CREATING A DIVERSITY PORTRAIT
Abstract
I collected these data from our school Improvement Plan (SIP) which is available online in order to see the achievement gap of our students in reference to the state’s average. This data will help me to decide which skills I need to address in my daily teaching plans and instructions. It is important for me to be aware of the achievement gap in order to minimize it in the future. I can also see the group that experiences the achievement gap, so I can also focus on a certain group that needed the most support. It is my hope that this diversity portrait of my school will assist me in making informed decisions for preparing my students to perform better in the future.
Part 1: Data Collection (From our School Improvement Plan)
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School: Esther Jackson Elementary School
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Student Group: (provide demographics of the student group identified, i.e. race, gender, grade level, ability group where appropriate, etc.)
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ELL Students CRCT 2013-2014
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Percent of Total Student Population
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School Average
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State Average
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State Test Performance: Reading
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79%
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94%
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State Test Performance: Mathematics
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77%
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85%
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State Test Performance: Writing(Language)
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65%
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92%
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Attendance Rate:
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97%
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(No data available)
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Dropout Rate:
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0%
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(No data available)
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Other:
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In our school at Esther Jackson Elementary School, about 90% of all the students 3-5 met or exceeded expectations on the CRCT Reading Test. Our ELL students also showed an increase in Reading scores with 79% meeting or exceeding expectations, 77% in
Mathematics and 65% in Language. These sub-group also showed progress in reading on an average of level 3 as measure by Fountis and Pinnel running records. Reading is an area of strength for our ELL, and the rest of our students at Esther Jackson Elementary School.
Our ELL students in our school is a diverse group which is composed of students from different parts of the world. However, majority of our English Language Learners (ELL) are from Central and Latin America with Spanish as their first language. Majority of our ELL students also receive free/reduced lunch since they are from low economic family backgrounds.
This data shows that there is a big achievement gap in the Writing or Language Part. This is the part where ELL students struggle the most. This is the part where I want to address, because this skill takes longer to develop compared to the other skills; reading, listening and speaking. Although Reading and Math are also important, based on our school data our ELL students are performing at an average level compared to the state average. Looking back at our school CRCT data, the gap for Reading is 15% and 8% for Math. Unfortunately, there is a25% difference with Language result, which is such a big gap. This is the main reason why I want to address this gap in my Module 3 application assignment.
Part 2: Historical Perspective
A study of teachers' behavior towards ELLs showed that many teachers felt that ELLs have poor performers at school (Walker, Shafer, & Liams 2004). The attitudes of society in general have become negative in the past decade. If this bias would continue, then there will always be a gap between ELLs and the mainstream. In California and other states, schools have implemented an English Only policy. This policy takes the opportunity of the ELLs to maintain their first language. Teachers should be educated about the background of ELL and on learning new strategies to make teaching and learning more effective.
Another study conducted by Fernandez and Inserra (2013) shows that there is a serious problem with the rising percentage of English Language Learners being labeled as Special Education in the United States. Some educators believe that the lack of language to express their idea is a sign of disability. This makes it hard for ELL students to succeed in school when they are not classified correctly. Cummins (2001) mentioned that children can be misdiagnosed as students with learning disability because their reading or writing skills develop at a slower rate compared to their speaking skill. Sometimes, an ELL can be in a silent period before the student will start using the new language in a conversation or in writing. I have observed this in my own ESOL class. I asked the other kids to ask the students in his native language and the student responded
Gil & Bardack (2010) presented several biases toward the ELL students. One of these is that all children from non-English speaking culture learn English the same way. This is not exactly true, since we all know that we all learn and acquire information at a different rate. Based on Dr. Howard's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, we can be smart in different things. Some students can be smart in Language and some can be smart in Math.
Another study conducted by Fernandez and Inserra (2013) shows that there is a serious problem with the rising percentage of English Language Learners being labeled as Special Education in the United States. Some educators believe that the lack of language to express their idea is a sign of disability. This makes it hard for ELL students to succeed in school when they are not classified correctly. Cummins (2001) mentioned that children can be misdiagnosed as students with learning disability because their reading or writing skills develop at a slower rate compared to their speaking skill. Sometimes, an ELL can be in a silent period before the student will start using the new language in a conversation or in writing. I have observed this in my own ESOL class. I asked the other kids to ask the students in his native language and the student responded
Gil & Bardack (2010) presented several biases toward the ELL students. One of these is that all children from non-English speaking culture learn English the same way. This is not exactly true, since we all know that we all learn and acquire information at a different rate. Based on Dr. Howard's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, we can be smart in different things. Some students can be smart in Language and some can be smart in Math.
There is an overrepresentation of English Language Learners being labeled as special education, and the number has grown from 3.5 million to 5.3 million (National Clearing House for ELLs, 2011). I think that this is also evident in our school. Many of our ELL students are getting services from the Special Education Department because they were tested and believed to have some kind of disability. For example, I am push in into a classroom where I help two ELL students who are classified as learning disabled. At first, I didn’t understand why they are in this program, because they speaking, reading, and listening skills are comparable to those who are not in special education classes. However, their writing skill is really low since they are just learning to write simple words such as CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words and oftentimes still misspell them. In our previous course, I learned that writing takes time to develop. It takes about 5-7 years for an ELL students to come up with a good writing piece that includes academic vocabulary.
It is my hope that in the future, ELLs will be given the chance to learn in their native language. In this way, they will be able to acquire English and at the same time maintain their native language.
References:
Gil, L., & Bardack, S. (2010). English Language Learner Center.
Badertscher, N., & Scott, J. (2013). Hispanic Enrollment Surges in Metro Schools
Retrieved from
schools/nX6Ww/
Esther Jackson Elementary School. (2015). Demographic Diversity Portrait. Roswell, GA:
School Data Clerk Office.
Saravia-Shore, M. (2008). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Teaching-Strategies-for-Diverse-Learners.aspx
Fernandez, N., & Inserra A. (2013). Disproportionate Classification of ESL Students in U.S.
Special Education. The Elentronic Journal for ESL, 17, (2). Retrieved from
http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume17/ej66/ej66a1/
Walker, A., Shafer, J,. & Liams D., (2004). “Not In My Classroom”: Teacher Attitudes Towards
English Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom.” NABE Journal of Research
and Practice. 2:1 Retrieved from
urbs/ELLStrategiesAndResources/Teacher_attitudes_in_classrooms.pdf
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