Utah CCGP-Closing the Gap Results (Small Group) 2008-2009

School:WasatchMountain Jr. High

Counselors: Amber Terry, Chad Baird

Target Group:8th Grade ELL students

Target Group selection is based upon:ELL status

Key Word:sheltered science course, student placement, ELL

ABSTRACT

Our school has become increasingly aware of the need to provide specific academic services to the growing ELL population within the community.Many of the teachers within the school have become ELL endorsed over the past few years to enable them to better serve the ELL population. One of those teachers was assigned to create a sheltered 8th grade Integrated Science course in order to better serve the intermediate level English language development students. This is one of the few sheltered courses that has been offered before at this school. Significant gains were observed in the student performance on the Science Core test at the end of the year when compared to the previous year.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Introduction

The goals of this project were to

  • Increase numeracy and literacy as noted in the school improvement plan
  • Increase the number of ELL students who score proficient on the science core test

Participants

  • The actual target group of students for this project included 8th grade ELL students who scored in the intermediate level on English language proficiency tests.

Method

  • In cooperation with administration, the school ELL teacher, the science teacher, and the counselors eleven ELL students were placed in the sheltered 8th grade integrated science course. These were the only eleven students in the class.
  • These students were taught the same curriculum as other 8th grade students but with more emphasis on language development in the specific science course.
  • The 2008-2009 core test scores were compared with the previous year to measure progress.

RESULTS

Of the eleven students who participated in the sheltered science course, 10 students increased their scaled score on the 2008-2009 Science Core test when compared to the previous year. One student’s score decreased by 1 point. The average increase in scaled score was 6.36 points with a range of -1 to 16 points. Only 1 student actually scored proficient on the core test, while zero students scored proficient the previous year.

DISCUSSION

While only one student actually scored proficient on the science core test, the results indicate that overall the students in the sheltered science course increased their content knowledge, as demonstrated on the science core test at the end of the year, by a significant margin when compared to the previous year. The gains observed in this sheltered course would be further realized as these students receive these types of services in the future. If these average gains continued, potentially 4 more students would score proficient the next year with the possibility of even more. The increased performance of these students could likely be explained by more one-on-one attention, smaller class size, and more emphasis placed on language development throughout the course. The recommendation is to do further placements of this sort to meet the needs of the ELL population who are greatly at-risk for academic failure and failure to graduate.