This valuable resource may give you the opportunity to support children, your school community, your peers and yourself through policy change.
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Freeman Celebrates our Seal of Biliteracy Scholars
First cohort to graduate with biliteracy credential
By Lauren Anderson
Freeman Staff
WAUKESHA — This spring, a few dozen Waukesha high school seniors will graduate with a credential that shows colleges and employers they are able to communicate in more than one language.
About 40 students in the Waukesha School District are poised to earn the Wisconsin Seal of Biliteracy, a recognition given to students who have demonstrated achievement in bilingualism, biliteracy, and multicultural competence in and through two or more languages.
This is the first year students are eligible to receive the biliteracy endorsement, which will be reflected on their diplomas and transcripts.
“The purpose of the award is to communicate to the community, to future employers and universities that we have bilingual, biliterate and globallycompetent students,” said Deirdre Garcia, director of multilingual and global education for the Waukesha School District.
The award was first offered in 2008 in California and has since spread in recent years to 23 states, Wisconsin among the most recent. So far, the Waukesha and Verona school districts are approved to offer the recognition, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
To earn the Seal of Biliteracy, students have to demonstrate proficiency in English on the ACT, as well as in a partner language by scoring proficiently on an AP test in Spanish, French,or another language; or on the SAT in that language; or on the Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages test.
Other requirements include writing an essay in both English and their partner language that demonstrates they are able to examine their own perspective, as well as the perspectives of others. Finally, they must develop their own service project and complete it.
Garcia said families of participating students are enthusiastic about the award, recognizing it could give their children an advantage as they enter college and the workforce.
And for many students coming from Spanishspeaking homes, she said, it’s a validation of their upbringing.
“These parents never expected they would be publicly recognized for a skill they gave (their children),” she said. “They’ve never heard ‘Your kids are scholars. Look at what they can do.’ So it’s been really validating for all kinds of kids, but validating for different ways.”
Those interested in learning more about pursuing the Seal of Biliteracy can contact Garcia at dmgarcia@waukesha.k12. wi.us.
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Proficiency v Performance v Achievement
PROFICIENCY vs. PERFORMANCE vs. ACHIEVEMENT
Simply stated, Proficiency is the ability to use language in a real-world situation, Performance is the ability to use language in a limited and controlled situation such as a classroom or controlled situation-based exchange, and Achievement is the ability to repeat language elements that have been taught and mastered at some level. Each has a role in language learning, but only proficiency is what people use to communicate in the real world.
Language learners at the novice level need to focus on memorizing vocabulary and the basic building blocks of language so achievement exercises/tests are particularly appropriate and important at this level. So you can just ignore those ads for some language learning programs that claim you won’t need to do any of that needless memorization. Memorization is important, but it is only part of the picture. Without beginning to apply those memorized words and phrases into an unscripted proficiency-based learning environment, learners will not learn how to improvise and respond to the unexpected and incompletely understood situations they will experience in the real world. Instead they risk becoming fearful of any situation in which they do not know every single word. This fear of the uncertain is the experience that many learners have sadly been given in traditional classrooms that focus on rote memorization and regurgitation. So, achievement assessments are important, but if used excessively, can produce learners who are incapable of real world use of the language elements they have learned in class.
As learners advance and accumulate more building blocks of language, classroom exercises and assessments that encourage learners to practice familiar topics in an unscripted, but comfortable environment can be effective in easing them into real-world proficiency situations. These performance type exercises and assessments lie between achievement and proficiency, but are clearly distinct from proficiency, which is based on topics that are unplanned and potentially unpracticed, but that are appropriate for a learner’s level. A proficiency assessment that questions a novice learner about politics will be meaningless, but one that asks about personal information about an exchange student, for example, is appropriate even if the learner hasn’t studied vocabulary or a dialogue specific to that situation. The exchange student question will ask the learner to pull together language that s/he has learned in a way that replicates real world language, i.e. proficiency situation.
On the US Government ILR language scale, from which the ACTFL scale is derived, novice level learners are labeled as Zeros. While novices are of course not zeros, the government appropriately describes them as non-functional in the language. It is only once they rise to the intermediate level that they earn a One on the ILR scale. At this point learners have enough language building blocks that they can survive in the language and begin to learn and expand their language skills on their own. At this stage it becomes easier to teach and assess Proficiency because the learner has a solid foundation and the requisite skills to work with and engage with the language.
One of the great challenges we see in our national Avant STAMP assessment data is that a majority of learners rise to novice-mid or novice-high after one year of study. While that is a positive outcome, after three years of study a majority of students are still novices and have not broken through into the intermediate level. How could this be? Why are the learners hitting a ceiling at that level? I will write more about this in an upcoming blog entry.
AUTHOR
David BongCo-Founder & CEO of Avant AssessmentAfter successful roles in consulting, sales and web service information, CEO David Bong co-founded Avant Assessment in 2001 with his wife, Sheila, and Dr. Carl Falsgraf, formerly the Director of the Center for Applied Second Language Studies at the University of Oregon. Avant is a leader in improving student outcomes in immersion and world language programs by providing data from its online, adaptive, real-world language assessments.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Bon Jour! Welcome three French Students to West!
Over the past three weeks West has hosted 3 students from France. The students have stayed with West French Students and have shadowed in classes and attended some elective courses. In addition the three students participated, helped, and presented their region and culture in the French classes . Language and Friendship sponsored the school group from Saint Marie-Pila St. Joseph in Carpentras, France.
The boys are Nico, Tom, and Benjamin.
Friday, February 10, 2017
SEAL OF BILITERACY INFORMATION SESSION SATURDAY 2/11 AT 10:30
FAMILIES, SENIORS AND STAFF ARE INVITED TO AN
INFORMATION SESSION ON THE SEAL OF BILITERACY
THIS SATURDAY AT 10:30 AT THE LINDHOLM BUILDING.
THE AGENDA SHALL INCLUDE:
1. WHAT IS THE SEAL OF BILITERACY?
2.WHY SHOULD I EARN/PROMOTE THE SEAL OF BILITERACY?
3. WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO OR SUPPORT SENIORS TO DO TO COMPLETE THE PORTFOLIO?
4. HOW WILL THIS ACHIEVEMENT BE CELEBRATED?
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