Performance-Based Learning

As Einstein said, “The world we created today has problems which cannot be solved by thinking the way we thought when we created them” (Diaz-Rico 69).

The educational world we live in today consists of standards. Everything we do in the classroom must be to meet a specific standard and each lesson will be given an objective that relates to the standard you are meeting. Therefore, we have TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) standards which meet the PreK-12 English Language Proficiency Standards which specify the proficiency that English learners need in order to become fully fluent in English. The objectives for an optimal lesson for English learners fall into three categories: content, learning to learn, and language. California has also prepared ELD (English-Language Development) Standards to ensure that English learner develop proficiency in both the English language and the concepts and skills contained in the English-Language Arts (ELA) Content Standards. They are aligned with the California English Language Development Test (CELDT), both with categories of reading, writing, listening, and speaking (Diaz-Rico 70-73). 

A great reference for standards in California: http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/

This gives you a great understanding of what is expected across all subject areas when teaching and creating objectives to meeet the standards  in a California classroom. 

To achieve learning, one must do the following:

1. Describe what students are expected to accomplish or perform.
2. Detail what kind of evidence will substantiate this performance.
3. Design learning activities that will accumulate the desired evidence. (Diaz-Rico 69)

We must also understand how to identify, assess, and place English learners in school, as well as reclassify or exit them when they are ready. Here is a brief summary of the process: when students enroll in school, if they are identified as needing ELD services, they are placed in a program. To identify English learners needing services, there are a variety of ways: home language survey, staff and faculty observation in multiple settings, interviews,  and referrals by teachers, administrators, parents, etc. An assessment is then given to determine placement and this placement instrument (for us it is the CELDT) travels with the student for a smooth transition from ELD services to mainstream instruction. To reclassify (exit) the student, it varies by district, the multiple criteria include standards-based performance, all skills tested/measured, evidence that student can participate in a general education classroom, CELDT score (speaking, comprehension, reading, writing), years spent in a SEI /bilingual program, and grades earned in ELD Level 3 classes (Diaz-Rico 86-88).

@joannhageman

“English Learner's are expected to be taught the same as those not learning a second language while learning English”. The English language learners in our class have such an amazing struggle on a daily basis in the classroom. They are required to achieve the same standards as a student who already has English as their primary language. They are struggling daily with understanding a foreign language, which they are then required to meet all of these additional subject standards. On top of that, they also have their own additional standards to be met for learning the English language. They are constantly having to work twice as hard and try to keep on pace with an already too fast pacing guide! It must be truly exhausting!

@awright281976

“The limitations of assessing students for redesignation are that tests play a key part in that. All too many times there is a lot of pressure to redesignate students as fluent English speakers and leads to failure ultimately”. As I was reading this comment I was reminded about my experiences the past two years in sixth grade. There was so much pressure being put on the student and the teacher (me) as to why this student has been here since Kindergarten or first grade and has not been reclassified. We had meetings with the parents, the student, administrators, EL coach, and lots of paperwork implementing plans to get this student reclassified! However, as I also experienced the students who were recently reclassified and no longer got the support, were getting lost in the mix and ultimately slipping lower and lower down the grading scale. Unfortunately, that failure ultimately occurs for a majority of these reclassified students because they were not ready!