Project SAILL: Success through
Academic Interventions in
Language and
Literacy
University of Houston
University of Texas at Austin
Center for Applied Linguistics
University of Miami
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Acknowledgements
• Institute of Education Sciences, US
Department of Education
• Brownsville Independent School District
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Overview of Presentation
• Topics Presented
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Overview of the study (Diane August, Elsa Hagan)
SIOP (Ari Sherris)
Phonics and phonemic awareness (Elsa Hagan)
Reading and skills practice (Diane August)
Grammar and writing (Diane August)
Storybook reading (Diane August, María Díaz)
• Process
– Brief description
– Video clip/demonstration
– Discussion
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Study Organizational Chart
Principal Investigators
Research Evaluation
David Francis
Coleen Carlson
UH
Local Operations
Elsa Hagan
Brownsville/UH
Instruction
Diane August
Maria Carlo
Elsa Hagan
SIOP Model
Carolyn Adger
Ari Sherris
CAL
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
3-Tier Model
Sharon Vaughn
Sylvia Thompson
UT-Austin
Overview of Study Design
• One district – Brownsville Independent School District
• Two language of instruction models
– Very early transition (VET)
– Traditional bilingual education (TBE)
• School continues to implement the general model that
the school has adopted
– Half the classrooms randomly assigned to teach as usual and
half use research-enhanced curriculum and teaching practices
• Study is implemented in one grade per year
• Begin with K in 2004-2005 and continue through third
grade
– Currently in second grade classrooms
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Language of Instruction Models
• Very Early Transition
• Traditional Bilingual
- Emphasis in K–
- Emphasis in KinderGrade 1 on Spanish
garten on English
language and literacy
language and literacy
development with
development with some
English oral language
Spanish oral language
development
support
- Emphasis in Grades
- Emphasis in Grades 1–3
2-3 on Spanish and
on English language and
English language and
literacy development
literacy development
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Assessment and Observations
• Students assessed in English and in Spanish
• Student assessment in the beginning of the year and the end of
the year in grades K-3
• Assessments
– Phonological Awareness
– Letter Names and Letter Sounds
– Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery: Letter Word ID, Passage
Comprehension
– Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery: Picture Vocabulary,
Listening Comprehension
– Authentic measures of English proficiency (story retell)
• Observations of classroom language and literacy practices in all
classrooms
• Observations for fidelity of implementation in research-enhanced
classrooms
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Ongoing Support
• Professional Development
– Prior to the school year
– Every two months
• Observations by mentors with feedback
to teacher
– In-class mentoring
– Weekly planning meetings
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
3-Tiers of Instruction
• Tier 1
– Phonics (Language Enrichment/Esperanza/
Esperanza Transition)
– Reading Practice and Skills
• Modified MacMillan grammar and writing
• Modified MacMillan reading
– Oral language development (story book and
expository text reading)
– SIOP
• Tiers 2 and 3
– Small group tutoring to build word reading,
spelling, fluency, and vocabulary skills
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Schedule: Bilingual Program/Grade 2
• Reading block (90 minutes)
Spanish reading practice (modified MacMillan)
Spanish grammar and writing (modified
MacMillan)
Transition phonics (Language Enrichment
transition)
• ESOL block (60 minutes)
English oral language development (read-alouds)
English reading practice (modified MacMillan)
• SIOP
• Tiers 2 and 3
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Schedule: English Program/grade 2
• 90 minute reading block
English phonics (Language Enrichment)
English reading and skills practice
(modified MacMillan)
Oral language development (read alouds)
• ESOL block
English grammar and writing (modified
MacMillan)
• SIOP
• Tiers 2 and 3
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Project Benefits to Teachers
• Effective research-based approach to
delivering and organizing instruction for
ELLs
• Additional materials
• Project tutors provide Tier 2 and Tier 3
intervention
• Ongoing, long-term staff development and
mentoring
• Opportunities to collaborate with colleagues
• Participation in a study of national
significance
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
National Literacy Panel on LanguageMinority Children and Youth: Research
findings that support our approach
• Instruction in the native language aids achievement
– Meta-analysis of all acceptable studies that compared
English-only instruction with instruction that used some
native language
– 15 acceptable studies that generated 71 effect sizes across
26 samples
– Bilingual education has a statistically significant positive
effect on reading in English (with an effect size of about .40)
– These findings are consistent with other recent metaanalyses (Greene, 1997; Rolstad, Mahoney, & Glass, 2005)
– To provide some perspective, the National Reading Panel
estimated that the average effect size of phonics instruction
to be 0.44
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
National Literacy Panel on LanguageMinority Children and Youth: Research
findings that support our approach
• Good instruction for English-language
learners is similar to good instruction
monolingual English students
– English-language learners benefit from
explicit instruction that builds phonological
awareness, word reading skills, fluency,
vocabulary, comprehension and writing
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
National Literacy Panel on LanguageMinority Children and Youth: Research
findings that support our approach
• Adjustments are important
– Effect sizes for English-language learners are
lower and more variable than those for nativeEnglish-speaking students, suggesting that such
teaching is likely to be necessary but insufficient
for improving literacy achievement among the
English-language learners. It is possible that
combining high-quality instruction in the literacy
components with efforts to enhance English oral
language development in the context of this
literacy instruction would lead to higher effect
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
sizes.
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
National Literacy Panel on LanguageMinority Children and Youth: Research
findings that support our approach
– We work in a bilingual program where first
language literacy development is encouraged
while students acquire English literacy
– We explicitly teach phonological awareness,
phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and
writing
• Build on effective methods used with monolingual
speakers
• Follow a format of introduce a concept, model and group
practice, individual practice, and review
• Develop skills systematically and sequentially
• Differentiate instruction
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
National Literacy Panel on LanguageMinority Children and Youth: Research
findings that support our approach
– We make accommodations to ‘standard’
instruction
• Introduce read-alouds (both narrative and expository) to
build oral language proficiency, including vocabulary and
listening comprehension
• Provide a lot more scaffolding (e.g., pre-teach some
vocabulary, paraphrase text, ask ongoing questions to
build comprehension, provide glossaries that include
pictures as well as definitions) to ensure students
understand the texts they are reading and listening to
• Capitalize on students’ first language proficiency and
literacy (e.g., cognate awareness; transition phonics)
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Results for First Grade
• No statistically significant differences between
treatment and control group on early reading
skills
– Despite less time spent in reading practice for
treatment groups
– All students doing well on early reading skills
• Significant differences between treatment and
control groups on standardized measures of
oral language proficiency
– Vocabulary
– Listening comprehension
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
The SIOP Model
A means for making grade-level academic
content (science, social studies, math) more
accessible to second-language learners
while at the same time promoting their
English language development.
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
The SIOP Model:
Sheltered Instruction for Academic Achievement
(Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2004)
• Preparation
• Building
Background
• Comprehensible
Input
• Strategies
• Interaction
• Practice &
Application
• Lesson
Delivery
• Review &
Assessment
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
SIOP Model of Sheltered Math Instruction
Strategies
Background
Information
Scaffolding
Structured
Pairwork
Math Journaling
Math Manipulatives
Feedback
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Spoken &
Written Math
Discourse
Development
Think Alouds
Grade 2 Math Lesson
• Typical Gr. 2 math lesson from district
– math presentation & practice
– high on teacher talk, low on visuals
– lacks systematic treatment of math language
• Enhanced Gr. 2 math lesson in treatment classrooms
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explicit content and language objectives
concept definition map
links to prior knowledge and learner background
goal directed oral pairwork (e.g., information gap activities in math)
math Journals
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
English Phonics Instruction for
Students in all-English Program
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Phonics review
Review of previously learned reading concepts (e.g., ch, ng)
Word study review (affixes)
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New concept introduction
Introduction of new reading concepts using four modalitiesvisual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile
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Reading and spelling practice
Reading, spelling, and writing practice of new concepts
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Review
New day’s learning
2-3 previously learned concepts
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Transition Phonics Instruction for
Students in Bilingual Program
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Phonics review
Review of previously learned reading concepts (e.g., ch, ng)
Word study review (affixes)
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New concept introduction
Introduction of new reading concepts using four modalitiesvisual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile
•
Reading and spelling practice
Reading, spelling, and writing practice of new concepts
•
Review
New day’s learning
2-3 previously learned concepts
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Phonics Instruction for Students
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Alignment of phonics instruction and
reading practice
In the transition program, explicit
instruction in similarities and differences
between English and Spanish word
reading, spelling, and grammatical
conventions
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
English Reading and Skills Practice for
Students in English-only Program
• Students learn second grade concepts
– Second grade MacMillan reading program used to
give students practice reading connected text and
building skills
– Schedule
• Days 1-2: Whole class guided reading of decodable story
• Days 3-4: Small group differentiated instruction using
SAILL Safari/teacher choice of materials to reinforce
reading concepts
• Day 5: Skill instruction and assessment
• Day 6: Flex day
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
English Reading and Skills Practice for
Students in Bilingual Program
• Bilingual Program
– Students learn first and second grade concepts
– First grade MacMillan reading program used to
give students practice reading connected text and
practice reading skills
– Schedule
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Day 1: Guided Reading of Decodable Story
Days 2-3: Teacher choice to reinforce reading concepts
Day 4: Skill
Day 5: Assessment
Day 6: Flex day
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Spanish Reading and Skills Practice for
Students in Bilingual Program
• Very similar to English reading and skills
practice
– Days 1 - 2: Guided reading of decodable text,
including pre-teaching of vocabulary
– Days 3 - 4: Differentiated instruction to build
decoding and comprehension and to learn reading
skills
– Day 5: Assessment and review in Spanish of
concepts introduced in the English expository text
– Day 6: Flex day
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Grammar and Writing: English and
Spanish
– Day 1: new grammar concept or skill
(e.g.,plural nouns)
– Day 2: grammar mechanics (e.g., letter
writing conventions)
– Day 3: grammar assessment
– Day 4: Writing
– Day 5: Writing
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Writing: English and Spanish
– 5 week sequence for each genre (e.g. personal
narrative, persuasive writing)
• Week 1: Modeling: present genre, explore the structure
of the genre
• Week 2: Group drafting: group practice to develop ideas
and structure, group drafting)
• Week 3: Students draft composition
• Week 4: Student revisions (genre and conventions)
based on teacher feedback
• Week 5: Students produce finished composition based
on teacher feedback
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Oral Language Development
• Use of rich children’s literature and
expository text to build oral language
proficiency, literacy and content
knowledge
– Teacher’s guide
– High quality children’s literature and
expository text aligned with second grade
science curriculum
– Picture cards
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Oral Language Development: Schedule
• Days 1 and 2
– Pre-teach key words
– Interactive Reading
– Closing Discussion
• Days 3 and 4
– Interactive Reading
– Closing Discussion
– Extending Word Meaning
• Key Words
• Basic Words
• Other Words and Phrases
• Day 5
– Assessment
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Oral Language Development
• Techniques
– Pre-teaching of key words
• use of visuals and act-outs (grade 1)
– Interactive reading
• Using pictures and demonstration to clarify meaning
• Paraphrasing key vocabulary and complicated chunks of
text
• Building background knowledge
• Questioning techniques that allow the teacher to model
comprehension strategies and clarify text (visualizing,
drawing inferences, making connections from text-to-text
and text-to-self, summarizing, inferring word meaning
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Oral Language Development
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Techniques (cont.)
– Closing discussion
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Predictions and inferences
Compare/contrast
Summarization
Connect text to own experience
Evaluate the book
– Extending word meanings
• Basic words connected to theme (e.g. vehicles)
• Other words and phrases (e.g., idioms and other words that are challenging such
as phrasal verbs, words with multiple meanings, adverbs, prepositions)
– Review
• Use of glossary that includes pictures of all the words and games
– Assessment
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Oral Language Development
• Techniques (cont.)
– Partner-talk
– Repeat, elaborate, and rephrase
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”
Education is not the
filling of a pail, but a
lighting of a fire
William Butler Yeats
Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit V
“Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap”