Research Update

It is all coming together! Over the past few months of collecting data from students and survey’s from teachers, it was overwhelming. It was hard to grasp how do I organize, interpret, understand and decide how to use all of this information I was gathering. It wasn’t easy, but eventually I found a rhythm in my day to focus on small areas of my research project, which eventually all came together. That is where I am at now.

Throughout my research on how to properly assess English Language Learners (ELL) for Learning Disabilities, there is one thing that sticks out to me. It is not easy for an ELL student to do well on the standardized assessments provided to them. There are many questions with academic vocabulary and a need for background information that cannot be supported while a student is testing. Since these tests are not valid or reliable tools to assess ELL students for a Learning Disability, what body of evidence can we create to support the need for special education services?

Over the past few weeks, I have collected data on a group of ELL students in my academic placement. These students were paired with similar factors as another peer. Two students that I worked closely with had very similar factors. They both began Kindergarten at the same time, have been in the United States of America for the same time, speak minimal English at home, have an attendance issue, have had the same Tier 2 interventions, both have older siblings and they both have a speech disability. Through the support and collaboration of the ELL teacher, I was able to learn more about their home lives and the lack of academic work being completed at home. Both of these students are relatively similar compared to the huge factors that separate them from other ELL students and the non-ELL students they are with every day.

Over a six-week time period, I worked alongside their general education teacher, and ELL teacher to collaborate and work together to support both students. Through our observations the ELL teacher and I determined what scaffolds needed to be introduced into their Tier 1 instruction environment for them to be successful. We supported their general education teacher with reading, writing and math scaffolds to use throughout their day. We supported this first grade teacher with examples of how to efficiently use these scaffolds to consistently support their needs as an ELL student. Not only are these practices intended for the benefit of the ELL student, but for the class as a whole.

After six weeks of supporting Tier 1 instruction, it was very evident that the two boys had different academic needs. Boy A was able to learn to stay on task and successfully complete the work given to him with the support of the scaffolds. Boy B continued to struggle with understanding content and what was being asked of him. He was not able to complete his work at the same rate and quality as most of the students in his classroom. When the two boys were asked to write a sentence on their reading content, they were given visuals of how a sentence should be formed, given a text-starter, and having an adult support the student’s dictation of the sentence. Overall, the students received many scaffolds to write their simple sentence. Prior to the six-week intervention, both boys did not write recognizable sentences. After six weeks of intervention, Boy A was able to use the scaffolds successfully a write a complete sentence. Boy B required extra support to write the sentence word by word, with repeated directions throughout the process, despite the scaffolds put in place. The lack of progress from Boy B, compared to his like peer Boy A, gave the special education team reason to believe he possibly had a learning disability. At the end of this time, both boys would still have low scores on standardized assessments, however our body of evidence shows that Boy A has a relatively good rate of learning.

This process was completed very meticulously for these two boys and appeared to be successful in determining if either of the boys required special education services. This gave me reason to repeat this process for other students. I began to put together more students that had similar factors and academic levels. By supporting their Tier 1 instruction with more scaffolds, we were able to reveal students that had a stronger need for intensive and targeted instruction. Overall, part of this process reveals the support needed in Tier 1 instruction to support ELL students. This process could aid in the body of evidence needed to support an ELL students need for special education services.