Title III ELL Symposium July 29 th & 30th, 2013 Justin Porter Director, Assessments for Special Populations Student Assessment Division Texas Education.

Title III ELL Symposium

July 29th & 30th, 2013

Justin Porter

Director, Assessments for Special Populations

Student Assessment Division

Texas Education Agency

ELL Assessment Update

Disclaimer

These slides have been prepared by the Student Assessment Division of the Texas Education Agency

If any slide is changed for local use, please remove the TEA footer at the bottom of the slide

What’s New at TEA?New DirectorAssessments for students served by special

education and assessments for ELLs are now the responsibility of the Assessments for Special Populations Unit in the Student Assessment Division.

TETN dates have been set for the fall of 2013.September 9 from 9:15 until12:15 – ELL

Assessment UpdateOctober 8 from 9:00 until12:00 – LPAC Assessment

TOT for ESCs

TEA – ELL Assessment Update for July 2013 Title III ELL Symposium

Topics

TELPASELL Progress Measure to be implemented in 2014

STAAR L

TEA – ELL Assessment Update for July 2013 Title III ELL Symposium

TELPAS

TELPAS Standard SettingTELPAS standards were last reviewed in 2008.

Changes in the academic achievement test make it necessary to look at the language proficiency assessment.

What does Advanced High mean?

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TAKS to STAAR: Differences in Curriculum and Rigor

Compared to TAKS, STAARhas a stronger emphasis on rigoris a more comprehensive system with standards aligned from elementary to high school

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STAAR: A New Assessment Model

Assessments are vertically aligned within a content area from one grade/course to the next.

The focus is on the most essential curriculum.

Content and skills are addressed at a greater depth and cognitive complexity.

Transition from TAKS to STAARHow does the transition from TAKS to STAAR impact the TELPAS reading standards?

Has the increase in rigor associated with STAAR changed the meaning of “grade-appropriate” in relation to state assessments?

TEA – ELL Assessment Update for July 2013 Title III ELL Symposium

STAAR reading to TELPAS reading: Text Complexity Analysis Conducted as part of preparations

for the standards review meeting Compared the text complexity

between selected STAAR passages and Advanced High TELPAS reading passages

Done for grades 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10/English II

TEA – ELL Assessment Update for July 2013 Title III ELL Symposium

STAAR reading to TELPAS reading: Text Complexity Analysis

Together with Pearson, TEA created a rubric for raters to use when evaluating the complexity of a text.

The rubric had descriptors for four specific areas:Purpose and MeaningOrganization and StructureLanguageKnowledge Demands

For each area, raters assigned one of four ratings to the text:Not ComplexSlightly ComplexModerately ComplexVery Complex

STAAR reading to TELPAS reading: Text Complexity Analysis

For the purposes of this analysis, differences between academic achievement and language proficiency were not the focus

The goal was to attempt to quantify the difference in complexity from TELPAS reading texts to STAAR reading texts

TEA – ELL Assessment Update for July 2013 Title III ELL Symposium

STAAR reading to TELPAS reading: Text Complexity Analysis

TEA staff from the STAAR reading, and TELPAS teams, as well Pearson content staff worked together to form the ratings.

Differences in complexity were found to be much more dramatic at the upper grades and much less apparent at the lower grades.

Results were not surprising given the relationship between language proficiency and academic achievement across the grade levels.

TEA – ELL Assessment Update for July 2013 Title III ELL Symposium

TELPAS Reading Standard SettingTELPAS has four proficiency levels:

Advanced HighAdvancedIntermediateBeginning

Reading test proficiency level is determined by scale score cuts.

Three proficiency level cut scores were determined in 2008 to define the four proficiency levels – TAKS assessment program.

The standards review committees will make recommendations about where the proficiency level cut scores should be – STAAR assessment program.

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Global Definition of Advanced HighAdvanced High students have attained

the command of English that enables them, with minimal second language acquisition support, to engage in regular, all-English academic instruction at their grade level.

Key features – Ability to engage in grade-appropriate academic instruction with minimal second language acquisition support

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Global Definition of AdvancedAdvanced students are able to engage in

grade-appropriate academic instruction in English, although ongoing second language acquisition support is needed to help them understand and use grade-appropriate language. These students function beyond the level of simple, routinely used English.

Key features – Ability to engage in grade-appropriate academic instruction with second language acquisition support

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Global Definition of IntermediateIntermediate students do have some

ability to understand and use English. They can function in social and academic settings as long as the tasks require them to understand and use simple language structures and high-frequency vocabulary in routine contexts.

Key features – Limited ability, simple language structures, high-frequency vocabulary, routine contexts

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Global Definition of BeginningBeginning students have little or no ability

to understand and use English. They may know a little English but not enough to function meaningfully in social or academic settings.

Key features – Little or no English ability

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2020

Neighborhood for Advanced High cut

100% Meeting Standard 0% Meeting Standard

TELPAS reading

Neighborhood for Advanced cut

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Neighborhoods for

Intermediate, Advanced and Advanced High

Neighborhood for Intermediate cut

TELPAS Reading Standard Setting

Neighborhood for Scale Score Cuts

TELPAS Reading Standard SettingNew standards will be applied to TELPAS reading beginning with the 2014 administration.

Due to the fact that the reading domain is weighted heavier in composite proficiency level calculations, districts may see slight shifts in composite scores for students.

TEA – ELL Assessment Update for July 2013 Title III ELL Symposium

Grades 3–12 TELPAS % Students at Each Proficiency Level

ListeningB I A H

SpeakingB I A H

ReadingB I A H

WritingB I A H

12–13 4 12 29 56 5 16 32 46 7 14 25 54 7 24 37 32

11–12 4 13 31 53 5 17 33 44 7 14 27 53 7 25 36 31

10–11 4 14 31 51 6 18 33 42 6 15 26 53 8 26 36 30

09–10 5 16 33 46 7 20 34 38 7 15 28 51 9 28 35 27

08–09 6 17 34 43 8 21 34 36 8 16 26 50 10 29 34 26

07–08 7 20 35 38 10 24 35 32 9 17 27 48 12 32 34 23

06–07 8 24 37 30 12 27 36 25 9 13 36 42 15 36 33 17

05–06 10 27 37 25 15 30 35 21 11 15 38 36 18 39 30 13B = BeginningI = IntermediateA = AdvancedH = Advanced High

New Test Former Test (RPTE)

TELPAS Composite Ratings2006—2013 Percent Reaching Advanced High

K-2 3-12

2013 18 53

2012 18 51

2011 18 51

2010 18 49

2009 16 48

2008 16 45

2007 11 39

2006 10 32

TEA – ELL Assessment Update for July 2013 Title III ELL Symposium

• Composite weights have not changed•TELPAS reading tests changed in 2008 for grades 2—12

2013 Audit of TELPAS Writing2000 writing collections from across

the state have been collected and are being reviewed right now.

Training histories of selected raters were reviewed as part of the audit process.

Audit results and technical documents will be posted to the TEA website in late 2013 or early 2014.

TEA – ELL Assessment Update for July 2013 Title III ELL Symposium

TELPAS ReleaseThere will be a full release of

TELPAS forms for all grade bands in 2014.These are to be released in an online format to allow them to be seen in the TestNav environment, just as the students see the operational test.

TEA – ELL Assessment Update for July 2013 Title III ELL Symposium

ELL Progress Measure

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ELL Policies for STAARTexas Administrative Code

All ELLs required to participate in all STAAR grade 3–8 and EOC assessments

Exemptions from testing not permitted except for qualifying asylee refugees in grades 3 through 8

TAC §101.1005(h) requires policies for including academic performance of ELLs in accountability measures to take into account second language acquisition developmental needs of this student population.

Impetus for ELL Progress Measures in Texas

1. Texas ELL Assessment Focus Group indicated:Too often ELLs who qualified for linguistic accommodations

or exemptions were not included in campus and district focused efforts to help struggling students because they were not counted in state reporting and accountability.

For STAAR program, it would be preferable to eliminate exemptions and find fair and appropriate ways to assess ELLs and be accountable for meeting their unique needs

2. National ELL policy experts now officially recommend that states create ELL-specific measures of progress for use in federal accountability systems.

3. Policymakers and stakeholders would like more similar state and federal policies in new accountability system

TEA – ELL Assessment Update for July 2013 Title III ELL Symposium

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Recommendations of National Working Group on ELL Policy

1. Establish state-expected timeframe for second language acquisition

• Make timeframe challenging but achievable• 4 to 5 years is group’s recommendation for a

defensible timeframe based on best currently available second language acquisition research

• ELLs are diverse; time required for second language acquisition is affected by many factors and individual student characteristics.

• This group recommends, however, that state’s timeline not exceed 5 years for an individual ELL.

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Recommendations of National Working Group on ELL Policy

2. For ELLs tested in English, incorporate English language proficiency (ELP) into accountability provisions for content area achievement using expected timeframe from Recommendation 1 to the extent possible.• Language plays significant role in knowledge

acquisition and content mastery• Students should meet grade-level achievement

standards no later than when they are expected to be proficient in English based on their initial ELP level and time in U.S. schools

• Differentiate content-area performance expectations by expected ELP level for each grade

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Recommendations of National Working Group on ELL Policy

3. Hold schools and districts accountable for meeting ELLs’ content-area performance expectations taking into account students’ level of ELP

Rationale for having different content-area performance expectations tied to different levels of ELP lowers standards for ELLs:

Standards do not differ in terms of ELLs’ schooling outcomes

All ELLs should achieve proficiency in English and meet grade-level performance standards in English within state’s timeframe for second language acquisition

A traditional one-size-fits-all performance standard does not take into account the developmental role that language proficiency plays in content learning

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What will the Texas ELL Progress Measure look like?

ELL Progress Measure will:

take into account the amount of time needed to acquire English language affects time needed to fully learn and demonstrate grade-level academic skills in English

be applied to all content areas

Initial Years in Schools

Initial TELPAS Composite

Proficiency Level

Plan

1Beginning and Extenuating

Circumstances5-Year Plan

1 Beginning 4-Year Plan

1 Intermediate 3-Year Plan

1 Advanced 2-Year Plan

1 Advanced High 1-Year Plan

2Intermediate or Below and Extenuating Circumstances

5-Year Plan

2 Intermediate or Below 4-Year Plan

2 Advanced 3-Year Plan2 Advanced High 2-Year Plan

3Advanced or Below and

Extenuating Circumstances5-Year Plan

3 Advanced or Below 4-Year Plan3 Advanced High 3-Year Plan

4Advanced High or Below

and Extenuating Circumstances

5-Year Plan

4 Any TELPAS Score 4-Year Plan

ELL Progress Measure Plan

Expectation

5-Yr Plan

1st Year (E1)

2nd Year (E1)

3rd Year (E2)

4th Year (E3)

5th Year (LII)

4-Yr Plan

1st Year (E1)

2nd Year (E2)

3rd Year (E3)

4th Year (LII)

3-Yr Plan

1st Year (E2)

2nd Year (E3)

3rd Year (LII)

2-Yr Plan1st Year (E3)

2nd Year (LII)

1-Yr Plan 1st Year (LII)

DRAFT

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How will the ELL Progress Measure be used?

ELL Progress Measure will be incorporated into the 2014 state accountability reports

Used to calculate accountability for both Index 1 & 2

For detailed information regarding the accountability system:http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/

2013/20130328coe/pi_technical_5-23-13.pdf

STAAR L

2013 STAAR L AdministrationsOnline interface provided certain linguistic

accommodations for qualifying students:Clarification in English at the word or phrase

level for pre-determined wordsWords read aloud at the word-by-word level

35,000 students across the state were administered STAAR L across all administration in 2013

TEA – ELL Assessment Update for July 2013 Title III ELL Symposium

STAAR L Practice SetsThe agency is currently working with the

contractor to produce practice sets for STAAR L

Anticipated to be released in early 2014They are anticipated to be in an online

format similar to TELPAS so that students may experience the items as they will be presented in the operational administration.

Contact InformationJustin Porter, Director of Assessments for Special [email protected](512) 463-9536