Assessment Information

KY ELL Accommodations

The Kentucky Department of Education has determined the following instructional accommodations effective for LEP students:

Read text in English

Scribe responses

Bilingual or English dictionary

Promoting/cueing

Provide visuals/organizers

Use spell-check

Provide content objectives

Engage in academic conversations

Teach and model mega-cognitive

Oral native language support

Read test in primary language

Extended time

Small group/single test form admin.

Provide adapted materials/tech

Link instruction to prior learning

Build background knowledge

Scaffold responses (oral/written)

Bilingual or English glossary

Simplified language

Assistive technology

Adapt pace of instruction

Use computer/software

Provide language objectives

Model language/task completion

Provide interaction opportunities

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Ideas for Alternate ESL Assessment

Jo-Ellen Tannenbaum, Montgomery County Public Schools (MD)

• Nonverbal
• Physical Demonstrations
• Pictorial Products
• K-W-L Charts (what I know, what I want to know, what I've learned)
• Oral Performances or Presentations
• Oral and Written Products
• Learning Logs
• Reading response logs
• Journals
• Portfolios
• For More info:http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/tannen01.html

_______________________________________________________________

Quick Guide to WIDA

This is a link to a KDE webpage with slides for testing and implementing WIDA standards.    It is a great resource to print out and reference for a quick start to using and understanding the standards.

    http://www.education.ky.gov/nr/rdonlyres/6147a7ae-5e1a-4b02-8529-c3e7da916fce/0/waptgrades1122010printfile.pdf

This is a link to the KDE website with information about ESL programs, Title III, and a calendar with important ESL dates throughout the year.

___________________________________________________________

 More Assessment Accommodations

Assessment accommodations for LEP students in Kentucky: There are three criteria for determining appropriate assessment accommodations  that must be strictly adhered to: 1. Must be allowed for state assessments by 703 KAR 5:070 Inclusions for Special Populations      regulation; 2.Must have been part of ongoing classroom instruction; 3. Must be listed in the student’s Program Services Plan (PSP)

_______________________________________________

Understanding Performance Levels (1-6)

When a language learner takes the ACCESS test, he or she will test into a performance level. It is important to remember this level for each language domain (speaking, listening, reading and writing) to help accommodate the language learner in the classroom.  Your ESL teacher has the scores for each student in a file and can inform you of your language learner's abilities and limitations.  The 6 performance definitions are:

Entering --> Beginning --> Developing --> Expanding --> Bridging --> Reaching

Also, be aware that it can take 5-7 years to learn academic language and 2-3 years to be able to socially communicate in a foreign language.

Performance Definitions

At the given level of English language proficiency, English language learners will process, understand,produce or use:

6 - Reaching

• specialized or technical language reflective of the content areas at grade level

• a variety of sentence lengths of varying linguistic complexity in extended oral

or written discourse as required by the specified grade level

• oral or written communication in English comparable to English-proficient

peers

5 - Bridging

• specialized or technical language of the content areas

• a variety of sentence lengths of varying linguistic complexity in extended oral or written discourse, including stories, essays or reports

• oral or written language approaching comparability to that of English proficient

peers when presented with grade level material

4 - Expanding

• specific and some technical language of the content areas

• a variety of sentence lengths of varying linguistic complexity in oral discourse

or multiple, related sentences or paragraphs

• oral or written language with minimal phonological, syntactic or semantic

errors that do not impede the overall meaning of the communication when
presented with oral or written connected discourse with sensory, graphic or
interactive support
3 - Developing 

• general and some specific language of the content areas

• expanded sentences in oral interaction or written paragraphs

• oral or written language with phonological, syntactic or semantic errors that

may impede the communication, but retain much of its meaning, when
presented with oral or written, narrative or expository descriptions with
sensory, graphic or interactive support
2 - Beginning

general language related to the content areas

• phrases or short sentences

• oral or written language with phonological, syntactic, or semantic errors that

often impede the meaning of the communication when presented with one- to
multiple-step commands, directions, questions, or a series of statements with
sensory, graphic or interactive support

1 -  Entering

• pictorial or graphic representation of the language of the content areas

• words, phrases or chunks of language when presented with one-step

commands, directions, WH-, choice or yes/no questions, or statements with
sensory, graphic or interactive support

• oral language with phonological, syntactic, or semantic errors that often impede

meaning when presented with basic oral commands, direct questions, or simple
statements with sensory, graphic or interactive support

__________________________________________________________________

Useful Assessment Technique

Here's a short article that describes one teacher's approach to informal assessment.  It's an excellent technique that all teachers can use.  It can especially be helpful for ELLs (English Language Learners).

Students have one minute to respond to:

• I was surprised to learn...
• I wish...
• Today I learned...
• My biggest question is...
• My biggest concern is...

Instant assessment!  Especially helpful prior to an exam.

http://learn.cengage.com/content/enewsletter5-assessment?channel=Eloqua&elq_mid=4331&elq_cid=1297508

______________________________________________________________

Games as Formative Assessments

01/10/2012

TESOL article
In Pursuit of the Excellent Game
by Eui Jung (Ana) Kim and Sarah Petersen
The safe, pleasurable environment of a good game motivates players to test their physical, social, mental, or―in the case of a language learner―communicative skills, thus preparing them for the application of these skills to reality. Unfortunately, ESL/EFL teachers responsible for a daunting curriculum tend to bypass games for fear of wasting classroom time with distractors. Yet, a game has just as much potential for furthering skill acquisition as any other activity when carefully constructed. Conversely, a group essay-writing project can evoke just as much pleasure as a round of Jeopardy. Whether the experience was designed specifically for fun, as in a game, or not, as in a serious activity, the effective engagement of skills yields enjoyment. In the following discussion, then, the terms game and activity, along with the global term gameful activity, may be understood as interchangeable references to any dynamic experience, designed to achieve a meaningful outcome, in which players engage in an artificial conflict or challenge defined by rules. What is required for evaluating the usefulness of any such exercise is a set of criteria by which to measure its potential for student engagement.

Multiple Intelligence Theory
Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory posits that human intelligence is pluralistic rather than unitary. There is a broad intellectual spectrum in every learner, from verbal/linguistic to logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, musical/rhythmic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist intelligences (Gardner, 1983). In the classroom, a gameful activity that mobilizes the minds of participants in multiple ways affords greater opportunity for them to exercise their diverse intelligences in the reinforcement of concepts and skills. In short, the more intelligences that are addressed, the more effective the activity.

Clarity and Object of Rules
The optimal mobilization of the intelligences requires an efficient mental state, referred to as flow by the positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1988). Flow requires, among other things, the ability to concentrate. To that end, a gameful classroom activity needs clearly to identify the goal and delineate the orderly sequence of actions that potentially lead to that goal—that is, clear rules are needed. With them, students are able confidently to sort incoming information as either useful or irrelevant for their purposes. The absence of clear rules will result in anxiety, as a student struggles with multiple stimuli in an attempt to discover the right focus by trial and error, or in apathy, when a student perceives any effort as futile and therefore just gives up.

Feedback
With a solid framework of game rules in place, players have the freedom to focus their attention on strategies, some of which prove more effective than others, and it is part of the game’s challenge to discover the most successful ones. In the case of an ESL/EFL activity, that challenge is compounded by the need to manipulate language structures in the process. Making the most effective choices of both game and language strategies depends on the quality of the feedback delivered to the player along the way. Clear and immediate feedback allows players to effectively adjust their action or language in time to avoid pitfalls or seize opportunities. The feedback may be inherent in the activity, as when a certain choice engenders consequences within a game, or it may come in the form of meta-feedback, when students and teacher take time-outs to analyze language that would facilitate the task. Whatever the form, in helping to identify effective approaches, feedback contributes to a sense of control, which, in addition to the ability to concentrate, Csikszentmihalyi (1975) cites as an essential requisite of flow.

Challenge-Skill Balance
The sense of control can be easily compromised, however. Csikszentmihalyi’s research (1975) reveals that flow depends on a delicate balance between being in control and being overwhelmed. That thrilling tension of risk allows players to experience the peak of enjoyment; its absence would result in boredom. Nevertheless, if the challenge is disproportionately higher than students’ skills, it may generate over-anxiety, leading to diffused attention and a reduction in short-term memory (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988). Therefore, an effective activity is tailored to stretch participants just beyond their current capacities without violating the subtle challenge-skill ratio. Dr. Jane McGonigal, director of Game Research and Development at the Institute for the Future and author of Reality is Broken (2011), suggested that these “micro increases” (p. 57) in the challenge engender a sense of discovery, exploration, problem-solution, and a feeling of novelty, thereby sustaining participants’ interest and motivation.

Motivation
According to both McGonigal and Csikszentmihalyi, the most highly effective motivations are intrinsic ones. The deep mental absorption that characterizes flow is in itself a very positive feeling; when individuals find themselves in this state, nothing else matters. In addition, the satisfactory application of skills to challenges leads to a feeling of power, being in control, and self-improvement, which reaffirms a participant’s identity and self-esteem (Csikzentmihalyi, 1990). Other intrinsic rewards include the sense of contributing to something greater than oneself, as in a service-oriented project, and the sense of community, as in a group or team enterprise (McGonigal, 2011). These fulfilling outcomes, all elements of flow, motivate students to seek out similar experiences in order to reproduce the positive feelings. In the process, skills and self-confidence are reinforced, and a cycle of positive reinforcement is established.

Mechanics
That upward cycle would be impossible without a seemingly minor yet crucial variable: the basic mechanics of the game. To allow for the undivided attention needed to generate an optimal experience, all the elements embedded in the game, all the potential moves, must allow the player to advance (McGonigal, 2011). When they do not, the game itself becomes a frustrating obstacle to the player. Even when the instructions are clear and carefully obeyed, in a poorly constructed activity, the result of one move might make the next required move impossible, leaving players confused as to how to proceed. To avoid this, an activity should be scrutinized for internal consistency.

Adoptability and Adaptability
Instructors appreciate having a toolbox of proven activities that can be drawn from in a variety of contexts. Therefore a classroom exercise may be rated as useful on the grounds not only of its learning effectiveness but also of its versatility. Adoptability, the potential for using the same game format across skill areas, and adaptability, the ease with which a format can be modified to suit diverse language proficiency levels, offer the flexibility to tailor an activity to a class’s changing needs.

The seven criteria proposed above for evaluating the efficacy of a gameful activity constitute an assessment tool, still in the early stages of development, whose purpose is not to pass final judgment on a game but to provide insights on its potential for excellence. Each criterion is conceived on a separate scale from the least to the most effective condition leading to optimal experience or flow. By considering each criterion independently, teachers may be able to identify shortcomings in discrete areas and make the necessary adjustments to salvage the game and transform it into a truly worthwhile learning experience.

References
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1975). Beyond boredom and anxiety: The experience of play in work and games. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Csikszentmihalyi, I. (1988). Optimal experience: psychological studies of flow in consciousness. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UniversityPress.
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York, NY: Basic Books.
McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is broken: Why games make us better and how they can change the world. New York, NY: The Penguin Press.
________________________
This article originally appeared in the September 2012 issue of the IEPIS Newsletter, the Intensive English Programs Interest Section newsletter of TESOL International Association.