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$Framework for Math - Western Washington University$

Through a continuous progress mode, assessments must measure authentic work of students andinvolve them and their parents in the process. Such an internal mechanism may lead tocontinuous improvement in which all staff have an opportunity to examine student work acrosslevels--not just their own students'--with the purpose of continually reevaluating not only studentprogress, but the assessment practices as well.Performance assessment is an individual process. Unlike traditional forms of assessment thatforce placement of students in ranks, along a curve or in a graded system, it evaluates thestudent's progress along his or her own developmental path. Students begin taking responsibilityfor their own learning by being intimately involved in the assessment process.Linked very closely to the schoolwide assessment practices is the accountability challenge.Schools going through the reforming process are facing the dilemma of being held accountablefor improvements in student achievement through standardized test results while beingencouraged to move into authentic and performance-based assessments. Consequently, thechallenge for schools is to learn how to develop program evaluations that incorporate indicatorssuch as those provided by portfolio assessment. An added challenge is how to extrapolateauthentic assessment data to provide accountability information to the public, parents and otheragencies. Can school personnel and their communities learn how to link norm-referenced dataand performance-based assessments, and make sense of the information in a way that will givelegitimacy to the data?ExampleOne of the most significant changes that occurred at Linda Vista was the evolution of aschoolwide assessment system. The evolution took place as a result of the vision that had as itsgoal the high-level achievement of all students through a developmentally appropriate,continuous progress teaching and learning process. As we said at Linda Vista, the experiencebegets the process. It was inevitable that an alternative assessment process would evolve fromthe staff's commitment to continuous progress. The following steps were taken:* Step 1: The staff embarked upon the task of developing language arts standards for all ofthe age grouping and language proficiency levels in the instructional design. This task emergedas the logical starting point since 77 percent of the students were English language learners.Subsequently, math standards were also developed. Although the goals set for all students werebased on California state frameworks and district expectations, benchmarks along the way weretargeted in the school's assessment design. For example, learner outcomes for the non-Englishspeaking student or the student transitioning into formal English reading were delineated tomaintain ongoing monitoring of student progress.* Step 2: Maintaining portfolios for each student was the method chosen for assessingwhether students reached the standards. This would be a school-wide expectation with theappropriate portfolio contents outlined in the assessment document for each level.* Step 3: Rubrics were then developed as a scale of descriptors for all student work. Thesewere designed around the developmental levels: Early Childhood, Primary, Middle and Upper.No grades, numbers, or scale rankings were used.* Step 4: The standard district progress report was changed to reflect the continuousprogress design. On the report, rubrics were checked for each reporting period. The report wasaccompanied by a hard copy of the student's portfolio that contained the appropriate work for thequarter. Each piece of work had an assigned rubric and the teacher decided, often with studentinput, the final rubric for the progress report. A hard copy was given to the parents since all© 2008 Dr. Catherine CollierAll Rights Reserved42
portfolio work was scanned and stored electronically. To exemplify the change in thinking aboutassessment and learning, the new progress report was called, The Growth Record.* Step 5: Teacher and administrator evaluations began to reflect the standards for studentachievement designed by the staff. Schoolwide data were then extrapolated from the portfolioassessment for reporting to the district and to the State School Report Card.At the time the author left Linda Vista School, the staff was prepared to balance existing normreferencedtesting with the data resulting from the schoolwide standards-based assessment. Theyhad matured in their thinking so that they were willing to take a broader view of accountability.They had begun to take a multifaceted approach and put the traditional data in its proper place.The continuing struggle is to make some reasonable connections between the results of the twotypes of assessment, in a way that does not undermine the standards-based approach.RecommendationsThe following are recommendations to the practitioner that suggest a perspective on reformpractices within the context of the basic premises for dual language instruction. These factorsshould be viewed as a whole and together drive the vision for instructional planning and design.The recommendations are:1. In order to examine all aspects of a proposed vision, a necessary step is to analyze the beliefsthat people hold about learning, languages and cultures.2. School staffs must first learn how to make good decisions given their own context.3. Decisions must be based on a schoolwide vision and the premises for dual languageinstruction.4. Models for educational programs provided from outside the school do not instill the necessaryownership required to sustain a change process.5. Assessment practices are what drive the organization and unless the school embraces its owncontinuous progress system, the members of the school community will not hold themselvesaccountable for students' academic achievement.6. In the initial stages of hammering out a vision, the entire staff must be at the table. Parentvoices must be heard in a variety of ways. Traditional representative groups may not reflect allparental views. Many alternative approaches for soliciting the input of all stakeholders may beneeded.ConclusionThe reform agenda in education and the practical wisdom and research related to the instructionof language minority students need to come together to form a comprehensive agenda. Thispaper provides several identifiable reform practices from the author's personal and extensiveexperience in leading a major reform effort. The premises for dual language instruction have alsobeen interwoven into the argument. With these concrete examples from personal experience thereader may conclude that given these two intersecting factors, (practices and premises), wisedecisions can be made -- decisions that are systemic, visionary, involve all stakeholders andensure high standards for all students. The decisions, however, must take into accountappropriate pedagogy, assessment and socio-cultural factors related to the instruction oflinguistically diverse students.Without question, the conversation about educational change has taken on a very differentperspective. The conversation now speaks to high standards for all students, to inclusiveness ofinstruction, to equity and access of resources, and to direct family involvement in the decisionsof the school. The next step is to push the envelope of action to the next level where a trueexamination of practices takes place that will finally ensure success for all students.© 2008 Dr. Catherine CollierAll Rights Reserved43
Page 2 and 3: "Those who arrive by age 12 or 13 m
Page 5: Article I.2 Are Signed Languages "R
Page 8 and 9: Biological analyses of the status o
Page 10 and 11: and beyond, speaking and signing ch
Page 12 and 13: Conclusion: Are Signed Languages Re
Page 14 and 15: Article I.3 The Interpreter: Has a
Page 16 and 17: A few weeks earlier, I had called F
Page 18 and 19: “We struggled even getting to the
Page 20 and 21: herself by strapping a cassette rec
Page 22 and 23: In 1998, after nine years as the ch
Page 24 and 25: momentary burst of excitement that
Page 26 and 27: can shape core grammar. Because the
Page 28 and 29: The authors compared animal and hum
Page 30 and 31: monkey moved. He followed it with h
Page 32 and 33: delight, fear, laughter, and surpri
Page 34 and 35: Piipaío in a hut: Pirahã huts typ
Page 36 and 37: LEP students, and equitable organiz
Page 38 and 39: 4. Second language development crea
Page 41: curriculum or "teaching to the test
Page 45 and 46: experiences of many groups of stude
Page 47 and 48: While not disagreeing that interpre
Page 49 and 50: sound educational practice, however
Page 51 and 52: arises from the efforts to abstract
Page 53 and 54: Article II.2 Cross-Cultural Communi
Page 55 and 56: males who can serve as positive rol
Page 57 and 58: Understanding another culture is a
Page 59 and 60: Pets and AnimalsWhich animals are v
Page 61 and 62: to teach standard English is reflec
Page 63 and 64: Asking personal questions of a pers
Page 65 and 66: Using Cross Cultural Communication
Page 67 and 68: Why Do Nonstandard English-Speaking
Page 69 and 70: Before beginning to teach standard
Page 71 and 72: • Negative attitudes toward low p
Page 73 and 74: New standardized tests and assessme
Page 75 and 76: Each of the behaviors listed above
Page 77 and 78: Article II.3 Hard Work Hypothesis:
Page 79 and 80: each point higher in SES, students
Page 81 and 82: This case does not provide strong s
Page 83 and 84: Article II.4 Language Acquisition a
Page 85 and 86: 1992, p. XI). These researchers, wh
Page 87 and 88: comprehend a word within a specific
Page 89 and 90: more to the truthfulness of the chi
Page 91 and 92: This idea of “semilingualism” c
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Article III.1 A Brief Description o
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take different lengths of time to c
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example, should involve the same co
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As with all stages of BICS acquisit
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Assessment techniques at stage 3 ca
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different. Therefore, the social di
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integrative motivation. Basically,
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(Ellis, 1985; Hakuta, 1986). Howeve
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that sociocultural processes have o
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Article III.3 How Children Acquire
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phonetic units (unique to signed la
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Article III.4 Toward a Sociocultura
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emember is that the fundamental goa
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The best practices models can be th
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By focusing on the dialectic betwee
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intergenerational wisdom shared by
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Daily Realities RecappedThe above v
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traditions. At a time in our histor
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We will now look at two examples of
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Speakers communicate fluently, main
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question the effects of such attitu
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Article IV.3 Culture Change: Effect
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and psychological characteristics o
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Contraryto what wewere expecting, t
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Article V.1 Assessment in ESL & Bil
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vocabulary does the student lack?Is
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whether they are LEP and to provide
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Fourth, ESL and bilingual program s
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competent reader/writer. All versio
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Table 1Comparison of Recent Accultu
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unilinear model, which measures the
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an English-only instructional progr
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Article V.3 Assessment of English L
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8. Change answers only for a very g
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Riles, 1979; Jose P. v Ambac, 1983)
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proficiency is often underestimated
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Finally, when second language reade
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for their decisions, noting issues
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As mentioned above, when the transi
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ather than generic adjectives and t
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their imagined points of view. Ther
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English texts and demonstrate progr
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using inter-district teams). In the
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