Below is an action plan that I designed to address an issue of inequity at the first school site I worked at as a student teacher.
Action Plan
At my school site the history teachers have collaborated to make testing uniform in all classes in the department. This means all teachers enforce an identical honor code, distribute the same test for all students in each grade and have similar expectations of the students. One of these expectations is that the students complete each part of the test in 35 minutes. Most of the tests have two parts, a multiple choice component and an essay portion. For the multiple choice part of the test, students are asked to answer 20 to 30 multiple choice questions, identify 10-15 countries on a map of the world and match 10-20 vocabulary words with their definitions. For the second part of the test students are asked to write a 5 paragraph essay on a broad topic within the unit. According to the department packing this much test material into such a short time frame is intended to prepare students for important timed standardized tests like the SAT and ACT. However, while this may work for some students, most English learners are left unable to finish the test. In fact, ELs frequently fail to get past the 20 to 30 multiple choice questions in the first part of the test. On the second part of the test ELs usually manage to get down an introductory paragraph but run out of time as they are writing the first of three body paragraphs. This makes it very difficult for the English learners to get a passing grade on the test. Even if they were to get a perfect score on the part they completed they would wind up with a grade of around 50 percent. Several ELs have expressed frustration at the inability to complete the test and constantly running out of time must get demoralizing.
So ELs are left failing just about every test but not necessarily because they do not have knowledge of the content. I have discussed the issue with my cooperating teacher as well as nearly every other history teacher at my school site. The overwhelming consensus is that an issue with equity exists but there is no way to address the issue while also keeping with the goal of the department to prepare students for timed standardized tests. I considered SDIAE strategies like alternative assessment, previewing test material and administering parts of the test orally but the department has been skeptical about initiating any of these strategies. Ultimately none of these strategies will be available to the ELs on the SAT or ACT, so (in the opinion of many teachers at my school site), it would go against our goal of preparing all students for these standardized tests if we implemented such strategies. I have tried to explain that ELs may know the material but they are struggling with the language aspect of the test. The response to this argument has been that the ELs will be in the same situation taking our tests as they will be on the SAT and ACT. Therefore, it makes sense to expose them to this type of testing as much as possible so that they are familiar with the type of testing come time for the SAT or ACTs. As frustrating as this explanation for maintaining a broken testing system has been for me, I have been determined to work within the system to get more of my ELs to pass the tests as they stand.
As limited as I am by the strict binder system of the history department at my school site and the refusal of teachers to accommodate ELs I have devised a plan to boost the performances of my ELs while working within the system. My plan has two parts. The first part is offering all of my students a 40 minute workshop twice a week after school, on Tuesday and Thursday, intended to introduce students to common academic language and to give students test taking strategies like the process of elimination, time management and identifying the best answer. Although the workshop should help any student in my class, I plan to speak with all of my ELs that are struggling with the time limit and encourage them to go. During the workshop I will show students these strategies on the document camera. I will come up with questions that are similar to the questions on the upcoming test and then we will work through the questions as a group. Questions will be created rather than going over tests we have already completed in class during the workshop because this will give students the benefit of learning the test strategies while also getting another look at important content, which can never hurt. That being said I already offer students to go over the answers on any completed test with me at lunch. During the workshop I will identify tough language and offer advice on using context to determine the meaning of words. Each day I will sprinkle in a few new academic words to define for the group but most of the time we will be working through questions on the document camera. I will interact with the students while I take the test and think aloud. Ideally this will encourage students to follow my example on their unit tests and cross out answers that are obviously wrong, highlight or circle key words, skip difficult questions and make educated guesses. On top of the presentation of these strategies in the workshops I plan to speak with each of my ELs individually after each test to debrief them on their performance. This is where the second part of my action plan comes into play.
Currently my ELs get very discouraged when they see their test scores but I want to look at the scores of these students without counting their inability to finish. If the first part of a test had 50 questions and the student only got through 25 of them, I will look at their grade out of those 25. Per the test taking strategies, I will have my students guessing on all of the questions they do not know so I will just ask that they put a line after the last question that they answered without guessing. Although this grade will not go in the grade book, I will send it home with my ELs to show their parents and I hope that showing it boosts the confidence of my ELs and parents. Likewise, on the essay portion of the test I will grade what the students do complete without subtracting points for what was left unfinished. The aim of this process is to keep the students from giving up on the testing. I know they know far more content than their test scores reveal and I want them to at least be aware of this reality rather than constantly seeing grades that makes the class seem hopeless.
My action plan addresses an issue of inequity in the classroom. I chose the issue because I saw that test scores were not accurately reflecting the effort and knowledge of my ELs. On top of this, I thought I could curb the problem of the terribly low test scores of my ELs using relatively simple instructional strategies. These strategies will be offered to all of my students but will be aimed at improving the test taking skills of my ELs. SDAIE strategies are great during classroom instruction but at my school site I am limited in how much I alter the parameters of a test to accommodate ELs. My idea works within this system by keeping the same test for all students but providing a more equitable outcome for the students.
Action Plan
At my school site the history teachers have collaborated to make testing uniform in all classes in the department. This means all teachers enforce an identical honor code, distribute the same test for all students in each grade and have similar expectations of the students. One of these expectations is that the students complete each part of the test in 35 minutes. Most of the tests have two parts, a multiple choice component and an essay portion. For the multiple choice part of the test, students are asked to answer 20 to 30 multiple choice questions, identify 10-15 countries on a map of the world and match 10-20 vocabulary words with their definitions. For the second part of the test students are asked to write a 5 paragraph essay on a broad topic within the unit. According to the department packing this much test material into such a short time frame is intended to prepare students for important timed standardized tests like the SAT and ACT. However, while this may work for some students, most English learners are left unable to finish the test. In fact, ELs frequently fail to get past the 20 to 30 multiple choice questions in the first part of the test. On the second part of the test ELs usually manage to get down an introductory paragraph but run out of time as they are writing the first of three body paragraphs. This makes it very difficult for the English learners to get a passing grade on the test. Even if they were to get a perfect score on the part they completed they would wind up with a grade of around 50 percent. Several ELs have expressed frustration at the inability to complete the test and constantly running out of time must get demoralizing.
So ELs are left failing just about every test but not necessarily because they do not have knowledge of the content. I have discussed the issue with my cooperating teacher as well as nearly every other history teacher at my school site. The overwhelming consensus is that an issue with equity exists but there is no way to address the issue while also keeping with the goal of the department to prepare students for timed standardized tests. I considered SDIAE strategies like alternative assessment, previewing test material and administering parts of the test orally but the department has been skeptical about initiating any of these strategies. Ultimately none of these strategies will be available to the ELs on the SAT or ACT, so (in the opinion of many teachers at my school site), it would go against our goal of preparing all students for these standardized tests if we implemented such strategies. I have tried to explain that ELs may know the material but they are struggling with the language aspect of the test. The response to this argument has been that the ELs will be in the same situation taking our tests as they will be on the SAT and ACT. Therefore, it makes sense to expose them to this type of testing as much as possible so that they are familiar with the type of testing come time for the SAT or ACTs. As frustrating as this explanation for maintaining a broken testing system has been for me, I have been determined to work within the system to get more of my ELs to pass the tests as they stand.
As limited as I am by the strict binder system of the history department at my school site and the refusal of teachers to accommodate ELs I have devised a plan to boost the performances of my ELs while working within the system. My plan has two parts. The first part is offering all of my students a 40 minute workshop twice a week after school, on Tuesday and Thursday, intended to introduce students to common academic language and to give students test taking strategies like the process of elimination, time management and identifying the best answer. Although the workshop should help any student in my class, I plan to speak with all of my ELs that are struggling with the time limit and encourage them to go. During the workshop I will show students these strategies on the document camera. I will come up with questions that are similar to the questions on the upcoming test and then we will work through the questions as a group. Questions will be created rather than going over tests we have already completed in class during the workshop because this will give students the benefit of learning the test strategies while also getting another look at important content, which can never hurt. That being said I already offer students to go over the answers on any completed test with me at lunch. During the workshop I will identify tough language and offer advice on using context to determine the meaning of words. Each day I will sprinkle in a few new academic words to define for the group but most of the time we will be working through questions on the document camera. I will interact with the students while I take the test and think aloud. Ideally this will encourage students to follow my example on their unit tests and cross out answers that are obviously wrong, highlight or circle key words, skip difficult questions and make educated guesses. On top of the presentation of these strategies in the workshops I plan to speak with each of my ELs individually after each test to debrief them on their performance. This is where the second part of my action plan comes into play.
Currently my ELs get very discouraged when they see their test scores but I want to look at the scores of these students without counting their inability to finish. If the first part of a test had 50 questions and the student only got through 25 of them, I will look at their grade out of those 25. Per the test taking strategies, I will have my students guessing on all of the questions they do not know so I will just ask that they put a line after the last question that they answered without guessing. Although this grade will not go in the grade book, I will send it home with my ELs to show their parents and I hope that showing it boosts the confidence of my ELs and parents. Likewise, on the essay portion of the test I will grade what the students do complete without subtracting points for what was left unfinished. The aim of this process is to keep the students from giving up on the testing. I know they know far more content than their test scores reveal and I want them to at least be aware of this reality rather than constantly seeing grades that makes the class seem hopeless.
My action plan addresses an issue of inequity in the classroom. I chose the issue because I saw that test scores were not accurately reflecting the effort and knowledge of my ELs. On top of this, I thought I could curb the problem of the terribly low test scores of my ELs using relatively simple instructional strategies. These strategies will be offered to all of my students but will be aimed at improving the test taking skills of my ELs. SDAIE strategies are great during classroom instruction but at my school site I am limited in how much I alter the parameters of a test to accommodate ELs. My idea works within this system by keeping the same test for all students but providing a more equitable outcome for the students.