Big Education Ape

Sunday, May 29, 2016

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Goodbye, May!

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Goodbye, May!:
ICYMI: Goodbye, May!

It's that time of year, so I'm going to start with a non-education recommendation. If it's useful to you or someone you love, pass it on. If not, skip ahead to the education readings for the week.

The 2016 Earth-Friendly and Made in America Wedding Registry

My daughter has extensively researched and researched, looking for resources that are both eco-friendly and are made in the USA, and she recently gathered all her research about wedding-related stuff in one post. If you want to be a more responsible consumer, but can't find the time to look everything up, her blog is loaded with resources and links to help you.

Charter-Choice-- A Closer Look

God bless Roxana Marachi, who has used scoopit to collect a ton of reading about charters and choice. I probably should have put this last, because it's a whole day's worth of reading all by itself.

Another Brick in the Data Wall

If you are not a regular Nancy Flanagan reader, you should fix that. Teacher in a Strange Land is a reliable source of sensible writing about education (don't be put off by the Education Week address).I love the opening of this one:

"To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail." (Abraham Maslow)
And to the man who has a computer, everything he encounters begins to look like data.

Alice in PARCCland: Does validity study really prove the Common Core is valid?

Education Next trotted out a "validity study" from last fall, and William Mathis at the National Education Policy Center did a fine take down. I refer you to Valerie Strauss's coverage instead of the original NEPC post, because Strauss also has the response from the researchers.

Does School Choice Help Close the Graduation Gap"

Sabrina Joy Stevens addresses one of the big claims of choice fans. Yet another good piece of work from the Progressive Education Fellows (full disclosure-- I'm one of them, but it's an otherwise very reputable group).

Response to Chait

Perhaps you saw Jonathan Chait's piece this week in which he tried to argue that She Who Will Not Be Named, former education queen on DC, was actually a rousing success. Here the Daily Howler shows how full of it Chait is (with data, too).

Confronting the Parasite Economy
This piece is long, but it's the best thing I've read for explaining why an economy resting on minimum wage working poor people is no good for anyone-- and it does it without resorting to anything except cold, hard, self-interested economics. CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Goodbye, May!:

HAL Wants To Pick Your Teacher

Are you responsible for hiring teachers in your district? Do you hate all the mess and bother of actually interviewing other carbon based life forms?Well, meet TeacherMatch. If you are a teacher, TeacherMatch will help you find work, and if you are a hiring department, TeacherMatch can perform flat out magic through the power of Predictive Analytics. From the TeacherMatch blog...Previously, schoo

5 by Peter Greene / 22min

ICYMI: Goodbye, May!

7 by Peter Greene / 2h

3M Dance Party

Yesterday, views on this blog passed the three million mark.It's kind of amazing and definitely humbling. But mostly what it tells me is that the issues I vent about here are important to a lot of people. As I said a million hits ago, those hits don't mean I'm an important guy-- they mean I'm writing about important stuff.The fact that I have an audience is a testament to the connectedness of thos

2 by Peter Greene / 2h

YESTERDAY

FL: District Officials Lose Their Damned Minds

School district officials in Sarasota and Manatee counties have completely lost any sense of what they're supposed to be doing.There are areas of policy and practice in the education debates where reasonable people can reach different conclusions about what might be best. This is not one of those times. Some Florida school districts have simply and completely lost the thread.The issue is simple. I

500+ by Peter Greene / 16h hide // save

ESSA: Regulatory Baloney

54 by Peter Greene / 1d

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Goodbye, May!:

New Orleans: How Exclusive Charter Schools Select Their Enrollments | Diane Ravitch's blog

New Orleans: How Exclusive Charter Schools Select Their Enrollments | Diane Ravitch's blog:

New Orleans: How Exclusive Charter Schools Select Their Enrollments

Danielle Dreilinger, a reporter in New Orleans, describes the mechanisms used by three high-performing charter schools in New Orleans to separate the wheat from the chaff and get the students they want.

These three charters have figured out how to remain high-performing.

For example,

Each deploys a unique set of requirements so complicated that parents have made spreadsheets to keep track of the steps, which, as per the schools’ websites and extensive conversations with staff, include some combination of:

Parent attendance at a meeting

A questionnaire filled out by the parent showing they understand the school’s curriculum

An application hand-delivered to the school during business hours

A portfolio of the student’s work

The child’s school attendance record

Scores from a single sitting of a standardized exam, with no retests allowed

Within these details are more details. Lusher applicants, for example, must submit a profile detailing the student’s experience and interests in New Orleans: How Exclusive Charter Schools Select Their Enrollments | Diane Ravitch's blog:

The Benefits of Dual-Language Immersion Education - The Atlantic

The Benefits of Dual-Language Immersion Education - The Atlantic:

The Benefits of Teaching in Two Languages

Bilingual education facilitates connections beyond the confines of a classroom.

Lea esta reportaje en español.

From New York to Utah, U.S. schools have seen a steady rise in bilingual education. Dual-language immersion programs first appeared in the U.S. in the 1960s to serve Spanish-speaking students in Florida. Since then, the demand—and controversy—surrounding these programs has been widespread, and they now address the needs of more than 5 million students who are English-language learners in the country’s public-school system.

Teresa Chávez has been a teacher for almost 20 years, and is currently the lead teacher for Little Canada Elementary's Dual Language Immersion program in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I spoke to Chávez about the implementation of the Spanish-language program and how bilingual education facilitates connections beyond the confines of a classroom. A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.

* * *

Valeria Pelet: How did you get into teaching?

Teresa Chávez: My first passion was poetry. When I was in college, I was also working as a teacher, but as a volunteer. After that, since I was trying to improve my Spanish and I was also clinging to the idea of studying the humanities, I decided to move to Costa Rica. I began to teach, and then I taught in Lima, in Peru, and then in Minneapolis. It was quite a long process to discover that I liked the field of teaching and education.

Pelet: Why do you think bilingual education is important?

Chávez: I believe that it’s important because we are more connected than before.There are many places in the world where people have to speak at the very least two languages. I think that it’s wonderful to learn how to express oneself in more than one language, to be able to travel, work, have friends … I believe that it’s important for children, for example, in the United States, because many families that speak English at home have not thought about the importance of [speaking Spanish]. The ones that speak Spanish at home sometimes want to The Benefits of Dual-Language Immersion Education - The Atlantic:

Questions for the P&C about School Closure, Takeover – the becoming radical

Questions for the P&C about School Closure, Takeover – the becoming radical:

Questions for the P&C about School Closure, Takeover

The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC) has taken an editorial stand in favor of closing a high-poverty, majority-minority school and a private takeover of public schools in Charleston (see a history of the debate here).

Now, a P&C editorial asks more questions:

How many classes of children should come up through the school’s failing system before the district makes some big changes?

Another question: Don’t those children deserve to try an educational approach that has proven to be far more successful?

Since turn about is fair play, let’s investigate those questions and ask a few in return.

At the very least, these questions are loaded, and as a result, misleading.

Burns Elementary (to be closed) is framed again as “failing,” and the Meeting Street Academy, “successful.”

As I have documented, many problems exist with the “good”/”bad” school labeling.

But in this case, we must be extra skeptical because all of the praise for the “successful” and the promises of even more success in “closing the achievement gap” for poor and mostlyQuestions for the P&C about School Closure, Takeover – the becoming radical:

Accomplished speakers Nearing graduation, eight seniors honored for fluency in two languages

Accomplished speakers | Crescent City California News, Sports, & Weather | The Triplicate:

Nearing graduation, eight seniors honored for fluency in two languages

As Del Norte’s graduating seniors begin celebrating their accomplishments, eight received accolades from their parents and teachers Tuesday for their fluency in two languages.

Daisy Cajita, Roger Carrillo, Mitzi Garcia, Ariana Moreno, Jose Ramirez, Roberto Ramirez, Danielle Ruiz and Jonathan Valladares are the first students in Del Norte County to receive the California State Seal of Biliteracy. The seal will be emblazoned on their transcripts and high school diplomas and they’ll wear a special medal at their graduation next month.

“I’m actually feeling pretty proud of myself because I usually don’t acknowledge how bilingualism really affected my life,” Cajita said.

The State Seal of Biliteracy is a new designation for Del Norte school district graduates that will appear on their diploma and transcripts. Del Norte Triplicate / Jessica Cejnar

Having the California State Seal of Biliteracy on their diplomas and transcripts indicates the students have mastered two languages, English and Spanish, said Jamie Godla, Del Norte County Unified School District’s bilingual coordinator.

“It recognizes the students that have mastered two languages,” she said. “They speak, read, write and listen in two languages and they’ve gone through a process that was established by the state of California.”

To receive the seal, each student completed an application process, which included an essay. They took an examination in Spanish, which involved reading an article and watching a video in that language and answering questions.

The students were also required to complete an interview both with their Spanish instructors at Del Norte High School and a foreign language professor at Humboldt State University. Godla said she and Luis Pelayo, who teaches fourth-grade at Smith River School, also participated in the student interviews.

“There are currently 20 states in the nation that have passed a Seal of Biliteracy and it’s become law,” Godla said. “Now it’s becoming more and more recognized by universities and for employment.”

Del Norte County Unified School District currently offers the Seal of Biliteracy only in Spanish. Officials hope to offer a seal of biliteracy to students fluent in Hmong, Tolowa and Yurok soon.

For Danielle Ruiz, who received her medal while she was on her lunch break, being recognized for her ability to speak both English and Spanish will help as she pursues a career as an interpreter. When she graduates, Ruiz plans to attend College of the Redwoods before majoring in English and Spanish at Humboldt State or Sonoma State universities.

“I feel like it’ll open a lot more doors for me,” Ruiz said of the Seal of Biliteracy. “(It shows) I can write, speak and read Spanish fluently and English too.”

Eliana Hillebrand, who taught bilingual education with the school district for 25 years, noted that theAccomplished speakers | Crescent City California News, Sports, & Weather | The Triplicate:

CURMUDGUCATION: FL: District Officials Lose Their Damned Minds

CURMUDGUCATION: FL: District Officials Lose Their Damned Minds:

FL: District Officials Lose Their Damned Minds

School district officials in Sarasota and Manatee counties have completely lost any sense of what they're supposed to be doing.

There are areas of policy and practice in the education debates where reasonable people can reach different conclusions about what might be best. This is not one of those times. Some Florida school districts have simply and completely lost the thread.

The issue is simple. In Florida, some third graders opted out of the Florida Standards Assessment (Florida's version of the Big Standardized Test). They also opted out of the alternative BS Test, the SAT-10 (a version of the Stanford Achievement Test, and not one more piece of money grubbery from the College Board).

But Florida insists that its students take the BS Test, regardless. And Florida also has one of those sense-defying laws that says third graders who can't pass the reading test must be retained.It's a dumb policy for many reasons, not the least of which is that there isn't a lick of evidence that holding third graders back helps. And cooler heads seem to have prevailed last year when the Florida legislature, in a brief moment of lucidity, decided to suspend the rule and just let the actual local school where education professionals worked with the actual children-- just let those guys make the call.

But not this year. This year a third grader can have great grades, the recommendation of her CURMUDGUCATION: FL: District Officials Lose Their Damned Minds:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Congrats to the MORE/New Action Caucus

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Congrats to the MORE/New Action Caucus:

Congrats to the MORE/New Action Caucus

A SmallTalk Salute goes out to the social-justice activists within the York teachers union who have been fighting for years to democratize the UFT. Latest election results show the MORE/New Actioncandidates swept the seven high school teacher seats on the union’s Executive Board.

“Teachers now have a real voice in the United Federation of Teachers, and that voice will not be silenced." says new board member, teacher Arthur Goldstein.

The Caucus' goals are clear and progressive:

Enforce Our Contract and Organize for a Just Contract in 2018
Defend Public Education
Combat Systemic School Segregation and Racism
Support Opt Out and Oppose Common Core, Danielson Evaluations and High Stakes Testing
Make the UFT a Democratic,Transparent and Accountable Union

The vote totals show big gains for the activists over previous elections in a union, the largest Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Congrats to the MORE/New Action Caucus:

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Gates Foundation Blames Teachers For Common Core Failures, Vows To Fight On - Truth Kings

Gates Foundation Blames Teachers For Common Core Failures, Vows To Fight On - Truth Kings:

Gates Foundation Blames Teachers For Common Core Failures, Vows To Fight On

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated tens of millions of dollars in the creation and mandatory implementation of Common Core educational standards.

But over the past 5 plus years, massive efforts, which the Gates Foundation terms as “grass roots efforts,” have plagued the fledgling government program. Most parents and teachers despise it. But to Bill and Melinda Gates, that’s not going to stop them from further pushing it. In fact, according to a new article published on Daily Caller citing an announced released by the Foundation, they intend to ramp up their efforts over the matter.

“Unfortunately, our foundation underestimated the level of resources and support required for our public education systems to be well-equipped to implement [Common Core,]” Desmond-Hellman says in the letter. “We missed an early opportunity to sufficiently engage educators – particularly teachers – but also parents and communities so that the benefits of the standards could take flight from the beginning.”

The Foundation clearly admits that the program is a failure, but in the same breath, they announce intentions of pushing the program more. They blame “grassroots campaigns,” as a way to marginalize the massive efforts against Common Core, many of which have led to absolute reversals in state policies.

The Gates Foundation is now dedicating a deep financial resources to facilitating the development of Common Core-aligned curricula and instructional materials to teacher who were previously reluctant to accept the standard. This is a disturbing approach. No where in the announcement does it mention meeting with teachers or parents. It instead moves to a plan to Gates Foundation Blames Teachers For Common Core Failures, Vows To Fight On - Truth Kings:

Turtle Learning: MAY IS ASIAN AMERICAN HERITAGE APPRECIATION MONTH - LARRY ITLIONG AND PHILIP VERA CRUZ - IT STARTED IN ASPARAGUS FIELDS

Turtle Learning: MAY IS ASIAN AMERICAN HERITAGE APPRECIATION MONTH - LARRY ITLIONG AND PHILIP VERA CRUZ - IT STARTED IN ASPARAGUS FIELDS:

MAY IS ASIAN AMERICAN HERITAGE APPRECIATION MONTH - LARRY ITLIONG AND PHILIP VERA CRUZ - IT STARTED IN ASPARAGUS FIELDS

I have always wanted to write inspiring little books for middle school students (to give them hope in this tough world) about unknown heroes of our country and our world. The first I thought about was Charlotta Bass, the first African American woman to own her own newspaper. Then I thought about Philip Veracruz and Larry Itliong - unknown heroes of people who work in the fields. It was Filipinos who organized first in the fields. Who knew? Did you?
[ONE OBSERVATION AFTER ALL MY READING ABOUT LARRY ITLIONG AND PHILIP VERA CRUZ - THERE ARE EVIDENCES OF A DIVISION BETWEEN THEM, AND PEOPLE TAKING SIDES ABOUT THE TRUE STORY. SOME FEEL LARRY ITLIONG DID ALL THE WORK, SOME PHILIP VERA CRUZ. I think one was the fighter and the other the philosopher. I HOPE THAT PEOPLE WILL SEE THIS AS A STORY OF TWO HEROES WHO WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN WINNING RIGHTS FOR PEOPLE IN THE FIELDS.]
Philip Vera Cruz was a Vice President of the Farmworkers union, the highest ranking Filipino in the union. My friend Kent Wong: "Although I was active with the United Farm Workers, Philip had to teach me that it was the Filipino Americans who first organized a farmworkers union in the San Joaquin Valley. He proudly shared the story of how the Filipino Americans launched the historic Delano grape strike. He explained that the establishment of the United Farm Workers Union was a merger between two separate unions, one representing Filipino American workers and the other with a primarily Mexican membership."

Larry Itliong - "An unsung hero, hard around the edges, Larry Itliong never bragged about his work and always put the cause above everything else, says San Francisco State University history professor Dawn Mabalon. Before he moved north to Delano, Itliong spent the spring of 1965 fighting alongside grape workers in the Coachella Valley to raise their hourly pay from a meager $1.10 to $1.40. " The workers - but only the Filipino workers - went out on strike. Latino workers kept on working and the owners took advantage of this. "Itliong, along with other Filipino leaders like Philip Vera Cruz, Pete Velasco, and Andy Imutan, realized that if they were going to win the strike, they could not proceed alone. Together, with Itliong as regional director, these men led and organized the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). They reached out to Chavez and Huerta, who had formed the mostly-Chicano National Farm Workers Association (NFWA)."

"After several years of unsuccessful picketing, the movement called for a national boycott of table grapes. It was at this point that Delano attracted international Turtle Learning: MAY IS ASIAN AMERICAN HERITAGE APPRECIATION MONTH - LARRY ITLIONG AND PHILIP VERA CRUZ - IT STARTED IN ASPARAGUS FIELDS:

CURMUDGUCATION: ESSA: Regulatory Baloney

CURMUDGUCATION: ESSA: Regulatory Baloney:
ESSA: Regulatory Baloney

Legislators write and pass laws. But the laws they create are sometimes vague and sometimes contradictory, a weird quilt of intentions and tissue. So it falls to other parts of the government to turn laws into regulations. And that's where we are now with the Every Student Succeeds Act (the latest version of the Big Bunch O'Federal Education Laws, the sequel to No Child Left Behind).

Many eyes (not all eyes, unfortunately-- it would be great if all eyes were paying attention, but eyes have been diverted by the dumpster fires that are our primary season, among other things) have been watching John King and the Department of Education, because it's at this stage of the game that King gets to "interpret" ESSA to suit his own ideas of what it ought to say.

This is what Arne Duncan was talking about last December when he told Politico that the USED lawyers were smarter than the members of Congress, and this is what Lamar Alexander has been talking about in his scorching calls to war against John King's USED. Alexander has been crystal clear-- if King tries to turn himself into America's School Superintendent, Alexander is going to come after the secretary with every garden tool in the Congressional woodshed.

The USED is trumpeting its move away from the narrow definition of school achievement based on a single Big Standardized Test, with a new "holistic" approach that allows for four factors:

the proposed regulations build on the statutory language by ensuring the use of multiple measures of school success based on academic outcomes, student progress, and school quality, reinforcing that CURMUDGUCATION: ESSA: Regulatory Baloney:

20th Street Elementary parents protest potential change in school management - LA Times

20th Street Elementary parents protest potential change in school management - LA Times:

20th Street Elementary parents protest potential change in school management

Not every parent at 20th Street Elementary School wants new leadership for their kids’ school.

About 30 mothers gathered in front of the Los Angeles campus Friday morning with signs in English and Spanish, protesting a potential agreement that would give some control of school operations to the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, a nonprofit that specializes in improving low-performing schools, often in under-resourced neighborhoods.

A different group of parents threatened to sue the Los Angeles Unified School District in March, after the district rejected a petition that 58% of parents at the school signed to invoke the state's “parent trigger law,” which allows parents to take control of low-performing schools.

To avoid a lawsuit, the district may agree to allow the partnership to take over school operations, which L.A. School Report first reported on Wednesday. The partnership runs 17 schools in L.A. Unified, including Roosevelt High School and Dolores Huerta Elementary.

Unlike an independent charter school, though, partnership schools are still Los Angeles Unified district schools, meaning the teachers are unionized and the district receives state money allocated for each student. Beyond the district resources, the partnership says it can fundraise for programs, enhancements and technology.

“We are not as bad as other schools that have gotten this partnership,”said Karla Vilchis, a 20th Street parent with one daughter in transitional kindergarten and another who finished fifth grade at the school in 2013. Changes, she said, should come from “working together instead of attacking each other."20th Street Elementary parents protest potential change in school management - LA Times:

The Theft of the Tradition of Music in OUR Public Schools

The Theft of the Tradition of Music in OUR Public Schools:

The Theft of the Tradition of Music in OUR Public Schools

How do politicians eliminate a school orchestra in this country and still sleep at night? How does a community adjust to such a theft when they tried so hard to keep the music playing?

The Loss of the Lafayette Elementary School String Orchestra

In 2013, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago politicians put an end to the popular Lafayette Elementary School String Orchestra. Little thought seemed to be given about the orchestra they shut down along with the school. Lafayette also had a respected program for students with autism.

Former Chicago Public School’s CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett stated:

As we end this school year, it is time for us as a city to begin the work of creating a deep and lasting change in our schools to ensure a better life for our children, a better Chicago workforce and a better future for our city. Everyone has a shared responsibility to ensure students have a safe and smooth transition to their new school in the fall and are on a path to a bright future. We owe them our very best.

A better life with no music? Who was she kidding? Not the community which came together to protest with a school sit-in.

Lafayette is in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. Ninety percent of the children there The Theft of the Tradition of Music in OUR Public Schools:

Page vs Screen: Technology in the Classroom isn’t Hobson’s Choice! (Dorian Love) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Page vs Screen: Technology in the Classroom isn’t Hobson’s Choice! (Dorian Love) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Page vs Screen: Technology in the Classroom isn’t Hobson’s Choice! (Dorian Love)

Dorian Love teaches ICT and 8th grade English at Roedean, a private school in Johannesburg, South Africa. He says at his blog: “I am passionate about educational technology and critical thinking.” He wrote this post on May 12, 2016.

It seems to me that in any class I teach there are three distinct groups of students: one consisting of enthusiastic adopters of digital technologies; a second group of those comfortable enough with the technology, but rather less gung-ho about it; and finally a group which struggles with anything to do with a device, and is all at sea. I gave my grade 8 English class a writing task the other day, and told them they could submit digitally, or on paper. A large group reached immediately for their devices, but some put their tablets to one side, and took out pen and paper. Likewise, when it comes to reading, most of my students have a textbook, but a few use eBooks downloaded on their kindles.

This is, I believe, exactly what it should be. The introduction of technology in the classroom should never amount to an all or nothing affair. The research on the effects of reading and writing on page and screen is by no means conclusive, and with something as important as reading and writing, I believe we should be very cautious about any change. On the other hand so much reading and writing is done on devices these days, we would be ill-advised to ignore it. My common sense, unscientific intuition is that both page and screen form important modalities for literacy practices, and that we need to cultivate good habits in both.

I try to give my students opportunities throughout the year to read and write on Page vs Screen: Technology in the Classroom isn’t Hobson’s Choice! (Dorian Love) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

RI Commissioner Wagner Stands Firm on Automated Scoring for the PARCC | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

RI Commissioner Wagner Stands Firm on Automated Scoring for the PARCC | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy:

RI COMMISSIONER WAGNER STANDS FIRM ON AUTOMATED SCORING FOR THE PARCC

Sheila Resseger, a retired teacher, education activist, and a member of the PCSP, wrote the post below. Her new blog is at https://resseger.wordpress.com/

On April 5, the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, FairTest, Network for Public Education and other parent and teacher activistssent a letter to the State Education Commissioners from the PARCC and SBAC states. I signed the letter as well. We demanded these Commissioners inform us as to whether they plan to use computer scoring for the writing sections of these exams.

As research has shown, computers are unable to distinguish nonsense from coherent prose, and instead grade mostly on an essay’s length and how much arcane vocabulary is used. Employing computers to score the Common Core exams is completely contrary to the supposed goal of these standards: to encourage critical thinking and writing skills; an article about this issue is here.

Later that day, Rhode Island Commissioner Ken Wagner met with our Council on Elementary and Secondary Education. He was enthusiastic about the prospect of computer scoring of the PARCC constructed responses, and made many astonishing claims, including that research showed that computers scored writing as well or better than expert trained teachers.

(You can see the video, watch from about 11 minutes.)

He also falsely claimed that the SAT and Graduate Record Exam (GRE) used computer scoring. Yet on the GRE, every writing sample is scored by both a computer and a human being, and the College Board uses only human scorers on the SAT.

On May 17, 2016 the RI Board of Education met. Only two people commented during the Open Forum part of the meeting. A retired Providence high school English teacher spoke about her disapproval of the proposed revised regulations for high school graduation, with several diplomas offered of differing value, which would be discriminatory. I spoke to critique Wagner’s enthusiastic endorsement of automated scoring of the PARCC constructed responses:

At the April 5, 2016 meeting of the RI Council on Elementary and Secondary Education, Commissioner Wagner was enthusiastic about the prospect of computer scoring of the RI Commissioner Wagner Stands Firm on Automated Scoring for the PARCC | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy:

English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) - Testing (CA Dept of Education)

English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) - Testing (CA Dept of Education):

English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC)

The ELPAC will be the successor to the California English Language Development Test (CELDT). The CELDT is the current required state test for English language proficiency that must be given to students whose primary language is other than English.

State and federal law require that local educational agencies administer a state test of English language proficiency (ELP) to eligible students in kindergarten through grade twelve. The California Department of Education (CDE) is transitioning from the CELDT to the ELPAC as the state ELP assessment by 2018. The ELPAC will be aligned with the 2012 California English Language Development Standards. It will be comprised of two separate ELP assessments: one for the initial identification of students as English learners (ELs), and a second for the annual summative assessment to measure a student’s progress in learning English and to identify the student's level of ELP.

The links and information below were developed for educators and others who are directly involved with the ELPAC.

ELPAC Updates

To receive updates on the latest information about the ELPAC, join the CDE’s ELPAC e-mail list by sending a blank e-mail to: subscribe-elpac@mlist.cde.ca.gov.

Educator Opportunities

There are four educator opportunities available during the 2016–17 school year. See the online application at the link below for more specific details. All meetings will be held in Sacramento.

Meeting (Location: Sacramento)	Date	Time Commitment	Application Deadline
Speaking Range Finding	October 2016	3–4 days	July 6, 2016
Speaking Range Finding	April/May 2017	3–4 days	January 6, 2017
Writing Range Finding	May/June 2017	3 days	January 6, 2017
Standard Setting	September/October 2017	4 days	March 10, 2017

The online application can be accessed here: ELPAC Educator Opportunities Application

Transition to the ELPAC Information

Comparison Chart – This chart compares the current CELDT to its successor, ELPAC, as the state ELP assessment in 2018.

Transition Timeline – This timeline shows the transition from the CELDT to the ELPAC from 2015–16 to 2018–19.

ELPAC Blueprints

The task types (PDF) in the ELPAC blueprints (PDF) are designed to be aligned with California’s 2012 English Language Development Standards which were developed to correspond to the 2010 California Common Core State Standards. The task types and blueprints were approved and adopted by the State Board of Education on November 4, 2015.

Education Code

The administration of an ELP assessment is required by law. The current state test is the CELDT.

English Language Development Standards

Regulations

Contact the English Language Proficiency Assessments (ELPA) Office at elpac@cde.ca.gov for the most up-to-date information regarding the ELPAC regulations and the rulemaking process.

General Performance Level Descriptors (PLDs)

On January 13, 2016, the State Board of Education (SBE) approved the General Performance Level Descriptors which will be used to guide the development of domain and grade/grade span-specific PLDs in summer 2016. General PLDs (sometimes called policy definitions) provide generic descriptions of student performance level expectations, and are used to guide the development of the specific PLDs.

Contact Information

California Department of Education
Assessment Development and Administration Division
English Language Proficiency Assessments Office
Telephone: 916-319-0784
E-mail: elpac@cde.ca.gov

Questions: English Language Proficiency Assessments Office | elpac@cde.ca.gov | 916-319-0784

Last Reviewed: Friday, May 27, 2016

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