESL certified and... Gained knowledge and became empowered to mentor colleagues Became Teacher Leaders in their schools/systems Earned National Board Certification in English as a New Language or in their content field Served as state ESL coaches Present regularly at national, state, and regional conferences (often as invited presenters) Ongoing Long- Term Evaluation 10-restrospective study of NTNS influence on Baldwin County (AL) Public Schools Survey of all NTNS graduates currently teaching in BCPS Survey of all graduates from UAB ESL Teacher Certification Program currently teaching in BCPS Interviews with Director of Special Services, school principals and assistant principals of NTNS Fellows and UAB-trained ESL teachers Focus groups of teachers with ESL certification School system enrollment and student achievement data SETESOL Richmond 8

9 Staying in Contact Alumni contacts ESL Teacher Certification Program office maintains a list of program alumni (and an distribution list) Keeps a current list of all the schools/school systems in Alabama where alumni are employed Bi-annual alumni reunion announcements several times a year Frequently updated website ( Hall of Fame Student Testimonials Teacher Resources Opportunities References Spezzini, S., & Becker, A. (in press). Summer book clubs for ELLs: Teacher collaboration for promoting academic achievement. In A. Honigsfeld & M. Dove (Eds.), Co-Teaching and other collaborative practices: Rationale, research, reflections, and recommendations. Information Age Publishing. Spezzini, S., & Austin, J. (2011). New teachers for new students: A teacher education program for the linguistically diverse. Childhood Education 87(5), Spezzini, S., & Austin, J. (2010). Collaborative mentoring among K-12 Teachers: Professional development on the effective instruction of ELLs. AccELLerate, 2(2), Spezzini, S., Austin, J. S., Abbott, G., & Littleton, R. (2009). Role reversal within the mentoring dyad: Collaborative mentoring on the effective instruction of English language learners. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 17(4), SETESOL Richmond 9