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TESL Ontario ConferencePanel Discussion: Language for a Changing WorldDecember 11, 2009

Ministry of Education Goals

• High levels of student achievement

• Reduced gaps in student achievement

• Increased public confidence in education

Four Pillars of Student Achievement/Student Success

• Literacy – for 21st century

• Numeracy – for 21st century

• Program Pathways and Supports

• Community, Culture and Caring

Closing the Gaps: Results and Trends Primary Reading: English-Language Assessments

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10

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60

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80

Year

Per

cen

t at

Lev

els

3&4

All 50 54 59 62 62 61 61

Girls 56 59 63 68 68 68 65

Boys 44 48 54 57 56 55 56

SpecEd 16 19 18 21 22 25 27

ESL/ELL 25 34 36 42 44 45 46

2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09

Closing the Gaps: Results and Trends Primary Writing: English-Language Assessments

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10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Year

Per

cen

t at

Lev

els

3&4

All 55 58 61 64 64 66 68

Girls 64 67 68 72 73 74 75

Boys 47 50 54 56 56 59 61

SpecEd 14 15 16 19 20 37 40

ESL/ELL 34 42 45 51 54 58 60

2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09

English Language Learners – ESL and ELD Programs and Services (2007)

Policies and Procedures for Ontario Elementary and Secondary Schools, Kindergarten to Grade 12

English as a Second Language and English Literacy Development (2007)

Secondary Curriculum Policy

ELL POLICY

Supporting English Language Learners DVD (2009)

Supporting English Language Learners in

Grades 1 to 8 (2008) Supporting English Language Learners with

Limited Prior Schooling (2008) Supporting English Language Learners in

Kindergarten (2007)

Many Roots Many Voices (2005)

Available at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/teachers/publications.html

ELL RESOURCES

Board Developed Resources from the 111 ELL Project initiative in 2008-2009

Steps for English Proficiency (STEP) resource guide initial assessment tool ongoing assessment continua

•Reading•Writing•Oral Communication

COMING UP

Expanded Cooperative Education

•Currently students can count two cooperative education credits towards the 18 compulsory credits required for the OSSD.

•There is no limit to the number of optional credits that a student may earn through cooperative education.

•Two cooperative education credits are a required component of the Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM). Co-op programs will need to grow to accommodate these additional students.

• The Expansion of Cooperative Education Toolkit is available to support schools and boards in expanding co-op and is available online on the Ministry’s website.

• see Cooperative Education Fact Sheet – English Language Learners

Ontario is a leader in secondary school cooperative education,

nationally and internationally. It is one of the few jurisdictions

where the program is based on students applying and further

developing curriculum expectations from a related

course in the workplace.

Co-op Snapshot

• Student Enrolment (2007-2008): 114,716• Number of students taking co-op at least once in a school year has

climbed by 28% from 57,797 in 2005-06 to over 73,000 in 2007-08.(Note: 2008-2009 numbers expected. 2009-2010 TBD)

Adult and Continuing Education

• The government is committed to increasing opportunities for adults to acquire basic education and foundation skills. It invests close to $200M annually and supports more than 90,000 adult learners. This includes basic programming reviewed in the Ontario Learns report (EDU adult high school credit programs, TCU Literacy and Basic Skills and Academic Upgrading and MCI ESL/FSL/Bridging programs.)

• Over 50 school boards offer adult and continuing education programs, of which 31 offer adult education programs funded by all three ministries (credit, ESL/FSL and Literacy and Essential Skills).

• The Ministry of Education provides more than $70M annually for school boards to deliver adult and continuing education programs and services for credit leading to a secondary school diploma.

• The Ministers’ Committee on Adult Education chaired by the Minister of Education, meets regularly to provide direction on improved policy alignment and coordination of programs and services for adult learners across government.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE POLICY AND PROGRAM

• Boards will implement a process for evaluating a student’s proficiency in an international language(s) and providing appropriate credit(s) for that proficiency. This includes Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR).

• Through the process of challenging for credit, students may have their knowledge and skills evaluated against the expectations outlined for any of the Level 1–4 international language courses in the provincial curriculum policy documents in order to earn credit(s) towards the secondary school diploma (Section 2.6.4)

In 2009-10, the ministry will continue to enhance the

capacity of school boards to recognize and assess prior learning, to collect

and report significant data on their adult learners and programs and to provide accessible information.

FIRST LANGUAGE CHALLENGE ASSESSMENTS

School boards developed challenge assessments in Persian (Farsi), Punjabi, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, Spanish & Russian that newcomers can use to demonstrate their proficiency and earn credits toward an Ontario Secondary School Diploma

CESBA (Ontario Association of Adult and Continuing Education School Board Administrators) and ILEA (International Language Educators Association) received funding to develop the First Language Challenge Assessment Resource Guide to support school boards with the implementation of these PLAR assessments

These assessments will be available in an online format using the provincial Learning Management System after field testing is completed in spring 2010