A solid foundation of early academic literacy for English

1
A solid foundation of early academic literacy for
English Learner success

• A Preschool -Third grade approach
• for Spanish-Speaking English Learners

Laurie Olsen, Ph.D.
2
The Context

• Increasing Hispanic and immigrant population in
  the state and nation
• Lack of English and lack of strong literacy
  continues to be a barrier to participation,
  employment, education
• An enduring and increasing achievement gap in
  K-12 for Latinos and English Learners

3
Children who start behind, stay behind.

• Skills in kindergarten predict academic
  achievement in later years
• Initial gaps in readiness skills between EL and
  English proficient children do not narrow by 3rd
  grade - and often grow
• Initial readiness gaps between ethnic groups
  widen by 3rd grade

4
National county data

• High quality early childhood education reduces
  disparities in outcomes
• Experience in preschool leads to entering
  kindergarten more school ready
• Strengths in social expression and academic
  skills are strong predictors of academic success
  through 5th grade
• Self-regulation (rated high by Kinder teachers)
  is not linked to later achievement

5
Defining generic high quality ECE is not
sufficient

• High quality ECE reduces disparities in
  educational outcomes overall.
• BUT access is a challenge for low-income families
  who are not English fluent
• A quality program for English Learners requires
  something beyond standard indicators of quality
  (safety, developmental, low ratios, partnership
  with parents)

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• High quality preK contributes to meaningfully
  higher levels of school achievement among low SES
  children, including low SES Hispanics -- However,
  there is limited impact in the area of language
  development!
• Substantial short-term positive outcomes. But a
  Fade out effect of PreK and Full day Kinder
  (60-80 of cognitive gains dissipate by Spring of
  first grade - by 3rd grade mostly gone)
• For English Learners, the gap narrows but does
  not close as a result of preschool

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Why?

• Lack of preschool models addressing the specific
  needs of English Learners and their families
• Confusion about what the needs of English
  Learners are in early years
• Preparing FOR Kindergarten is not enough - the
  two systems need better alignment and connection

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This workshop

• Overview of research on language development for
  English Learners in early years
• Share the SEAL model and approach now being
  demonstrated/piloted
• Describe the implementation in two school
  districts
• Discuss implications for the field

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From the research

• Learning to speak and use language is a major
  task of the early years - development of language
  is wired into the human brain
• There is a developmental continuum of
  language/literacy development in young children
  (birth to 8)
• This window of language development is a unique
  opportunity for development of bilingualism
• Young children engaged in two language worlds
  have unique needs

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Early language development

• Experiences in infancy establish habits of
  seeking, noticing and incorporating experience,
  as well as schemas for categorizing and thinking
  about experience
• Within the first few years, nearly all typically
  developing children develop mastery of the basis
  for language

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• By age 3 children have acquired the basic rules
  of grammar, understand much spoken language,
  understand as many as a thousand words and
  produce several hundred
• By age 4 The system of language is fairly well
  established children ask questions to develop
  meaning about the world, which is encoded in
  language vocabulary grows

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• A childs home language is a crucial foundation
  for social interactions, cognitive development,
  learning about her world, and emerging literacy
• Language of the home is vehicle for making and
  establishing meaningful communicative
  relationships, to construct knowledge and test
  learning
• Language is a socio-emotional and cultural
  phenomenon - key to identity formation

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Bilingual development

• Bilingual development is a common and normal
  childhood experience.
• Infants distinguish languages and interpret
  contextual cues to learn which language is
  appropriate within given contexts
• Children with two languages show greater tissue
  density in areas associated with language,
  memory, focus - and more neural activity in parts
  of the brain associated with language processing.

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Myths and misunderstandings

• Learning two languages will confuse children and
  lead to delays or disorders
• With less exposure to each language, neither will
  become developed fully - and they will not attain
  proficiency equal to monolingual children in
  either language

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I. Importance of rich oral language
development in young children

• Verbal interaction is essential in the
  construction of knowledge
• Producing language encourages learners to process
  language more deeply than when just listening or
  receptive.
• Oral language is the bridge to academic language
  associated with school and the development of
  literacy --

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Early Catastrophe The 30 million word gap

• Vocabulary a child uses at 3 is predictive of
  language skills at age 9, and directly predictive
  of reading comprehension
• Trends in amount of talk, vocabulary growth,
  systems of interaction using language is
  well-established by age 3
• Words heard by 3 year olds
• professional families 215,000
• working class families 125,000
• families on welfare
  62,000
• Hart and Risley, 2003

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National Literacy Panel on Language Minority
Children and Youth (2008)

• Oral language development is critical to
  literacy and is often and increasingly
  overlooked in early literacy instruction and
  curriculum

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Implications for early education

• Amount, degree and TYPE of oral interaction is a
  big factor in early years
• Important to stimulate the talk that allows
  language learners to explore and clarify
  concepts, name their world, wonder and describe

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II. Language develops in context

• Young children develop language through play,
  social interaction, listening, experimenting with
  producing language - in the context of going
  about their lives -
• Much of the early literacy curriculum is
  decontextualized language arts - phonics,
  letter-of-the-week

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III. Development of the home language is
crucial

• Home language development is vulnerable
• Children in English immersion ECE tend to lose
  ability to communicate in L1, prefer English,
  frequently develop communication problems with
  extended families and experience depressed
  academic achievement in English

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Misunderstandings..

• Myth there is no research base, its just a
  matter of politics and opinion
• Myth Time spent in home language is wasted time
  for developing English
• Myth More and earlier immersion in English is
  the best way to acquire English

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Actually..

• Children have more extended and complex
  vocabulary and language skills if their home
  language is developed
• Bilingual children perform better than
  monolinguals on select cognitive tasks
• English Learners make more academic progress when
  they have the opportunity to learn in both their
  home language and English

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Counterproductive common preschool practices

• Get them into English before Kinder as a primary
  goal of preschool.
• Ending use of home language (it is actually
  detrimental and disruptive to language
  development, family relationships and identity
  development)
• Informal, random use of two languages

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The SEAL Model Sobrato Early Academic Literacy
Initiative
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The Sobrato Family Foundation

• Mission to help create and sustain a vibrant
  and healthy community where all Silicon Valley
  residents have equal opportunity to live, work
  and be enriched

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Six foundational components

• Academic language and literacy in English and
  Spanish
• Rich oral language development
• Text-rich environment and curriculum
• Language developed through enriched curriculum
• Affirming learning environment
• Teachers and Parents working together
• Preschool through third grade!

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1 Academic Language and Literacy in
English and Spanish

• Use and development of the childs home
  language will benefit the child in acquiring
  English (CDE Principles for Promoting Language,
  Literacy and Learning in Preschool English
  Learners - 2007)
• . but How?

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Defining the language model

• PreK and Kinder Minimum of 50 in home language
  - minimum of 20 of English throughout the
  schoolyear
• Home language for rich initial concept
  development
• English builds upon the home language
• Intentional focus on the relationship between the
  two languages - and on transfer
• Languages separated

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Requires information about the development of
BOTH languages

• SEAL Preschool teachers use PreLAS assessment in
  BOTH languages
• Developed typologies/profiles describing degrees
  of bilingualism Spanish only Spanish/dominant
  and English receptive Balanced bilingual
  English dominant, Spanish receptive English only.

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2 Rich oral language development

• Four domains of language oral language is
  foundation
• CDE Preschool Foundations
• Engage children in using language
• Enrich the language they hear
• Work with parents on oral language development
  strategies with their children
• Chants, rhymes, songs

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3 Text-rich environment and curriculum

• Active engagement with books and writing
  (children and parents)
• Meaningful interactions with print media
• Talking about books contributes to comprehension,
  vocabulary AND to oral language
• Seeing self in books is crucial to literacy
• Purchased books for variety of genre, linked to
  themes, bilingual

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4 Language developed through enriched
curriculum

• Language as a vehicle for learning and expression
• Emphasis on ACADEMIC language
• To close achievement gap requires access to full
  curriculum
• Equity issue
• Science and the arts are powerful subjects and
  opportunities for language development
• Thematic units

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5 Affirming Learning Environment

• Affective filter and language learning
• The HIGHEST expectations
• A culture and climate of respect and inclusion -
  culturally responsive classrooms
• Relationship between healthy socio-emotional
  development and sense of safety

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• Strong home-school partnerships
• Linguistic and cultural congruity
• Care with messages about relative worth of family
  languages and cultures
• Literacy practices of parents are correlated with
  later success in English for children who are
  LOTE - so strengthening language practices in
  families is an important part of early education
  (encourage use and development of home language)

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6 Teachers and Parents work together

• Education for ELs is enhanced when schools and
  families partner around childrens education
• Parents can facilitate literacy development by
  using the language they know best and by using it
  in varied and extensive ways
• School need to address barriers to involvement
• Relationship between school and home is a
  crucial factor in healthy development of
  identity, and sense of belonging.

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Attention to PreK - K school transition and
beyond

• Two different systems - little connection
• Preparation for academic success - kindergarten
  readiness is too low for academic success
• The transition itself is a vulnerable time - need
  strategies and policies to support transition
• Period from ages 3 to eight is critical for
  language development

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The PreK-3 movement

• Public schools nationwide are increasingly
  serving more 4 year olds and even 3 year olds
• Instead of how to prepare children in ECE for K-
  view it as an articulated and connected schooling
  experience
• Systems based integrated approach
• Move away from separate notions of ECE and K-12 -
  focus on alignment (horizontal, vertical,
  temporal)
• North Carolina/ Foundation for Child
  Development

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Structure of SEAL pilot

• 8 preschools (community based and state-funded
  preschools) on 4 elementary school sites in
  Redwood City School District and San Jose Unified
  School District
• Cohort begins in preschool and will be followed
  through third grade

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Working with the sites

• Components are the foundation
• No one size fits all, exact replication model
  or process
• SEAL Lead teams reflect on their practices, build
  on their strengths, identify and plan to address
  gaps
• TWBI, ABE and SEI

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The SEAL process

• Worked closely with district to align work and
  support
• Set up an infrastructure of support
• Reflective practice - continuing throughout the
  life of the pilot
• Deep immersion in research, access to top
  research and researchers in the field,
• focused on data

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Professional Development

• Silvia Duque Reyes, Side by Side
• Kathy Escamilla, Literacy Squared - GLAD and
  PreK GLAD
• California Reading and Literacy Project -
  Transfer and Houghton-Mifflin
• Strategies for oral language development through
  text-engagement
• Grade-level and cross-grade collaboration time -
  BY PROGRAM and integrated across programs

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TWBI-ABE-SEI Basic educational principles
apply across early education settings.

• Language development should occur in context
• Developmental/play based preschool
• Emphasis on rich and academic oral language
• L1 developed to extent can be done - and always
  honored
• Resources for enriched environment and books/text
• Parent/home/school connection
• More TIME - full day programs, multi-year summer
  bridge programs
• Small ratios
• Home visits (Parents as Teachers)

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Use and work with local resources

• Schmahl Science Workshops
• Bilingual Authors
• Families United for Literacy and Learning
• Early Childhood Language Development Institute
  (SMCOE) for preschool providers and parents

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Build connections across the PreK and K-3 systems

• Articulation meetings and visits PreK-K
• Support families and children in transitioning
  between and across the systems
• Summer Bridge programs engage both grade-levels
  working together in the NEW setting
• Seek professional development, assessments and
  strategies that can build similar learning
  conditions across the grades
• Through data, research dialogue, build a SHARED
  VISION PreK - 3

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The Evaluation/Research

• Dr. Kathryn Lindholm-Leary
• Longitudinal design following cohorts of students
  from entering preschool through third grade
• Data points/analysis - PreK entry, K entry, First
  grade entry, end of third grade

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Student Measures Pre K

• Desired Results DRDP Revise (Spanish/English)
• Pre LAS (Spanish/English)
• Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
• Kindergarten School Readiness Checklist

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Student Measures K ?

• CELDT
• Social Rating Scale
• Self-Description Questionaire
• Lindholm-Leary Student Attitude Scale
• CST
• Aprenda - Reading
• STS

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Classroom measures

• Preschool - ECERS-R and ECERS-E
• Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) -
  measures emotional and instructional climate
• Language Use in Classroom
• Staff quality and training

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Family Context

• Adaptation from ECLS Longitudinal Student and
  Lindholm-Leary Parent Scales - focus on language
  and literacy practices
• Family involvement in school and childs education

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Between now and 2014.

• Videos of classroom practices
• Reflection tools/observation tools
• Readers
• Research updates as data on cohort becomes
  available
• Information on replication forums
• Visits to the sites

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Implications for the field
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Importance of EL specific models and approaches

• Professional development is essential
• Build capacity across the system and partners to
  understand and respond to EL early education needs

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Dont accept unforgivably low standards for
kindergarten readiness

• Ability to decode in a second language does not
  foundation of language needed to comprehend more
  difficult texts in that second language
• Ability to express basic needs and carry on a
  simple conversation is not a sufficient base for
  academic competency - language proficiency takes
  years!
• Children need a sustained, consistent language
  development approach - focus on academic
  vocabulary, rich rich language in L1

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Beyond readiness, beyond transition. build
connections between Preschools and K-3

• Collaboration time, facilitated dialogues, visits
• Shared professional development
• Similar, articulated assessments and strategies
• Attend to disjunctures in district planning and
  management
• Longitudinal data

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State and local policy needs to be flexible

• No one program model fits all populations,
  contexts, capacities (multiple languages,
  homogeneous, English plus one other language,
  etc.)
• Linguistically isolated, heavily impacted
  Hispanic/ Spanish-speaking communities can mount
  effective bilingual approaches

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Thank you!

• For more information, contact
• Laurie Olsen, Director
• Sobrato Early Academic Literacy
• Lolsen_at_sobrato.org