Section 1: Academic Achievement - National Center for School ...

translators, and I wasn’t one. Another issue was that while a common language developed the
previous year in Math Lab for English speaking students to discuss mathematical strategies
and ideas, a common language had yet to develop for Spanish speaking students. Since, the
eventual seven students whom I tracked as part of this study spoke Spanish and were in all
Spanish instruction for the day, this was a pretty big deal. Next, I looked at the kind of data I
received from the Richardson assessments, as well as the other indicators we used to qualify
students for the program. Most of the data spoke to conceptual understanding but left out
specific standards-based benchmarks that students would need to know to be proficient at
their grade level. Furthermore, I discovered that the district math test, originally designed to
be given by classroom teachers, question by question as math units were completed, was
misused in our school. Our school and many other schools used the tests as beginning,
middle, and end-of-the-year assessments. Also, the assessments contained anywhere from
eight to twelve questions that were poorly translated into Spanish and needed to be omitted.
Due to these errors, the current grading system for the district assessments allowed teachers to
disregard any question they felt was unfair. Therefore, the district assessments had little
continuity in administration or grading. The tests were also limited in scope and didn’t
address many of the standards needed for grade level proficiency. Finally, I searched for
other modes of data that I could bring in to my group of H/HM students to increase my
understanding of their needs and thereby improve my teaching. This final piece allowed me
to use and compare actual data for meaningful feedback.
In order to tackle the Richardson assessment piece, I contacted the Directors of Priority
Schools for our district and received approval to have a district translator paid to do the work.
Next, I sent the tests to the translator. Because of the limited number of translators available
and an inordinate number of translating requests, we didn’t get the translations back from the
translator until five months after we had requested them. In the meantime, I translated the
tests orally and began to develop a common language for my students. I used a picture word
wall to elucidate their understanding of the concepts and developed their English language
skills while teaching them in Spanish. I continued to use the Burns article as an inspiration to
find entry points into the math curriculum for my students, while also researching strategies
for teaching math. The Echevarria and Short article encouraged me to try posting English
language acquisition standards for students to attain each day. For example, when students
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