CSU Early Assessment Program
California State University
Zulmara Cline
zcline@calstate.edu
EAP Professional Development
 A strong component of the EAP is teacher
professional development. CSU faculty
collaborating with K-12 Educators have
developed PD in both English and mathematics to
support a path to proficiency in both reading and
math.
 In English we have:
– The Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum
 In Mathematics we have:
– Strengthening Mathematics Instruction
2
How CSU Supports Students to Gain
Proficiency in English and Math
 Advise students and families on how to meet CSU
expectations
 Provide educational tools and planning resources to
help students improve their English and math skills
– CSU English and Math Success Web sites
 Provide teacher/administrator professional
development programs
 Support high school adoption of specific curricula
– ERWC
– Specialized support for alternative math offerings
3
Supplemental High School Preparation
CSU Success Web Sites
http://www.csusuccess.org/shome
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EAP Professional Development
Program
Time Span Total # Participants Annual Activity
ERWC
2004-2011
More than 6,000
educators*
35-45 workshop
series offered each
year
RIAP
2002-2011
Approximately 3600
educators*
4-20 institutes
offered each year
SMI
2009-2010
Approximately 600
educators
25 workshops
* including community college instructors
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English-Language Arts
Supplemental High School Preparation
 Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC) for
students in grades 11 and/or 12
– Emphasizes in-depth study of expository, analytical, and
argumentative writing
– Approved to fulfill the “b” English requirement of the UC and
CSU “a-g” college entrance requirements
– Intended for broad usage (not as an honors or remedial course)
– Eligibility to enroll in the course is not dependent on the results
of the EAP
– Approximately 400 high schools have adopted the ERWC
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English-Language Arts
Supplemental High School Preparation
 Calibrated Peer Review
– http://www.csuenglishsuccess.org/practice_ept_essays
 Online Practice EPT Essay Assignments
– Using an online tool known as Calibrated Peer Review (CPR),
students respond to retired EPT essay prompts and engage in an
online peer review process where they will learn to evaluate
writing samples using the EPT scoring rubric.
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ERWC
Expository Reading and Writing Course
 Developed by CSU English faculty and high
school teachers
 Aligned with ELA content standards for 11th and
12th grades
 Structured around assignment template
addressing reading and writing
 Engages students in a study of rhetoric and
composition
 Enables students to read and write academic
prose effectively and strategically
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ERWC
Expository Reading and Writing Course
 Increases students’ mastery of academic
language
 Emphasizes in-depth study of expository,
analytical, and argumentative writing
 Deepens students’ critical reading, writing, and
thinking skills
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ERWC
Modules
Semester One
Semester Two
 Fast Food: Who’s to Blame?
 Bring a Text You Like to Class
 Going for the Look
 Language, Gender, and
Culture
 Rhetoric of the Op-Ed Page:
Ethos, Pathos, and Logos
 Left Hand of Darkness
 The Value of Life
 The Politics of Food
 Racial Profiling
 Justice: Childhood Love
Lessons
 Juvenile Justice
 The Last Meow
 Into the Wild
 Bullying at School: Research
Project
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ERWC
Key Principles
1.
The integration of interactive reading and writing processes;
2.
A rhetorical approach to texts that fosters critical thinking;
3.
Materials and themes that engage student interest and
provide a foundation for principled debate and argument;
4.
Classroom activities designed to model and foster successful
practices of fluent readers and writers;
5.
Research-based methodologies with a consistent
relationship between theory and practice;
6.
Built-in flexibility to allow teachers to respond to varied
students' needs and instructional contexts; and
7.
Alignment with English-Language Arts Content Standards.
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ERWC
Elements of the Assignment Template
Reading Rhetorically
• Prereading
• Reading
• Postreading
Connecting Reading to
Writing
• Writing to Learn
• Using the Words of Others
• Negotiating Voices
Writing Rhetorically
•
•
•
•
Prewriting
Writing
Revising and Editing
Evaluating and Responding
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ERWC
Assignment Template: Extended Example
Reading
Rhetorically
Prereading
• Getting Ready to Read
• Introducing Key Concepts
• Surveying the Text
• Making Predictions and
Asking Questions
• Introducing Key Vocabulary
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How are High Schools Implementing the
ERWC
 12th grade adoptions for a full year
 11th and 12th grade semester adoptions
 We are developing modules specifically for
Middle School and 9th, 10th, and 11th grades to
help schools with a college readiness curriculum
and an intense 12th grade experience.
14
ERWC
Early Assessment Program: Professional
Development
 Historically offered to educators in Englishlanguage arts and mathematics
 Community college faculty regularly participate
as leaders and participants (as space is
available)
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ERWC
Professional Development in English
• Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC)
Workshops [20 hours]
– Provide teachers with skills necessary to teach
ERWC
– Offered by County Offices of Education and CSU to
high school English teachers
• Reading Institutes for Academic Preparation
(RIAP) [80 hours]
• Funding for Reading Institutes for Academic
Preparation suspended in 2011-2012
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ERWC Online Community
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Online Registration for
ERWC Workshops
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What Happens During ERWC Workshops
 CSU EAP Coordinator introduces EAP program.
 Participants experience two modules from Semester
One Binder.
 Participants become familiar with the ERWC
Template.
 An overview of the EPT scoring guide and how to
score student papers and develop prompts is
presented.
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What Happens in ERWC Workshops?
(continued)
 Rhetorical analysis and argument introduced
 Participants receive Semester One Binder and
Focus on English.
 Participants are encouraged to administer the CSU
assessments, to teach ERWC modules of their
choice, and to come prepared to share student work
on Day Three.
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What Happens in ERWC Workshops?
(continued)
 Participants share assessment results, classroom
experiences, and student work.
 Scoring session using student work that participants
provide.
 Participants receive Semester Two Binder. Reading
Rhetorically, and They Say, I Say.
 Participants experience two modules from the Semester
Two Binder.
 Participants present mini-lesson plans based on modules
they have created themselves.
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ERWC
Evaluation of Expository Reading and
Writing Course
 Annual evaluation studies of ERWC and RIAP from
2005 to 2010.
 Studies included analysis of curriculum
implementation, professional development, student
performance, and student, teacher and administrator
attitudes.
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ERWC
Qualitative evaluation methods included
 Web surveys of teachers, administrators, and CSU faculty
 Observations and interviews of teachers
 Surveys, interviews, and focus groups of high school
student
 Surveys of college students in first-year composition
classrooms
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ERWC
Quantitative student outcome variables
included
 Percent of CSU freshmen proficient in English, fall 2004fall 2008
 Gain in percent proficient in English 2004-08
 California Standards Test (CST)-English language arts
11th grade scale scores 2004-08
 Gain in CST-ELA scale scores, 2004-08
 CSU English Placement Test (EPT) results from 2002 to
2008
 Student participation rates and results from the EAP
program from 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2010
24
ERWC
Findings
 Summative findings provide encouraging results, e.g.,
authors reported that the ERWC schools significantly
outperformed the state-level proficiency rate (7 percentage
point gain vs. 4% gain statewide) for incoming students.
Large-scale experimental or quasi-experimental studies
have not been conducted, however.
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ERWC
Findings
Effect on Students
 Increased skills in reading comprehension, expository writing, and
independent thinking according to teacher surveys
– Analyzed text material more thoroughly
– Reexamined ideas in text
– Read text with different/multiple purposes
– Evaluated and analyzed strength of writers’ arguments
– Read more, including more complex texts by choice
– Applied skills learned with expository texts with traditional English
language arts texts
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ERWC
Findings
Effect on Teachers
 Experienced strong success with curricular materials
 Found material academically rigorous and engaging
 Systemic changes in teaching
 Observed that . . .
– Depth, rigor, and intensity contributed to strong, positive
outcomes for students
– College expectations increased
– Students experienced increased confidence as writers and
readers
– Worked well for English language learners
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ERWC
Implications
 Studies illustrate strong support from educational
professionals on the content richness of the ERWC and
the associated engagement of students. Initial nonexperimental studies and opportunistic matched-case
designs suggest some promising indications of student
gains associated with the intervention. A rigorous quasiexperimental design, or an experimental design, would be
needed in order to make an inferential statement on the
gains associated with the ERWC curriculum.
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Supplemental High School Preparation
CSU Success Web Sites
http://www.csusuccess.org/shome
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Mathematics
Professional
Development in
Mathematics
begins with an
online component
that provides an
overview of EAP.
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Mathematics
Supplemental High School Preparation
 Strengthening Mathematics Instruction (SMI)
– Identify instructional strategies that will help students
organize and solidify conceptual understanding
– Identify characteristics of cognitively complex problems
– Locate standards based cognitively complex problems
within participants classroom texts
– Practice writing standards based cognitively complex
problems
 Supervised e-learning course in mathematics (ALEKS)
for students who were identified as conditionally ready
 Online test preparation in mathematics
– http://www.csumathsuccess.org/exam_prep
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Mathematics
Characteristics of the SMI Workshop
 18-24 hours of professional development; 8 modules to
allow for flexibility in scheduling
 Standards based and tied to the CSTs and CSU placement
standards
 Includes content and activities for teachers of Algebra 1
Geometry, Algebra 2, Pre-Calculus
 Draws on problems and lessons from major textbooks
 Designed for teacher practice and implementation
between workshop sessions based on lesson study
model
 Reflective of the national mathematics standards under
development
 At no cost to the school(s) involved (except for
substitutes)
32
Mathematics
Outcomes of the SMI Workshop
 Identify instructional strategies that will help students
organize and solidify conceptual understanding
 Identify characteristics of cognitively complex problems
 Locate standards-based cognitively complex problems
within participants classroom texts
 Modify standards-based textbook problems to increase
the level of cognitive complexity
 Practice writing standards-based cognitively complex
problems
 Experience the varying roles in the teacher/learner
continuum
 Model a variety of student engagement strategies 33
Mathematics
Purpose of SMI Workshops
To enhance student mathematics proficiency and
understanding by
 Highlighting and encouraging use of researchbased best instructional strategies
 Developing a common emphasis on infusing SMI
strategies across same-level courses (horizontal)
and among sequential courses (vertical)
 Providing a forum to plan implementation of SMI
strategies in order to achieve systemic growth in
mathematics teaching and learning at the site
and/or district level.
34
Mathematics
Design of SMI Workshops
Key features of SMI design:
Bring together an entire mathematic department and/or a
critical mass of teachers within a district to plan the
systemic implementation of the instructional strategies
contained within the SMI modules.
Provide time in between each module to enable teachers
to work together to
- implement SMI strategies into their classroom
instruction
- discuss and evaluate the efficacy of those
efforts
Provide regular, on-site mini-workshops over an extended
period to support on-going and sustainable changes in
teacher behaviors and expectations.
35
Mathematics
Format of the SMI Workshop Series
The SMI Workshop Series consists of 8 modules
and an online tutorial
 The online tutorial must be completed prior to the first
workshop meeting
 Welcome, Setting the Stage, Deconstructing, and
Integrating modules must be done first and in the
specified order.
 Order of the remaining modules may be adjusted in
consultation with the participants/site/district.
 A workshop series may cover fewer modules according
to the special circumstances of the site and/or district.
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Mathematics
The 8 Modules
Setting the Stage
Deconstructing
Integrating
Multiple
Representations
Extending
Procedures
Flexibility
Strategic Thinking
Roadblocks
37
Cognitively Complex Problems
These types of problems require students to
 Extend previously encountered tasks
 Integrate several topics and/or concepts
 Recognize and use underlying mathematical
structures
 Use multiple representations
 Consider multiple approaches to the problem
 Identify patterns
 Be flexible and strategic in their mathematical thinking
38
Example 3 – The Real Numbers
Arrange the numbers in
increasing order from
smallest to largest
If 0 < x < 1, arrange the terms
in increasing numerical order
from smallest to largest
1
5
3
 1
3
21
x
0

x2
1
x
 x2

1
x
x
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Activity
1.
Choose a Cognitively
section or chapter
in your textbook
that
Locating
Complex
Problems
you will be teaching in the next few weeks.
2. Use post-it notes to indicate any problems that are
cognitively complex.
3. At your table, discuss the following questions:
• Where did you find these problems?
• Compare the number of complex problems to the
number of standard problems in your textbook.
• How often do you assign these problems
for homework?
• How often do you include these problems
in your section/chapter assessments?
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What teachers said about a pilot workshop:
 It gave me a starting point to improve
instruction…
 Working with my fellow teachers and having
time to explore complexity was most valuable…
 Learning about cognitive layering in problems is
very important…
 I learned to ask more open-ended questions and
use “what if” to explore mathematics without
fear
 This showed me strategies to make students
think mathematically…
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-- Select a County --
Professional Development
Partners
11 Regions of the California
County Superintendents
Educational Services
Association (CCSESA)
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Resources
 Expository Reading and Writing Course Web Site
– www.calstate.edu/eap/englishcourse
 English Success
– http://www.csuenglishsuccess.org/eshome
 Mathematics Professional Development Web Site
– http://pd.csusuccess.org
 Math Success
– http://www.csumathsuccess.org/mshome?time=5
27205
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www.calstate.edu
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