Professional development through a formative assessment rubric in a K-5 bilingual program
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.31176Keywords:
formative assessment, elementary education, professional development, writing pedagogy, case studyAbstract
This case study uses an action research approach to the implementation of a systematic bilingual writing assessment that K-5 teachers administered over a two-year period in an inner-city public school with a two-way bilingual English-Spanish program. The study reflects the importance of developing an awareness of academic discourse over time, as teachers participated in a writing assessment project that included the administration of writing prompts and corresponding analysis of student writing through use of grade level rubrics, three times each year. The instrument was developed by the first author, a participant-observer who in the role of writing coordinator also led professional development workshops, and provided mentorship to teacher participants. The second researcher is an outside expert on bilingual writing who participated in the retrospective interview stage of the study. This paper will focus on insights from semi-structured interviews with teachers that reveal their current views on aspects of the writing assessment project. The questions prompted teachers to review the rubrics and associated assessment materials to garner insights about their participation in the assessment project. Thematic analysis of the interviews indicates that teachers enhanced their awareness of discourse structure and the writing process, as they incorporated the rubrics for several pedagogical purposes: more targeted whole group instruction, strategic and flexible grouping of students, and more deliberate selection of topics to support writers during individual conferences. Furthermore, teachers appreciated the ability to systematically track writing growth across the academic year, an option that had formerly been used solely for documentation of reading development in this setting. The influence of standards in providing goals for instructional outcomes is also discussed. Changes in the form of assessment are unlikely to enhance equity unless we change the ways in which assessments are used: from sorting mechanisms to diagnostic supports; from external monitors of performance to locally generated tools for inquiring deeply into teaching and learning, (Darling- Hammond, 1994: 7)
References
Andrade, H. (2008). Self-assessment through rubrics. Educational Leadership, 65(4), 60-63.
Anyon, J. (1981). Social class and school knowledge. Curriculum Inquiry, 11(1), 3-42.
Applebee, A.N. & Langer, J.A. (2009). What is happening in the teaching of writing? English Journal. 98(5), 18-28.
Bachman, L. F., & Palmer, A. S. (1996). Language testing in practice: Designing and developing useful language tests (Vol. 1). Oxford University Press.
Ball, D. L., & Forzani, F. M. (2009). The work of teaching and the challenge for teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 60(5), 497-511.
Behrens, S. J. (2014). Understanding language use in the classroom: A linguistic guide for college educators. Multilingual Matters.
Berne, J., & McMahon, S. (2015). New Standards and Opportunities: Rethinking Good Writing in Schools. Writing & Pedagogy, 7(2/3), 377- 394.
Birman, B. F., Desimone, L., Porter, A. C., & Garet, M. S. (2000). Designing professional development that works. Educational Leadership, 57(8), 28-33.
Black, P. J. & Wiliam, D. (1998a). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education: Principles Policy and Practice, 5(1), 7-73.
Brookfield, S. D. (1995). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series.
Borg, S. (2003). Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do. Language Teaching, 36(02), 81-109.
Bunch, G. C. (2013). Pedagogical language knowledge preparing mainstream teachers for English learners in the new standards era. Review of Research in Education, 37(1), 298-341.
Cochran, K.F., DeRuiter, J.A., & King, R.A. (1993). Pedagogical content knowing: An integrative model for teacher preparation. Journal of Teacher Education, (44), 263–272.
Cowie, B., & Bell, B. (1999). A model of formative assessment in science education. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 6(1), 101-116.
Crooks, T. J. (1988). The impact of classroom evaluation practices on students. Review of Educational Research, 58(4), 438-481.
Culham, R. (2003). Six plus one traits of writing: Grades 3 and up. New York: Scholastic.
Cummins, J. (2001). HER classic reprint: Empowering minority students: A framework for intervention. Harvard Educational Review, 71(4), 649-676.
Cutler, L., & Graham, S. (2008). Primary grade writing instruction: A national survey. Journal of educational Psychology, 100(4), 907.
Darling-Hammond, L. (1994). Performance-based assessments and educational equity. Harvard Educational Review, 64(1), 5-30.
Dedoose Version 6.1.18, web application for managing, analyzing, and presenting qualitative and mixed method research data (2015). Los Angeles, CA: SocioCultural Research Consultants, LLC (www.dedoose.com).
Drago-Severson, E. (2004). Helping teachers learn: Principal leadership for adult growth and development. Corwin Press.
Drago-Severson, E. (2008). Pillars for adult learning. Journal of Staff Development, 29(4), 60-63.
Education Department of Western Australia. (1997). First Steps Literacy Continuum. Melbourne, Australia: Longman.
Enright, K. A. (2011). Language and literacy for a new mainstream. American Educational Research Journal, 48(1), 80-118.
Falk, B. (2001). Professional learning through assessment. In A. Lieberman and L. Miller (Eds.), Teachers caught in the action: The work of professional development. New York: Teachers College Press.
García, O. (2009). Bilingual education in the 21st century: A global perspective. Malden, MA and Oxford: Wiley/Blackwell.
Goldberg, G. L., & Roswell, B. S. (2000). From perception to practice: The impact of teachers' scoring experience on performance-based instruction and classroom assessment. Educational Assessment, 6(4), 257-290.
Gottlieb, M. (2012). Common Language Assessment for English Learners. Solution Tree Press.
Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (1997). It can be taught, but it does not develop naturally: Myths and realities in writing instruction. School Psychology Review. 26, 414–424
Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools. A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Alliance for Excellent Education.
Graham, S., Harris, K., and Hebert, M.A. (2011). Informing writing: The benefits of formative assessment. A Carnegie Corporation Time to Act report. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education
Graham, S., McKeown, D., Kiuhara, S., & Harris, K. R. (2012). A meta-analysis of writing instruction for students in the elementary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(4), 879.
Hakuta, K., & Santos, M. (2012). Understanding language: Challenges and opportunities for language learning in the context of Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Stanford, CA: Stanford University. Retrieved from http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/ default/files/Conference%20Summar y_0.pdf
Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. (2004). Introducing functional grammar. New York: Edward Arnold.
Hillocks, G. (2002). The testing trap: How state writing assessments control learning. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Hosford, S. D. & C. Sampson (2014). High-ELL-Growth states: Expanding funding equity and opportunity for English language learners. Voices in Urban Education, 37, 47-54. IBM Corp. Released 2011. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
Ivani?, R. (2004). Discourses of writing and learning to write. Language and education, 18(3), 220-245.
Kegan, R. (1994) In over Our Heads. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Kegan, R. (2009). What” form” transforms. A constructive-developmental approach to transformative learning. In Teoksessa K. Illeris (Ed.) Contemporary theories of learning: learning theorists in their own words. Abingdon: Routledge, 35-54.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge university press.
Lockwood, J. (2015). Writing assessment. Writing & Pedagogy. 7(1), 187-195.
Lenski, S. D., Ehlers?Zavala, F., Daniel, M. C., & Sun?Irminger, X. (2006). Assessing English?Language Learners in Mainstream Classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 60(1), 24-34.
Linn, R. L., Baker, E. L., & Dunbar, S. B. (1991). Complex, performance-based assessment: Expectations and validation criteria. Educational researcher, 20(8), 15-21.
López, F., McEneaney, E., & Nieswandt, M. (2015). Language Instruction Educational Programs and Academic Achievement of Latino English Learners: Considerations for States with Changing Demographics. American Journal of Education, 121(3), 417-450.
McCarthey, S., & Mkhize, D. (2013). Teachers' orientations towards writing. Journal of Writing Research, 5(1).
McDonald, J. P., Mohr, N., Dichter, A., & McDonald, E. C. (2012). The power of protocols: An educator's guide to better practice. Teachers College Press.
Menken, K. (2006). Teaching to the test: How No Child Left Behind impacts language policy, curriculum, and instruction for English language learners. Bilingual Research Journal, 30(2), 521-546.
Menken, K. (2008). English learners left behind: Standardized testing as language policy. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
Menken, K.(2013). Restrictive language education policies and emergent bilingual youth: A perfect storm with imperfect outcomes. Theory into Practice, 52(3), 160-168.
Messick, S. (1996). Validity and washback in language testing. Language Testing, 13(3), 241–256.
Myhill, D., & Jones, S. (2009). How talk becomes text: investigating the concept of oral rehearsal in early years’ classrooms. British Journal of Educational Studies, 57(3), 265-284.
National Commission on Writing in America’s Schools and Colleges. (2003). The Neglected “R”: The Need for a Writing Revolution. New York: College Entrance Examination Board.
Navarro Goudie, B. (2005). Bilingual and ESL Early Childhood Teachers' Biliteracy Attitudes. Unpublished PhD dissertation. New York: New York University. Available Dissertation Abstracts International 66-03A.
Nero, S. J. (2005). Language, identities, and ESL pedagogy. Language and Education, 19(3), 194-211.
Norton, B. (2001). Non-participation, imagined communities and the language classroom. Learner contributions to language learning: New directions in research, 6(2), 159-171.
Olson, C. B., Scarcella, R., & Matuchniak, T. (2015). English learners, writing, and the Common Core. The Elementary School Journal, 115(4), 570-592.
Popham, W. J. (2008). Formative Assessment. Principal Leadership.
Ruegg, R. (2015) The influence of assessment of classroom writing on feedback processes and product vs. on product alone. Writing & Pedagogy, 7(2/3), 261-277.
Sadler, R. (1998). Formative Assessment: Revisiting the territory. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice, 5(1), 77-84.
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2004). The language of schooling: A functional linguistics perspective. Routledge.
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2013). The role of metalanguage in supporting academic language development. Language Learning, 63(1), 153-170.
Seidman I.E. (2006) Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences. (3rd Ed.) Teachers College Press, New York.
Shepard, L.A. (2008). Formative assessment: Caveat emptor. In C.A. Dwyer (Ed.), The future of assessment: Shaping teaching and learning (pp. 279-303). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1–22.
Soltero-Gonzalez, L., Escamilla, K., & Hopewell, S. (2012). Changing teachers’ perceptions about the writing abilities of emerging bilingual students: Towards a holistic bilingual perspective on writing assessment. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 15(1), 71-94.
Spandel, V. (2006). In defense of rubrics. English Journal, 96(1), 19-22.
Stewart, T. & Houchens, G. (2014). Deep Impact: How a Job-Embedded Formative Assessment Professional Development Model Affected Teacher Practice. Qualitative Research in Education, 3(1), 51-82.
Swain, S. & LeMahieu, P. (2012). Assessment in a culture of inquiry: The story of National Writing Project's Analytic Writing Continuum. In N. Elliot and L. Perelman (Eds). Writing assessment in the 21st century: Essays in honor of Edward White. New York: Hampton Press.
Torrance, H., & Pryor, J. (2001). Developing formative assessment in the classroom: Using action research to explore and modify theory. British Educational Research Journal, 27(5), 615-631.
Valdés, G., & Figueroa, R. A. (1994). Bilingualism and testing: A special case of bias. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Vescio, V., Ross, D., & Adams, A. (2008). A review of research on the impact of professional learning communities on teaching practice and student learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(1), 80-91 .
Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and language. MIT Press.
Walqui, A. (2006). Scaffolding instruction for English language learners: A conceptual framework. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 9(2), 159-180.
Wei, R. C., Darling-Hammond, L., Andree, A., Richardson, N., & Orphanos, S. (2009). Professional learning in the learning profession. A Status Report on Teacher Development in the US and Abroad (Technical Report).
Wiliam, D., Lee, C., Harrison, C., & Black, P. (2004). Teachers developing assessment for learning: Impact on student achievement. Assessment in Education, 11(1), 49-65.
Wong Fillmore, L. and Snow, C. (2002). What teachers need to know about language. Washington D. C.: U. S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement.