PUT TITLE HERE TESL Ontario Conference Panel Discussion: Language for a Changing World December 11, 2009

Ministry of Education Goals High levels of student achievement Reduced gaps in student achievement Increased public confidence in education

Four Pillars of Student Achievement/Student Success Literacy – for 21st century Numeracy – for 21st century Program Pathways and Supports Community, Culture and Caring

Closing the Gaps: Results and Trends Primary Reading: English-Language Assessments

Closing the Gaps: Results and Trends Primary Writing: English-Language Assessments

 English Language Learners – ESL and ELD Programs and Services (2007) Policies and Procedures for Ontario Elementary and Secondary Schools, Kindergarten to Grade 12  English as a Second Language and English Literacy Development (2007) Secondary Curriculum Policy ELL POLICY

 Supporting English Language Learners DVD (2009)  Supporting English Language Learners in Grades 1 to 8 (2008)  Supporting English Language Learners with Limited Prior Schooling (2008)  Supporting English Language Learners in Kindergarten (2007)  Many Roots Many Voices (2005) Available at ELL RESOURCES

 Board Developed Resources from the 111 ELL Project initiative in  Steps for English Proficiency (STEP)  resource guide  initial assessment tool  ongoing assessment continua Reading Writing Oral Communication COMING UP

Expanded Cooperative Education Currently students can count two cooperative education credits towards the 18 compulsory credits required for the OSSD. There is no limit to the number of optional credits that a student may earn through cooperative education. Two cooperative education credits are a required component of the Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM). Co-op programs will need to grow to accommodate these additional students. The Expansion of Cooperative Education Toolkit is available to support schools and boards in expanding co-op and is available online on the Ministry’s website. see Cooperative Education Fact Sheet – English Language Learners Ontario is a leader in secondary school cooperative education, nationally and internationally. It is one of the few jurisdictions where the program is based on students applying and further developing curriculum expectations from a related course in the workplace. Co-op Snapshot Student Enrolment ( ): 114,716 Number of students taking co-op at least once in a school year has climbed by 28% from 57,797 in to over 73,000 in (Note: numbers expected TBD)

Adult and Continuing Education The government is committed to increasing opportunities for adults to acquire basic education and foundation skills. It invests close to $200M annually and supports more than 90,000 adult learners. This includes basic programming reviewed in the Ontario Learns report (EDU adult high school credit programs, TCU Literacy and Basic Skills and Academic Upgrading and MCI ESL/FSL/Bridging programs.) Over 50 school boards offer adult and continuing education programs, of which 31 offer adult education programs funded by all three ministries (credit, ESL/FSL and Literacy and Essential Skills). The Ministry of Education provides more than $70M annually for school boards to deliver adult and continuing education programs and services for credit leading to a secondary school diploma. The Ministers’ Committee on Adult Education chaired by the Minister of Education, meets regularly to provide direction on improved policy alignment and coordination of programs and services for adult learners across government.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE POLICY AND PROGRAM Boards will implement a process for evaluating a student’s proficiency in an international language(s) and providing appropriate credit(s) for that proficiency. This includes Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR). Through the process of challenging for credit, students may have their knowledge and skills evaluated against the expectations outlined for any of the Level 1–4 international language courses in the provincial curriculum policy documents in order to earn credit(s) towards the secondary school diploma (Section 2.6.4) In , the ministry will continue to enhance the capacity of school boards to recognize and assess prior learning, to collect and report significant data on their adult learners and programs and to provide accessible information.

FIRST LANGUAGE CHALLENGE ASSESSMENTS  School boards developed challenge assessments in Persian (Farsi), Punjabi, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, Spanish & Russian that newcomers can use to demonstrate their proficiency and earn credits toward an Ontario Secondary School Diploma  CESBA (Ontario Association of Adult and Continuing Education School Board Administrators) and ILEA (International Language Educators Association) received funding to develop the First Language Challenge Assessment Resource Guide to support school boards with the implementation of these PLAR assessments  These assessments will be available in an online format using the provincial Learning Management System after field testing is completed in spring 2010