Monthly Happenings: March 2021
Updates from IDOE's English Learner Team
Welcome, Spring!
We've made it to the other side of winter! With the weather turning, a light at the end of the tunnel with COVID, and a well-deserved spring break for schools on the horizon, things are looking up. As always, things remain active in the world of English learners (EL). Take a look through this edition of Monthly Happenings where you will find a recap of our last EL Leadership meeting, important information on the close of the WIDA ACCESS window, WIDA Standards professional learning opportunities, a map of adult English classes, and more.
EL News and Updates
EL Leadership Meeting Resources
On Wednesday, February 10, we gathered for our first virtual EL leadership meeting of 2021. We offered updates on Non-English Speaking Program (NESP) and Title III grants, answered questions about WIDA ACCESS, discussed ILP updates, and presented upcoming professional development (PD) opportunities.
It also marked the first time we held breakout sessions, which we will continue to do in the future. We hope you enjoyed the time and space to share your ideas and experiences surrounding the 2020 edition of the WIDA Standards. Presentation materials from this meeting can be found here: EL Leadership Meeting - 2/10/21
The next EL Leadership meeting will take place on Wednesday, April 21 from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. ET. Weblinks will be available soon on our EL PD Calendar. Hope to see you all there!
IDOE EL Specialist Support
The IDOE EL team is ready to provide more specific support for your district's EL programming. Each local education agency (LEA) has been assigned an EL Specialist from our team, and you can see your assigned Specialist at the IDOE Title Grants page. As you scroll down, you will see an "LEA Specialists Assignments" table, where you can click on the EL tab. Your assigned EL Specialist is here for support, questions, and general inquiries on all things EL, especially grant processes. Of course, you can still reach out to any member of our team with questions, but this helps our team streamline communication and support.
WIDA Updates
WIDA ACCESS Closing and Next Steps
At last, the WIDA ACCESS window closes on Friday, March 12! It has been an extraordinary lift to administer the assessment this year, and we cannot praise teachers, administrators, parents, and students enough for making it happen. Many obstacles reared their heads, but your diligence allowed us to reach a very high level of completion. Thank you to all involved with assessment this year. Please see below for important updates on materials return, reports, and more.
Returning Materials - Deadline Monday, March 15!
Gather your yellow boxes! All secure test materials must be picked up by UPS on or before Monday, March 15. If your corporation or school does not have a regular UPS pickup, call UPS at (866) 857-1501 to schedule a pickup. Materials must be securely stored until pick up. The following secure test materials must be returned to Data Reporting Corporation:
- All test booklets (collected in plastic bags)
- All ACCESS Paper Test Administrator Scripts
- ACCESS Online Test Administrator Scripts for grades one, two, and three
- Listening and Speaking Test CDs
- All Kindergarten ACCESS kit materials
- All Alternate ACCESS test materials
- All large print test materials
- All braille test materials
Document any secure test materials that will not be returned (e.g., soiled test booklets) in the Materials Accountability Form in WIDA AMS. See the WIDA AMS User Guide for instructions. Detailed information for returning materials can be found in the District and School Test Coordinator Manual. Contact DRC Customer Support with questions.
Pre-Reporting Data Validation
Pre-reporting data validation is the process of reviewing student test records to identify potential errors in student demographic, accommodation, and test result records and to make corrections before score reports are generated. Schools and corporations have an opportunity to confirm data during the pre-reporting data validation. IDOE will subsequently review data sets to identify discrepant records if corporations and schools are not available during this time period. This year's Pre-Reporting Data Validation window is from Monday, April 5 to Monday, April 19.
Online and Paper Results Dates
Districts and schools will have access to results via online reports from this year's WIDA ACCESS administration in WIDA-AMS on Monday, May 24. Paper copies of the reports will be delivered on Thursday, June 17.
Updated Interpretive Guides for Score Reports
This year’s ACCESS for ELLs Interpretive Guide for Score Reports and Alternate ACCESS for ELLs Interpretive Guide for Score Reports are now available in the WIDA website Resource Library. The Interpretive Guides, along with other resources to support scoring and reporting, can also be found on the ACCESS for ELLs and Alternate ACCESS for ELLs Scores and Reports pages of the WIDA website. On Tuesday, March 16, WIDA will hold an Interpreting Score Reports webinar from 2 to 3 p.m. ET for educators. Access the webinar here.
Coming Soon - WIDA Screener for KG!
WIDA Screener for Kindergarten test and training materials launch Tuesday, March 30. This assessment will replace Kindergarten W-APT beginning in the school year 2021-2022. WIDA Screener for Kindergarten will be available for use by schools this spring to assess and identify incoming kindergarten students for fall 2021. The current Kindergarten W-APT should continue to be used through the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year to identify new kindergarten students enrolling during the current school year. Kindergarten W-APT will no longer be available beginning Thursday, July 1, 2021. Stay tuned for more information coming soon!
WIDA Standards PD and Advisory Group
As part of the rollout 2020 edition of the WIDA Standards, WIDA and IDOE are partnering to offer three-part webinar series for EL educators and content leaders who are responsible for language development within content learning. This opportunity, entitled “Planning with the ELD Standards Framework”, will consist of the following:
- WIDA Facilitated Webinar #1 – Wednesday, May 5 from 3 to 5 p.m. ET
- WIDA Facilitated Webinar #2 – Wednesday, May 5 from 3 to 5 p.m. ET
- IDOE-hosted PD Recap and Advisory Webinar – Wednesday, May 5 from 3 to 5 p.m. ET
We are looking for pairs that can represent different regions and EL populations around the state to attend the series and commit to helping their districts in taking a collaborative planning approach for WIDA 2020 standards implementation. Individuals can also apply to attend, however the collaboration here is key. Our capacity for these opportunities is limited, and to further leverage this opportunity and educator expertise, we have included the third webinar, where we hope to elicit participant input on how the standards can be best implemented.
The WIDA portions of the PD series will focus on collaborative instructional planning with the ELD Standards Framework. The first two sessions will be delivered by WIDA, and have two learning goals listed below. Also, see the attached flyer for more information on these two sessions:
- Leverage student assets to integrate a language focus into content units
- Identify and support language students will use throughout a series of unit activities
The third, IDOE-hosted webinar will be a sharing and brainstorming session to recap learning outcomes, provide feedback on your experience, and assist in developing future implementation plans to encourage collaborative instructional planning across EL, grade level, and content teachers.
Request to Attend
If you are interested in attending, you are committing to:
- Attending all three sessions
- Pairing with a colleague (i.e. an EL teacher/coach and a content and/or grade level teacher/coach for collaborative instructional planning)
- Sharing what you've learned with your colleagues through localized PD and advocacy for interdisciplinary collaborative instructional planning for ELD in your local context
To submit a request to attend, use this form: WIDA Workshop: Planning with the 2020 ELD Standards Framework 3-Part Series. Because of the limited capacity for this opportunity, please understand we will do our best to select a broad representation of our state to disburse the information from the webinar series, so not all requests will be fulfilled. Selected participants will be contacted at the end of March. Please reach out to Erica Sponberg with questions.
More WIDA 2020 Standards PD Opportunities
Wondering where to start with the 2020 edition of the WIDA Standards? First, the Standards themselves are now live! Find the updated versions and accompanying resources here: WIDA 2020 Standards
Here are a few additional resources to get you going as you being to dig into the Standards:
Complete WIDA Self-paced Standards modules available in the WIDA secure portal eLearning Center. Click on ‘Courses’ and select - The WIDA 2020 ELD Standards: A Collaborative Approach. They are available now!
Review the WIDA Educator Q&A series. You can find recordings of the four-part series, each focused on a different topic pertaining to the 2020 WIDA ELD Standards on the main ELD standards page.
Listen to episode 44b of the Empowering LLs podcast, where two of the leading WIDA scholars are interviewed about the updated standards and how to apply them to your classroom.
Stay tuned for much more to come with 2020 WIDA Standards trainings over the summer and into next school year!
WIDA Fellows Nomination
WIDA has announced a call for nominations for the third class of WIDA Fellows. In establishing these fellowships, WIDA formally acknowledges the invaluable role of exemplary teachers of bilingual and multilingual learners in advancing the field in collaboration with professional development and research partners. All nominees must be exemplary teachers of bilingual and/or multilingual learners. We know there are outstanding Indiana EL educators who would fit this bill!
To nominate an educator, complete the WIDA Fellows Nomination form by Friday, April 30. No self-nominations, please.
Grants & Funding
NESP: Financial End Reporting, Requesting Funds, and Reallocations
2019-2020 NESP Financial End Report Due Wednesday, March 31
If you have not yet completed your financial end report for '19-'20 NESP, please do so via this link by Wednesday, March 31. If you need to access the details of this grant, you can continue to do so within Intelligrants.
2020-2021 NESP Grant Processes
We will be reaching out directly to participating LEA treasurers and EL program leads in the coming week with information regarding the following:
- Remaining amounts to be distributed for your LEA. NOTE: The deadline to request 2020-2021 NESP funds is Tuesday, June 1.
- A simplified NESP funding request process. Rather than submitting a Distribution Request via Intelligrants, you will now complete a Cash Request form and email to nesp@doe.in.gov
Keep an eye on your inboxes!
ESSER II Funding & ELs
Stay tuned for our next EL Leadership meeting, where we will go more in depth on strategic use of CARES/ESSER/GEER funding to support your English learner students, families, and programming.
PD & Resources
Upcoming PD Opportunities in the World of EL
In case you missed it - CAL has an ongoing free-webinar series. The next one is on Tuesday, March 30 and will discuss ELs and Assessment within the digital landscape.
TESOL also has jumped on the series bandwagon with A Cup of Coffee with a TESOL Expert. This video series is produced by instructors and participants in the TESOL Certificate: Developing an Online Teaching Program. Participants vote for a question of the week that will be discussed in the video. Then the instructor hosts a video discussion with one participant and an expert in the field to help them answer the question. It is an informal conversation among colleagues with the hopes of building communities of practice.
TESOL's Speech, Pronunciation, and Listening Interest Section (SPLIS) is hosting a free webinar on Thursday, April 1 from 4 to 5 p.m. ET, titled Bridging the Gap Between Pronunciation Research and Teaching Practices. This webinar will give a short overview of previous research on pronunciation instruction conducted in the laboratory and face-to-face (F2F) and online classroom settings. The presenters will discuss concrete classroom activities that are informed by their research findings.
EL Family Resources and English Classes
COVID-19 has made engaging with your EL families and community members all the more difficult, and the kinds of resources EL students and families need might have changed. Here are a few resources that might be beneficial to have in your toolbelt:
Looking to find an English class in the Indianapolis area? Use this map from the Immigrant Welcome Center. If you know of an English class opportunity that is not on the map, use the website to reach out to them to get it added.
If you are an Allen County resident, you may be able to access free Translation and Interpreting services through the Language Services Network. For more detailed information, give their office a call.
Midwest Language Services is offering free, virtual, English-for-work language classes. Use this link for more information.
IDOE's English Learner Team
Nicole Leach
Email: nleach@doe.in.gov
Phone: 317-232-0572
Twitter: @NicoleNLeach
Adam Pitt
Email: apitt@doe.in.gov
Phone: 317-234-7168
Twitter: @AdamPittIDOE
Erica Sponberg
Email: esponberg@doe.in.gov
Phone: (317) 233-7413