© 2010 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium The WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment Mariana Castro Professional Development

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 2 WIDA Consortium Goal This presentation will examine how the WIDA ELP Standards can be utilized in formative assessment.

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 3 Agenda Academic language and the WIDA ELP Standards Assessment of academic language through Formative Assessment WIDA tools that can be used during Formative Assessment WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 4 WIDA Consortium Academic Language and the WIDA ELP Standards

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 5 What is Academic Language? Academic language proficiency refers to the abilities to construct meaning from oral and written language, relate complex ideas and information, recognize features of different genres, and use various linguistic strategies to communicate Dutro & Moran (2003)

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 6 WIDA Consortium Academic Language and the WIDA ELP Standards ELP Standards Grade level Cluster Language Domain English Language Proficiency Level Model Performance Indicator

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 7 Academic Language and the WIDA ELP Standards The model performance indicator shows examples of language expectations at different levels of language proficiency across different domains and ELP standards WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 8 Academic Language and the WIDA ELP Standards The elements of academic language are implicit in the performance indicator WIDA Consortium What elements of academic language are needed to “describe”?

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 9 To describe, the language needed is… A paragraph or set of related sentences Objects of earth or sky, adjectives Correct placement of words depending on their function This is just a short list… the language elements to describe are endless depending on the communicative context. The language elements are targeted according the task and student needs. WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 10 In short… describe the academic language expected need to be contextualized in the content itself and the learners WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 11 Assessment of Academic Language through Formative Assessment WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 12 What is Formative Assessment? Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve intended instructional outcomes (CCSSO FAST SCASS, 2006). WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 13 A process Language targets appropriate for students and content Assessment tasks that elicit language targeted (these happen during instruction) Assessment tools to record observations of student production or comprehension of language targeted Feedback system to translate feedback into actual modifications to teaching and learning WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 14 Identifying the language The language assessed should be the language taught; in other words, the language identified in your language objectives Linguistic Complexity: A paragraph or set of related sentences Vocabulary: Objects of earth or sky (sun, Earth, Mars, Jupiter); adjectives (close to, far from) Language Control: comparatives (_er than, more than); superlatives (the _est; the most _)

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 15 Assessment Tasks should… take place during instruction be authentic and relevant to the content elicit the academic language being targeted Examples: academic discussion in small/large groups, presentation of research findings, debates, interview with students, posters, brochures, drafts, projects, activities WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 16 Assessment Task What task will elicit the language you wish WIDA Consortium Linguistic Complexity: A paragraph or set of related sentences Vocabulary: Objects of earth or sky (sun, Earth, Mars, Jupiter); adjectives (close to, far from) Language Control: comparatives (_er than, more than); superlatives (the _est; the most _) Students work in groups to prepare a poster showing the relationship between objects of the earth or sky. Teacher will observe groups as they work together and listen to/observe language produced in poster draft.

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 17 Assessment Tool The difference between formal and informal formative assessment is that in formal formative assessment there is a record of the performance Examples: checklists, rating scale, rubric (holistic, analytic, mixed) Your selection of tools should take into consideration the language you want to assess and the assessment task WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 18 Checklist AdvantagesLimitations Useful for marking whether the student has mastered the language feature or not Simple to make and use Useful in communicating with students, parents and/ or teachers Do not describe the range or quality of performance WIDA Consortium Name ___ Date ___ 1.__ I used complete sentences 2.__ My sentences were organized in a paragraph 3.__ I used key words for the unit: Sun, Earth… 4.__ I used words that described distance: close, far

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 19 Rating Scale AdvantagesLimitations Provides more information as to the degree to which the student has mastered a language feature Simple to make and use Useful in communicating with students, parents and/ or teachers Can be hard to decide what level to give the specific performance WIDA Consortium Name: __ Date: ___ Always Most of Some of Never the time the time Used complete sentences Paragraph had a topic sentence Used comparatives and superlatives correctly

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 20 Rubrics Holistic Rubrics assign a single score to a set of performance criteria Analytic Rubrics separate scores to various criteria Advantages: fixed scales with descriptions of performance at different levels Limitations: Time consuming, hard to develop and use. WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 21 The WIDA Performance Definitions are an example of a holistic rubric WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 22 The WIDA Speaking Rubric is an example of an analytic rubric WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 23 Remember! The checklist, rating scale or rubric are not formative assessment The activity you choose to elicit language is the assessment task, but not the formative assessment Formative assessment is a process and includes these elements, but its most important feature is what you do after you gather the information: you use it to guide your teaching and learning! WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 24 Using Feedback To adjust teacher’s instruction To adjust student’s learning To shift classroom classroom To implement schoolwide Popham, 2008 WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 25 Teachers’ Instructional Adjustment Formative assessment helps teachers decide if they need to adjust what they are currently doing or what they plan to do next instructionally In order to do this, teacher must 1.decide when it is a good time to make a decision 2.follow formative assessment process 3.establish what level in student performance will necessitate instructional adjustment, and 4.make the necessary adjustment WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 26 Example: Chee Meng is a student from Laos who is in second grade. His ELP levels are: listening 4, speaking 3, reading 3, and writing 2. Chee Meng’s teacher, Ms. Mancilla, is teaching a unit on Space. She would like her students to describe the relationships between the planets in the solar system. WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 27 Language Target One of the activities in class will be to have students, in groups of three, create a poster of the solar system and describe in an oral presentation the relation between the different planets and the sun and the planets and the earth. She would like Chee Meng to write complete sentences describing the relationships between the planets. WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 28 Formative Assessment Process Language targets: complete sentences; unit vocabulary: sun, names of planets, solar system; use of comparatives and superlatives Assessment task: writing sentences on index cards as they prepare to present their poster Assessment tool: Rating scale (derived from WIDA ELP Writing Rubric) WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 29 WIDA Writing Rubric WIDA Consortium Chee Meng’s Writing ELP level

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 30 WIDA Consortium Focus on i+1 level and then transform into a rating scale

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 31 Assessment Tool Always Most of Some of Never the time the time Linguistic Complexity: Simple and expanded oral sentences Complete sentences (subject, verb, complement) Vocabulary Usage: General and some specific language related to the content area Sentences include the names of solar system objects Language Control: Use of syntactic language structures Uses closer to/farthest from correctly WIDA Consortium Ms. Mancilla has decided that she would like Chee Meng to meet the criteria in the rating scale at least

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 32 Feedback The record will help Ms. Mancilla provide feedback to Chee Meng, and communicate with other educators, Chee-Meng’s parents and other stakeholders. Ms. Mancilla can keep some criteria for future instruction or modify it as well as the focus of her instruction if Chee Meng still needs to work on one or two criteria. WIDA Consortium

WIDA ELP Standards and Formative Assessment 33 For more information, please contact the WIDA Help Desk: or Questions or Comments? © 2010 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium