Name: Carolyn Gassmann

EPPSP Group 39
Butler University

The Experiential Program for Preparing School Principals

STANDARD:
6. Purposefully analyze test data to make informed decisions toward improvement. Create a data analysis
process that purposefully drills down the data, involves the entire staff, and promotes data-driven
dialogue and decision-making. Define areas of academic strength and weakness across the content areas.
Use this information to make decisions/changes that will increase student achievement. (ELCC 1.2)

Summary:

One of the major assessments that is given in my first grade classroom is WIDA. WIDA is
designed to measure the English language development of English Language Learners (ELLs)
in four major areas—listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In a traditional setting, students
receive English language support in their classroom, as well as from an English as a New
Language (ENL) teacher.

In a Dual Language classroom, the English language instruction and support children receive
looks different. In the lower elementary grades, students spend the majority of their day learning
in Spanish. This includes reading, writing, math, social studies, and science. Then, they spend
between an hour and an hour and a half, depending on the grade level, learning in English.
During English students receive direct instruction on phonics skills, sight words, and
comprehension strategies.

While reading this, one might begin to wonder, “how do students gain content-specific
vocabulary knowledge?” A key pillar of Dual Language instruction is known as “The Bridge”. At
the end of a social studies, science, or math unit in Spanish, teachers must spend a portion of
the English block helping students transfer their knowledge from one language to the other. The
Bridge has multiple components. The first is the transfer of content vocabulary from one
language to the other. This most traditionally looks like an anchor chart with key vocabulary
written in both languages. The second component is the transfer of knowledge based on a
metalinguistic skill, such as the use of articles, word order, or prefixes and suffixes. The third
and final component of The Bridge is an array of activities to engage students in the use of this
transferred content. Some exemplar photos of anchor charts used in The Bridge are placed
below.
 This is an example of a content This is an example of a metalinguistic anchor chart
vocabulary anchor chart for that focuses on word order in both languages,
multiplication. specifically on the placement of nouns and
adjectives.
It is important to understand this key element of the Dual Language model before we can even
think about looking at data, specifically data that centers around students’ English language
development. Through The Bridge, students gain most content area vocabulary that they are
able to use understand in reading and listening and use in their writing and speaking. Students
in Dual Language programs have historically shown great success due to the high level of
content knowledge they have in both languages. Over time, students in Dual Language are able
to make these cross-linguistic connections naturally and begin to out-perform their peers in
English-only classrooms on standardized tests.

Thinking back to WIDA, this year after receiving our score reports for the Dual Language
program, I was tasked with organizing and analyzing the data for our K-2 students so we could
use it to inform our instructional practices. To keep this summary and reflection more concise, I
will speak specifically on the first grade data, which can be found below, instead of reporting
findings from all three grade levels. After compiling and reflecting on the data as a team, below
is a summary of first grade’s data and how we can continue to evolve it in the coming school
year.

Students showed growth in all areas, meaning that the instructional practices we are using in
both target languages, as well as during The Bridge, are showing benefit to students’ English
language development. While great growth is seen in all areas, the area with the most potential
for more growth is writing. The growth in this area is positive, but it is not at nearly as high a
level as the other three domains. In first grade, most English lessons engage students in
reading, listening, and speaking. Writing is oftentimes the area that loses focus in our
classrooms. Thinking ahead to next year, we must incorporate more writing instruction into the
first grade Dual Language classrooms in order to show larger growth in this area. This can look
like focusing on the structure of sentences in greater detail, writing across genres, and spending
time on free writing. Regardless of the format, we believe that more time spent focusing
specifically on developing students’ writing skills, the greater growth we will see in this area.
Reflection:

Analyzing data has always been something of interest to me. I love to compare the figures and
present the concrete, numerical growth of students to others. Taking on this task of organizing
and analyzing all WIDA for the Dual Language program has been rewarding, because I have
been able to see firsthand the great progress of the individual students and the program as a
whole.

Spending time talking with my colleagues about where we are and where we would like to be in
terms of this data has been a very important and eye-opening conversation. We, as well as our
administration, have goals we would like students to meet at each grade level. Each teacher
brings different strengths to the table, and we are all able to help students grow in many
different ways. As we begin to prepare for achieving those goals in the coming school, we are
eager to share resources and strategies with one another to help students grow at each grade
level.

When we compile our skills and resources, we are a stronger team. Our kindergarten teachers
know what sort of foundations they need to create for students to gain their initial success. From
there, the first grade team knows exactly the areas of need the students have when they enter
the classroom, and what tools and resources we need to use to enhance their abilities in all four
domains to prepare them to move on to the next grade level. From there, our second grade
team is ready to hone in on true mastery of all four areas so the students are not only ready to
tackle third grade, but also take on the high stakes assessments that come with advancement to
that grade. While we have not yet had third grade Dual Language in our building, the teachers
who will be instructing them are aware of the strengths of the incoming students and the areas
they need to address to ensure this continued success.

I believe that in purposefully analyzing data and using it to inform instruction at specific grade
levels and vertically align our program, we will show great long-term success. These students
will grow in their English language development, because we are all aware of the skills they are
entering with and those they need to have mastered by the time they leave our classrooms.
Taking the time to vertically align our instruction based on this data will ensure great success of
the students as individuals, as well as of the Dual Language program as a whole.
Artifacts:

This table shows the WIDA data for the first grade Dual Language ELLs. It is a direct
comparison of their scores in kindergarten and in first grade. The district has set a board goal of
a minimum of one year’s growth, one entire point increase, from the previous school year, in
students’ composite score. This growth is highlighted in the final column of the table. You will
see each domain broken down separately, and can see the points mentioned above, such as
that of the writing growth being evident but not significant.