Hamilton City Schools
ESL Newsbrief - December 2015
Southwest Ohio ESL Consortium Update
OGT Testing for Juniors and Seniors
Hamilton High School just concluded the Fall Administration of the OGT for Juniors and Seniors (including ELL's) who did not pass all parts of the assessment in previous years. Students not passing the Fall 2015 OGT will retake the assessment in March 2016.
AIR Testing
In December, Juniors and Seniors taking Government will take the American Government End-of-Course Exam. The 3rd Grade Reading Test will also be administered in early December 2015. In the Spring, HCSD Students will be taking state assessments in English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies.
Iowa CogAT Assessments
The Iowa/Cogat Assessments were administered in late October to students in grades 3,6, and 9 in the Hamilton City School District. As in previous years, the district aligns allowable accommodations for English Language Learners for these assessments with those on state assessments.
Pages 15-17 of Ohio's Accessibility Manual Outlines the recommended accommodations for English Language Learners at varying English language proficiency levels. The accommodation manual and practice test question for AIR Test Items, including the OELPA Assessments are or will be accessible through Ohio's State Test Portal (shown below).
OLEPA Assessment
In previous years, the state annual English language proficiency test (OTELA) was administered between mid-January and early March. The OTELA assessment has been replaced with the Ohio's English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA), which is based on the new ELPA 21 Standards. The new testing window for the OELPA Assessment will be between February 29 - April 22, 2016.
Interpreter Services
At the high school level, we will be creating a schedule for Junior and Senior ELL's who are taking American Government during the first semester. We will also be scheduling interpreters for the Spring OGT (for Junior and Senior ELL's that still have to pass one of the assessments) and the Spring (April - May) AIR Assessments for Grades 3 -12 for Math, Science and Social Studies. We would like to have the Spring Test Schedule for ELL's completed by January 31st, so that we can secure interpreters for the OGT and AIR Assessments. Please keep in mind that Ohio's English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA) has a testing window that overlaps the OGT and AIR Assessments (February 29th - April 22nd).
If your building needs interpreter services for upcoming Parent / Teacher Conferences, please work with your building's ESL Teacher and/or contact Corbin Moore to schedule times. We typically cover Spanish translation with district staff and contract for other languages with Global 2 Local. The earlier we get requests from the building, the better we can serve your interpreter needs.
On October 30, Hamilton ESL Staff members attended the Ohio TESOL Conference in Columbus, Ohio. With the new ELPA 21 standards being used and OELPA assessments being administered for the first time this year, we felt it was important for our ESL teachers to take part in related sessions at this year's Ohio TESOL Conference, which is sponsored by the Ohio Department of Education's Lau Resource Center. Registration for staff members was paid through Title III funds.
The ESL Staff will be meeting at the School Board for one-day profession development trainings on the following dates this Fall:
- November 18 - TESOL Follow-up, SIOP Strategies, and ILP Goals
- December 8 - ELLevation Management System and ILP Training
- January 22 - OPELA Assessment Training by HCESC (Date could change)
Contact Information
Email: cmoore@hcsdoh.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/hcsdoh.org/esl/home
Location: 533 Dayton Street, Hamilton, OH, United States
Phone: 513-868-4428
Twitter: @corbinmoore1