Welcoming Utah to WIDA!

 This summer has been a time of growth at WIDA. Most recently, Utah joined the Consortium. Some time ago Utah adopted the WIDA ELD Standards for use in their classrooms. But now Utah is an official consortium member. That means that this school year, Utah educators will be giving the ACCESS for ELLs assessment for the first time. 

Earlier this month I suggested a few blog posts for new consortium members. Click here to check those out.  

If you are interested in knowing more about the 33 members of the WIDA Consoritum, check out this page.




Written by: Tammy King

Image: Freedigitalphotos.net

Free Online Score Calculators

August means that most of us are gearing up for the school year to start. Each new school year brings new students who need to be screened for English as a Second Language and/or bilingual services. Screening begins with some type of Home Language Survey that parents fill out during registration. The next step typically involves an assessment of English language proficiency. As members of the WIDA Consortium, you likely use either the MODEL or W-APT to assess your new students' English language proficiency.

Occasionally I run into educators who are unaware of the free online score report calculators that WIDA offers. By using these online score calculators, you can expect to save a great deal of time and trouble.

Welcome Michigan and South Carolina!

  

Last month the WIDA Consortium welcomed two new states.
 
Michigan became the 32^nd member of the Consortium. This means that Michigan educators will begin administering the ACCESS for ELLs assessment during the 2013-14 school year. You might remember that Michigan adopted the WIDA ELD Standards in January 2013.  Since most of us haven't returned to school yet, it's a great time to read up on the ACCESS for ELLs assessment. Here are a few blog posts to get you started:

Incorporating Blog Posts into Professional Development

A number of years ago I was in charge of a rather large ESL and bilingual program. I often struggled with ways to share effective practices, tips, and ideas with my teachers across our various buildings. They were busy people and I knew I couldn't add more to their plate. I am mentioning this to you because I was reminded of this dilemma recently. I was speaking with a group of educators, and one of them asked me some questions. Rather than bend her ear for several minutes, I referred her to some blog posts on that very topic. Soon a number of others asked for the links. They realized the potential of sharing these short blog posts with their colleagues. The conversation turned a bit and we found ourselves discussing the merits of regularly sharing relatively small amounts of text with our colleagues via blog posts, short articles, etc.

Computerized English Language Proficiency Assessments around the Corner

  

Summertime is my time to slow down, breath and catch up on some of my reading and personal professional development. To that end, I sat in on two webinars at the end of June. I have already told you about the first webinar here.  Today I would like to share with you an overview of the second webinar and what it means to those of us in the WIDA Consortium. It was called Next-Generation English Language Proficiency Assessments. It was produced by the Alliance for Excellence in Education, and it's archived here. 
 
The webinar featured a panel of speakers, including Timothy Boals, WIDA's Executive Director; Gary Cook, WIDA's Research Director; Robert Linquanti, Project Director for English Learner Evaluation and Accountability Support from WestEd and Kathleen Vanderwall, Manager, Test Design and Administration at the Oregon State Department of Education. The webinar focused on the need for, and creation of, a new generation of English language proficiency assessments at the national level. Since the majority of you are working in WIDA Consortium states, I will focus on the next generation of the ACCESS for ELLs assessment. 

Common Core Standards, Digital Learning…and ELLs?

In late June, I sat in on a webinar produced by the Alliance for Excellent Education called “Converging Opportunities: Common Core State Standards and Digital Learning.”  Honestly, I wasn’t familiar with this organization prior to hearing about the webinar.  But I am interested in learning more about the work that they do and the resources that they provide for educators across the nation. 

Essentially the webinar consisted of three panelists representing different school districts across the nation.  It is now archived here.  Each district represented was at a different point in the shift towards CCSS.  The first panelist was Lisa Andrejko, the superintendent from Quakertown Community School District.   

Resources and Reflections on Migrant Education Programs

 

 
"Our migrant children ...

they are our only hope ...
Like seedlings, they have been sown in your school.
It is our wish they blossom into harvests of hope."
-Author unknown

 
Source: Illinois Migrant Education Program brochure


This time of year most teachers are packing up their classrooms and beginning their summer vacations. But a number of educators around the country are unpacking boxes, setting up their summer programs, and welcoming new children into their classrooms right now. But these are no ordinary summer school programs. The teachers I am talking about are those working in migrant education programs. 

Each year thousands of children and their families move in order to work in the agricultural or fishing industries. Collectively, these families are considered migrant agricultural workers.  For many migrant children, their life experiences are impacted by substandard housing, poor nutrition, low wages and seasonal work. Repeatedly moving in order to find employment can impact students' academic achievement. Therefore, the goal of migrant education programs is to reduce the impact of these issues on the children's education. Illinois alone identified over 1,700 children through its Migrant Education Program during the 2011-2012 school year.