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Californians Together

Championing the Success of English Learners

LCFF/LCAP

New Toolkit Aims to Ensure English Learner Progress is Visible

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New Toolkit Aims to Ensure English Learner Progress is Visible

Educators and advocates can use it to effectively develop school accountability plans (LCAPs)

In response to renewed calls to strengthen programs for English Learners, the Center for Equity for English Learners at Loyola Marymount University and Californians Together have created a set of resources to support educators and community members to ensure schools’ efforts to serve English Learners (EL) are not only comprehensive but also visible. The resources respond to previous reports that English Learners’ needs were largely “masked” as demonstrated by the limited or weak evidence for EL programs, actions and services in local LCAPs (Local Control and Accountability  Plan).

The LCAP Toolkit: Using Research-Based Tools to Promote Equity for English Learners are aligned to the aspirational goals of the new English Learner Roadmap. Along with the required transparency for targeted funding, the Toolkit provides important opportunities for educators and advocates to participate effectively in LCAP development. 

The Toolkit was developed through an extensive process of analysis and reflection that included teachers, district leaders, educational researchers and EL experts. The toolkit has four sections:

  • Understanding who your ELs are and what the district data reveals
  • How to use a new resource (7 research-aligned rubrics) to comprehensively address ELs in district LCAPs
  • Examples of how a local EL expert group or task force can contribute to improving the content of the LCAP to address the needs of ELs 
  • Examples of promising practices from actual district LCAPs.

Dr. Magaly Lavadenz, one of the authors and Executive Director for the Center for Equity for English Learners, Loyola Marymount University, stated, “After 7 years of of The Local Control Funding Formula and persistent academic and opportunity gaps for English Learners this Toolkit provides the support and direction to improve the LCAP process to finally realize the promise of equity for English Learners”.

An introductory webinar on the content and use of the Toolkit is scheduled for March, 25, 2020 from 1:30 – 4:00 pm for anyone involved in the development of LCAPs.  To register click here.  

The Toolkit can be downloaded here and purchased here.

An Important Survey We Must Act On Now!

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Our Voices are Urgently Needed NOW!

We need 10-15 minutes of your time to send a message to the State. There is a very important survey that can have a tremendous effect on the education of English Learners.

If we don’t respond, others will decide what should be included in the new design of the Local Control Accountability Plan Template for the next 3 years. The survey will take about 10 minutes, and we have some suggestions for your responses but you are welcome to respond how you best see the work moving forward.

Local Control Accountability Plan Template Redesign for 2020-2022 LCAPs:

This year, districts will be writing and submitting a new three-year LCAP using a redesigned LCAP template. This is our opportunity to urge the California Department of Education (CDE) and the State Board of Education (SBE) to include language that will require districts to comprehensively address English Learners. This survey must be completed by November 1, 2019.

The CDE has developed a survey to solicit feedback from stakeholders regarding both the draft Local Control and Accountability Plan Template (LCAP) and draft LCAP Template instructions. The survey may be accessed here: https://www.lcapredesign.org/

Based on feedback from the State Board of Education (SBE) at its September 2019 meeting, and in an effort to ensure the template and instructions support local educational agencies (LEAs) in the development of the LCAP beyond the minimum requirements, it has been decided that the CDE will present the finalized draft LCAP Template (including instructions) to the SBE at its January 2020 meeting for adoption.

Important points to address in the survey: Read the form and the directions and add short comments on the right-hand side of the survey under “Feedback about this section”.

·     Stakeholder Engagement: We suggest you choose Option A. The form and directions include language to indicate how input was received and where any of the suggestions from the important stakeholders are included in the LCAP. This validates the input from parents, students and community members and affirms that their input was heard and some suggestions were accepted.

·     Goal and Activities: In the directions under Measuring and Reporting Results for both options (which will be available to the districts to choose) there is language that says, “LEAs may identify metrics for specific subgroup”. In order to live up the equity principle of LCFF and to have districts commit to closing any achievement and performance gaps, the language should require that metrics are specific for subgroups and are differentiated from what is expected of all students so as to set an expectation of closing gaps. It is also important for the districts to include metrics specific for current English Learners and RFEPs.

Don’t let others decide what is needed for the LCAP Template for the next three years.

We need to be heard and you can make it happen.

Press Release: Masking the Focus on English Learners

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State Accountability System Obscures English Learners’ Unique Needs

Study of local plans identifies key improvements to fix the system

 

Sacramento, CA – August 14, 2018 – Californians Together is releasing a new report today entitled Masking the Focus on English Learners which questions the efficacy of the state accountability system in identifying the needs of English Learners accurately. The report states that by combining data from two English Learner subgroups (current and reclassified), the system masks the distinct needs of each subgroup and diminishes the urgency to address the numerous educational needs of current English Learners thus undermining the central equity intent of the Local Control Funding Formula. The report’s strongest recommendation is that the state discontinue aggregating the two subgroups and instead report them separately for analysis and planning.

“There is great potential for California school districts to be misled by the results of the combined EL subgroup on the Dashboard.  The decision to combine this data from two student groups with distinct language and academic profiles masks and impedes districts from addressing their distinct academic needs” said researcher and co-author, Dr. Magaly Lavadenz.

The report also states that the system largely misses the mark in identifying research-based programs, actions, and services for English Learners.

Key findings presented in the report include:

  • Despite all 24 districts being rated at the two lowest levels for English Learner performance, only 6 mentioned a concern for achievement in English Language Arts and only 1 specified a concern for their overall achievement.
  • Minimal attention was paid to analysis of English Learner outcomes
  • Course access and targeted services were inconsistently provided to current English Learners
  • Minimal specific professional development was offered to teachers of English Learners.

“Obscuring current English Learner results has detrimental effects on districts’ abilities to address goals in local plans, set growth targets, focus program, and services and allocate funds for this group of students.  We call on the State Board of Education to rectify this accountability policy in order to ensure every English Learner can best be served,” said Shelly Spiegel-Coleman, Executive Director of Californians Together.

The study was conducted in collaboration with the Center for Equity for English Learners at Loyola Marymount University and reviewed local plans for 24 school districts that serve 23% of California’s English Learners.

You can view and download the report at www.californianstogether.org

 

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New Report – Masking the Focus on English Learners: The Consequences of California’s Accountability System’s Dashboard on Year 4 Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs)

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21007 LCAP Report Cover (1)

Our latest report Masking the Focus on English Learners questions the efficacy of the state accountability system in identifying the needs of English Learners accurately. The report states that by combining data from two English Learner subgroups (current and reclassified), the system masks the distinct needs of each subgroup and diminishes the urgency to address the numerous educational needs of current English Learners thus undermining the central equity intent of the Local Control Funding Formula. The report’s strongest recommendation is that the state discontinue aggregating the two subgroups and instead report them separately for analysis and planning.

View and Download The Report
View and Download The Executive Summary
View The Press Release

Closing the Achievement Gap for English Learners Must Focus on New State Data

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Long Term English Learners are 62% of all English Learners in Grades 6-12

 

Los Angeles, Calif. (August 31,2016): Students who have been enrolled in California schools for six years or more as English Learners, are not making adequate progress in learning English and are struggling academically constitute 62% of all the English learners in grades 6-12 according to data released today by the California Department of Education(http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/SearchName.asp?rbTimeFrame=oneyear&rYear=2015-16&Topic=LC&Level=State&submit1=Submit).  As the new school year is beginning, every school and district has been given the data to identify these students, called Long Term English Learners (LTELs), and hopefully will have plans to accelerate their language and academic growth.

The new data furthermore shows that 29% of all English learners who have been in California schools for four or five years are at risk of becoming LTELs with the majority of these students in the lower grades.

According to Laurie Olsen, researcher and author of a report that first called attention to Long Term English Learners six years ago, “this new data adds tremendous urgency to a problem throughout the state.  LTELs are students who despite having been in our schools for years, haven’t been given the support to learn English adequately to be able to succeed academically.  Their life-chances are compromised by a schooling system that isn’t responding to their needs. In the wake of state test scores released earlier this month that showed a widening gap for English Learners, hopefully the new LTEL data will spur state and local action to invest in the programs and services we know can make a difference.”

California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) has granted schools and districts funding to strategically address the needs of English learners as one of the student subgroups that have been historically underserved.  LTELs and students at risk of becoming LTELs should be at the core of LCFF investments in instructional and programmatic improvements if these students are to graduate and become college and career ready. Without any additional support, research shows that these students are more likely to drop out

For the short term, Californians Together calls upon the state, the county offices of education, the districts and schools to use this data to respond to the legal mandate of the LCFF to provide “increased or improved services and programs” for English learners.  The plans that districts write documenting how they will spend their budgets needs to be explicit about how they will yearly reduce the numbers of LTELs and students at risk and what specialized instruction and programs they will implement.

“The real goal for California’s schools and district should be to guarantee that no English Learner becomes a Long Term English Learner.  There are research-based  models and documented successful practices to provide districts with the direction they need to serve and prevent students from becoming LTELs.  Each school and district should commit to assessing their current EL programs and investing in what we know works,” said Xilonin Cruz Gonzalez, president of Californians Together.

Californians Together is a statewide coalition of 25 parent, teacher, education advocacy and civil rights groups committed to improving policy and practice for educating the state’s 1.4 million English Learners. Since 2001, Californians Together, a nonprofit organization, has served as a clarion voice on behalf of language minority students in California public schools

Study of Year 2 Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs) Reveals a Weak Response to the Needs of English Learners

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Report on 2nd Year of LCAPs Calls for the State, Districts and County Offices of Education to Make the Remaining Years of LCFF about Closing Gaps and Raising Levels of Language and Academic Growth

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (April 5, 2016) – A second report that reviewed the Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs) of 29 key school districts throughout the state, and the impact those LCAPs are having on English Learner students, was released today by Californians Together.  This report is a follow-up to the year 1 report released in May 2015 and serves to document the key differences between first and second-year LCAPs in demonstrating increased or improved services to English Learners.   [Read more…] about Study of Year 2 Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs) Reveals a Weak Response to the Needs of English Learners