NEW MEXICO SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF CASACONFERENCE

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NEW MEXICO SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF CASA-CONFERENCE

• April 4, 2008
• Alfred H. White, Jr., Ph.D.
• Texas Womans University
• awhite_at_twu.edu
• 940/898-2026

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EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT
IN THE CLASSROOM

• The concept of evidence-based practices has its
  origin in the larger notion of ACCOUNTABILITY

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THE BIG CONCEPTS

• Accountability in the classroom is no longer
  optional.
• Unfortunately, the tools used to hold teachers
  accountable are often
• Thrust upon teachers, and
• Not very helpful in monitoring progress

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ACCOUNTABILITY

• All too often, ACCOUNTABILITY, takes the form of
  standardized testing.
• Standardized Testing may be
• Administered at the first and end of one year.
• Administered every two years.
• Administered every three years.

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TEACHER ASSESSMENTS MUST FIT INTO THE LARGER
SYSTEM

• Standardized tests seem to be a way of lifethey
  are here to stay.
• BUTStandardized tests have only limited value
  for monitoring student progress in the short term
  because they cant be used on a regular basis
  without destroying their validity.
• The TOOL used must help teachers monitor student
  improvement in the domain of language.

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BRINGING ACCOUNTABILITYINTO THE CLASSROOM

• The Concept----(Discuss visual 1)

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MORE PRECISION IS NEEDEDIN THE ACCOUNTABILITY
SYSTEM

• Teachers need to understand and find value in
  those activities in which they are engaged.
• Those activities should be designed to assess
  their students student performance is the
  ultimate end in the accountability system.

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ASSUMPTIONS MADE!

• Teachers want to be able to demonstrate in
  quantitative terms that their students are
  improving in their use of English
• THE ACT OF INFORMING SUPERVISORS AND ASKING FOR
  HELP strengthens a teachers position and
  distributes the burden of responsibility to
  others.
• Teachers must come to understand that sharing
  bad news is a way of getting oneself off the
  hook and a way of communicating you are a
  professional !

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Tools are Needed to Help Teachers in the Classroom

• We need to empower teachers so they can access
  and quantify language development in the
  classroom.
• Need to empower teachers so that they can monitor
  language improvement quantitatively in the
  classroom.
• ONLY WHEN LANGUAGE IS QUANTIFIED CAN IT BE
  MONITORED.

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RECOMMENDATION

• The SAWL IS MY
• ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT
• OF CHOICE !
• (Visual 2-SAWL)

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INTRODUCTION TO THE SAWL

• STRUCTURAL ASSESSMENT OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE
• THE SAWL IS BASED ON WRITTEN ENGLISH BECAUSE IT
  IS READILY AVAILABLE AND EASILY ASSESSED

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T-Unit is the Unit of Analysis

• T-Unit An Independent Clause and all attached
  Dependent Clauses.
• Independent Clauses are connected by and, but,
  or, nor, so, for, yet, still.
• All other connective words serve to connect
  Dependent Clauses to Independent Clauses or other
  Dependent Clauses.

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USES OF THE T-UNIT

• HUNTS WORK---AUTHOR OF THE T-UNIT. (See visual
  3, 4)
• Normative DataWhite, Scott and Grant (See visual
  5)

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The SAWL Can Empower Teachers

• The SAWL helps a teacher identify those things
  that are strong indicators of improved competence
  in English. Do you want to know if there is
• Improvement in the ordering of words?
• Improvement in the length of sentences?
• Improvement in the use of affixes (prefixes and
  suffices)?
• Improvement in the process of subordination?
• Improvement in verb usage?

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COMPREHENSIVE MODEL FOR INTEGRATING STANDARDIZED
TESTS WITH CLASSROOM MONITORING

• Note------Standardized Testing is not being
  eliminated or de-valued.
• Note------Repeated use of the SAWL is acceptable
  it cannot be used too much.

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SCORING THE SAWL

• Turn to the unscored language sample. (See visual
  6)
• We will score one T-unit at a time.

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RESULTS OF SCORING

• See visual 7
• See visual 8a 8b for summary of scoring
  procedures (2 pages)

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DOING STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USING A t-test of
Significance

• A Teacher Can Study One Subject or Study of the
  entire class. (See visual 9)

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TRACKING / MONITORING

• AN INDIVIDUAL (See Visual 10)
• AN ENTIRE SCHOOL (Visual 10)

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TEACHERS HAVE USED THE SAWL AND ARE USING THE SAWL

• Doris McQueen Primary School Longview
  Independent School District
• Erin Stokes (903/738-0132)
• stokes_at_lisd.org
• Gorgeen Spyhalski
• (903/235-9255 or 903/663-3919)
• spyhalski_at_lisd.org or gsy_at_cablclynx.com