Effective Practices for ELLs

HOME > EFFECTIVE PRACTICES for ELLs

A FRAMEWORK FOR DOCUMENTING EFFECTIVE PRACTICES FOR ELLS IN THE D&D SCHOOLS

April, 2000

The second "D" in D&D is for "dissemination" — sharing what we do well with others so that they can improve instruction and other services for ELL students.

We have seen effective practices in all of the D&D schools. This spring, we are beginning the important task of documenting them systematically so that they can be shared with others through publications and presentations, and accessed on the D&D web site.

Some of this documentation will be collected routinely as part of the Action Research work already underway. But in some cases, there may be an expert teacher who is not participating in a school’s AR team, but who may be willing to have some aspect of his or her practice documented so that it may be shared. If so, the Program Planning Specialist (PPS) or D&D consultant may be able to work with the building principal and teacher(s) to design a documentation process to capture this valuable information.

Our Working Definition of Effective Practices

When we talk about effective practices, we are talking about practices that:

address one of the standards set for all New York City public school students,

are research-based

can be described in some detail, and

have a measurable effect on student performance (determined by performance-based assessments, student products, or other appropriate means)

This documentation "package" has been designed to help guide the descriptions of classrooms and other effective practices in schools. It is, like many of our products, a work in progress. Figure 1 is a graphic representation of the domains of effective practices for ELLs that we are working with.

The Documentation Process

By April 7 The PPS and D&D consultant will meet with the principal to decide which classroom(s) will be the focus of the inquiry(s).

By April 15 The PPS or D&D Consultant will meet with the teacher(s) to explain the work and see if the teacher is willing to participate. If the answer is positive, the PPS or D&D Consultant will:

Hold a pre-observation interview with the teacher

Conduct at least 2 classroom observations

Conduct a post-observation interview with the teacher to talk about the observations and learnings

Collect and review student work samples or other assessments that may indicate the effectiveness of the practice. (Rubrics may be an appropriate part of this package so that outside readers can determine the meaningfulness of the results.)

At the end of the process, debrief with the teacher to reflect on the work and the results

by May 31 Based on this information, a case study will be then written for inclusion in the final report for this year, and for possible inclusion in the D&D Initiative’s web site (if the school chooses to share the information in that format).

A final report from each school will include:

I. Narrative. Tell the story, in your own words and style, in one or two pages. For example, Who is this teacher? What does he/she do? What makes it effective? What evidence, in terms of student work or outcomes is there?

II. Common Elements. For each school, answer the following questions. They will form the basis of a "binder" of effective practices that we will create based on these reports.

A. The Context: What kind of school? What kind of program? What target population? What kind of class?

B. The Effective Practice.

Succinctly describe the effective practice, in one or two sentences.

C. The ELA or other standard it addresses (be specific!)

D. The Inquiry/documentation Process.

- Initial interviews: with teacher, principal, others? When, what was discussed?

- First class observation. When, what was the focus of the observation? What instruments, tools were used? What was observed?

- Second class observation. Same as above.

- Debriefing interview(s). When, what was discussed? What comments, reflections did teacher have about the observations?

E. Evidence/data.

a) classroom artifacts that describe the effective practice. These can include photos, written descriptions, tapes, videos, etc. They demonstrate or describe the practice.

b) student work that demonstrates that the practice is effective. This can include:

pre- and post samples of student work (from at least three students), with criteria for evaluating, or rubrics;
student test scores;
performance assessments.

[Previous] | [Next]

| | | | | | |

Initiative Sponsors

	NYC Board of Education & Office of English Language Learners		The Education Alliance at Brown University