Psychometric Challenges in Assessing English Language Learners and Students With Disabilities

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Lane ◽  
Brian Leventhal
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language

Moving from Professional Development to Real-Time Use

2014 ◽  
pp. 2043-2067
Author(s):  
Meghan Morris Deyoe ◽  
Dianna L. Newman ◽  
Kristie Asaro-Saddler
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
At Risk ◽  
English Language Learners ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Literacy Instruction ◽  
English Language ◽  
Cognitive Learning ◽  
Pedagogical Content ◽  
Use Of Technology

This chapter demonstrates the importance of teacher training in the use of technology in literacy instruction by focusing on the need to update current teachers' skills and practice. In the setting described, the emphasis was on the transfer of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) strategies, learned via in-service professional development, to program classrooms supplied with twenty-first century technology in a high needs setting for at-risk students in grades 3-9. In addition to the general at-risk setting, specific literacy-related affective and cognitive learning outcomes are noted for students with disabilities and for English language learners. Program findings indicate the benefits of continuous professional development and embedded training along with embedded implementation of technology within pedagogical and content literacy instruction. Positive literacy-related cognitive results are noted for all students enrolled in the program classrooms; data for students with disabilities and English Language Learners (ELLs) also reveals potential benefits.

scholarly journals Teacher Implementation of College- and Career-Readiness Standards: Links Among Policy, Instruction, Challenges, and Resources

AERA Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 233285841880686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam K. Edgerton ◽  
Laura M. Desimone
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Career Readiness ◽  
College And Career Readiness ◽  
Rural Teachers ◽  
Math Teachers ◽  
College And Career ◽  
Content Coverage

Using state-representative teacher surveys in three states—Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky—we examine teachers’ implementation of college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards. What do teachers report about the specificity, authority, consistency, power, and stability of their standards environment? How does their policy environment predict standards-emphasized instruction? Do these relationships differ for those who teach different subjects (math and English Language Arts [ELA]), different grades (elementary or high school), different populations (English Language Learners [ELLs], students with disabilities [SWDs]), and in different areas (rural, urban, or suburban)? We found elementary math teachers taught significantly more standards-emphasized content than elementary ELA teachers, whereas secondary ELA teachers taught significantly more standards-emphasized content than secondary math teachers. Teachers of SWDs and rural teachers taught significantly less of the emphasized content. In all three states, we found greater buy-in (authority) predicted increased emphasized content coverage among ELA teachers but not among math teachers.

The essence of ESSA: More control at the district level?

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 14-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Kirk Edgerton
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
National Database ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
State Education ◽  
Every Student Succeeds Act

Using a national database of state education policies related to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), as well as data from surveys, interviews, and site visits, Adam Edgerton describes how ESSA has shifted relationships among state education agencies (SEAs) and school districts. Some states have not changed their policies much despite the flexibility afforded under the law, although some states have adjusted what measures are included in their accountability systems. States also expressed concern about how to meet requirements for English language learners and students with disabilities. Overall, SEAs are designing more targeted interventions for underperforming districts, and they are focusing on providing supports rather than punishments. But in this era of increased flexibility, it is possible for states to move from one extreme — punitive test-based accountability — to another — laissez-faire leadership.

Characterizing Remote Instruction Provided by Elementary School Teachers during School Closures due to COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Hebert ◽  
John Marc Goodrich ◽  
Jessica M. Namkung
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Elementary School Teachers ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Academic Instruction ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
The U.S

The purpose of this survey study was to characterize the nature of remote instruction provided by elementary teachers across the U.S. during school closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey included questions on demographics, questions that broadly focused on remote instruction (e.g., live meetings with students), questions focused on academic instruction (in reading, writing, and mathematics), and questions focused on the nature of remote instruction for students with disabilities and English language learners. The survey was distributed to a random sample of teachers across the U.S. Results indicated that although most teachers provided remote instruction, few teachers believed remote instruction was effective at promoting student learning. Moreover, teachers reported that only 60% of students were ready to advance to the next grade level when schools closed. Based on our results, we estimate that between 7.2 and 11.6 million students did not receive any live remote instruction during the shutdown.

Test-Based Education for Students with Disabilities and English Language Learners: The Impact of Assessment Pressures on Educational Planning

2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (14) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Clyde Martin
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Test Preparation ◽  
Impact Testing ◽  
School Life ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
The Impact

The article presents a longitudinal study of an urban charter middle school to examine the impact testing pressures can have on the education of students with disabilities and English language learners, and how this may lead to a narrowing of the content they are taught. The study examines various sources of data, including the school's evolving language, literacy, and math programs, high-stakes test results, school improvement plans, and written IEP goals. Over several years, as low test scores and failure to make AYP had an increasing impact on school life, skills specifically targeted on annual state tests became the guide for how math and literacy and language development were addressed. In effect, instruction in these areas became equated with test preparation. As ranges in proficiency led to ability grouping in pertinent courses, there was a narrowing of skills addressed in the lower-level classes that were entirely populated by students categorized as limited-English proficient and/or having a disability. In effect, this turned test preparation into the math and literacy curricula for these students, which in turn affected decisions regarding which skills would be addressed in students’ IEPs. Implications for schools, policy, and further research are suggested.

Developmental evaluation: Bridging the gaps between proposal, program, and practice

Evaluation ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachael B. Lawrence ◽  
Sharon F. Rallis ◽  
Laura C. Davis ◽  
Karen Harrington
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Developmental Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Team ◽  
Evaluation Approach ◽  
Us Federal Government

Developmental evaluation supports grant-funded initiatives seeking innovation and change. Programs born from aspirational grant language and plans often need guidance as they work toward creating workable models for social innovation. This article describes the challenge of designing and implementing complex programs and presents a case that illustrates how a program moves from proposal to practice. The Massachusetts Charter Public School Association Capacity Building Network is a complex intervention, funded by the US federal government, aimed at raising school capacity to serve students with disabilities and English language learners. Developmental evaluation served to bridge the gaps between an aspirational proposal, an ambitious and ambiguous program plan, and emerging practices to serve this population of students. Jointly reviewing our experience in this developmental evaluation, the evaluation team and a program director share important thematic lessons learned about the developmental evaluation approach.

Factors to Consider in the Design of Inclusive Online Assessment

2005 ◽  
pp. 102-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra J. Thompson ◽  
Rachel F. Quenemoen ◽  
Martha L. Tharlow
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Assistive Technology ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Online Assessment ◽  
Assessment Design ◽  
Online Assessments ◽  
Initial Transformation

This chapter presents factors to consider in the design of online assessments for all students, including students with disabilities and English-language learners. It presents a process and considerations for the initial transformation of paper-and-pencil assessments to inclusive online assessments, focusing on features of universal design, the use of assistive technology, and an examination of the use of individual accommodations in light of the content tested. The authors hope to convey the importance of implementing a process for addressing these considerations from the beginning of online assessment design. Retrofitting completed assessments can result in concerns about validity.

scholarly journals Teaching Academic Vocabulary to Sixth-Grade Students With Disabilities

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 231-243
Author(s):  
Rollanda E. O’Connor ◽  
Kristen D. Beach ◽  
Victoria M. Sanchez ◽  
Joyce J. Kim ◽  
Kerri Knight-Teague ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Great Difficulty ◽  
Students With Learning Disabilities ◽  
New Words ◽  
Sixth Grade Students ◽  
Instructional Routines

Adolescents with disabilities have great difficulty with academic content in middle school, and their teachers have difficulty teaching them to understand and use academic language. We taught teachers of sixth-grade students with learning disabilities, more than half of whom were also English language learners (ELLs), to implement about 15 min of daily interactive vocabulary instruction in their intact special education English/language arts classes. Three schools were assigned randomly to treatment (two schools) or control conditions (one school, 52 students total). We developed instructional routines to introduce four new words per week in three 4-week units to test for replicability. ANCOVAs (with each cycle’s pretest and intelligence quotient as covariates) were conducted on taught vocabulary, all of which favored the treatment condition with effect sizes ranging .6 to .7 per cycle. Near-transfer effects to vocabulary usage were weaker, with significant effects in the last two cycles. Effects were similar for students with disabilities who were ELLs and native English speakers. Treated students maintained their knowledge of words 4 to 24 weeks following the close of treatment.

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