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What: How to grade ELs in sheltered & mainstream courses
35%– Product
35%– Process
30%–Progress
*Not much guidance for mainstream aside from providing a P/F option
So what: Important so students know their learning journeys. Little guidance exists for mainstream teachers on how to grade.
Now what: Let's create a tool/guidance that can assist teachers in equitably grading MLs.

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Note: This article complements one written by one recently posted at Colorin Colorado and written by Diane Staehr Fenner, Jill Kester, and Sydney Snyder. That piece is titled The Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs. Larry will be joining Diane for a free Webinar on Equitably Grading ELs that will take place on March 19th. You can register for it here.
Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull Sypnieski are teachers in the Sacramento City Unified School District and authors of several books on teaching English Language Learners.
Grading English Language Learners - A Perspective From Two Teachers By Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull Sypnieski Our Overall perspective on grading
We must begin by saying that grades have seldom been an issue in our classes - whether they were ELD/ESL, mainstream, intervention, or advanced courses.

Because of that experience, we are often bewildered by the amount of energy, pressure and angst about them that we see among many teachers and administrators.

We view grades as information. They are one of many forms of communication we use with students and their parents, and definitely not the most important kind. As Rick Wormeli says, they are not rewards or punishments.

We view grades as, in many ways, the lowest level of communication between students, parents and ourselves. As its Latin word root suggests, they are "steps toward something." Assessments, however, are an entirely different kettle of fish. Its Latin roots mean to "sit beside" and to assist. Whereas a grade is just a letter, continuous assessments (both teacher and student-initiated) and reflections on their meanings provide directions for a student's journey- assisting them to adjust both their routes and their destinations.

We emphasize building upon our students' assets instead of their deficits. That doesn't mean we ignore or minimize challenges they are facing. It does mean, however, that we focus on leveraging both their academic and non-academic strengths, like perseverance, critical thinking ability, appetite for learning, and success in outside-of-school venues, towards targeting needed areas of academic improvement. As most teachers know, highlighting past examples of student success and the steps that made it happen can go a long way in helping them find the appetite/desire to applying those qualities again and again - especially to further a high-interest goal.

Just to be clear, even though some might consider us "easy" graders because of our perspective, we also feel confident - and proud - of our students' results on "high-stakes" assessments, such as state tests and International Baccalaureate - supervised Oral Presentations and Essays.
Grading For English Language Learners
This portion of our article is divided into two sections:

How we handle grading in our English Language Development classes

How we handle grading ELLs in our mainstream classes

ELD CLASSES:
We base our grading structure in ELD classes (where students are all Beginner or Intermediate ELL students) on a Course Of Study that we helped our district develop a number of years ago.

Our slightly modified version (taken from the work of Thomas Guskey and others) looks like this:
Grading Guidelines 35%- Product Criteria (quality of student work) 35%- Process Criteria (how students do their work)

Collaboration/working with other students and teacher

Daily participation and effort

Daily attendance

30%-Progress Criteria (evidence that students are progressing)

Academic language development

Demonstrated growth in speaking and listening

Demonstrated growth in reading fluency and comprehension

Demonstrated growth in writing proficiency

ELLs IN MAINSTREAM CLASSES
First, we must say that at this time, our own District does not offer grading guidance to mainstream teachers who have ELLs in their classes. We hope that will change in the near future. To our best knowledge, our state of California also does not provide guidance in that area.

In addition, our experience is in middle and secondary schools, and we will focus most of this section in those areas.

However, based on guidance from other states and districts - as well as the federal government - and based on our own experiences, we offer the following thoughts and advice:

Federal guidelines make it clear that it is the responsibility of high schools to create a pathway for a student who enters high school as a Beginner to be able to graduate in four years (which is a particularly challenging timeline since it takes four-to-seven years to gain proficiency in academic English). They must graduate with the prerequisites to enter college. They must be able to attain success in the school's "standard instructional program." We can't see how that is possible without a system of differentiated instruction and differentiated grading for ELLs in our schools.

The federal government also provides clear instructions that accommodations on assessments must be made by states' Departments of Education on any assessments administered to ELLs. Though those guidelines only specify state assessments, it doesn't appear to us much of a stretch to believe that teachers should follow them in their own classes, too. We're not experts, but we wouldn't be surprised if a Civil Rights complaint to the Department of Education would result in the same opinion.

The districts and states that we have found to have specific grading policies for ELLs in mainstream classes appear - in various degrees - to have some key points in common:

It is the responsibility of the teacher to make content and assessments comprehensible to ELLs.

No student should be retained because of English language challenges.

These policies point out the difference between being "equal" and being "fair" and make it clear that treating ELLs "equally" by treating them the same as English-proficient students is not "fair" and could even be unlawful.

Guidance from the state of Indiana offers an example of a "fair" assessment for ELLs:
If a student is struggling with sequential vocabulary, they may not be able to write an essay on the water cycle. However, if given the opportunity to do a hands-on type of assessment through experimentation or pictures, the same student may be able to demonstrate knowledge of that content, confirming for the teacher their knowledge of science, not their limitations in English.
Accommodations during class could include differentiation strategies such as providing more time, allowing access to cellphone translation, providing needed background knowledge though home language materials, offering similar texts at different lexile levels, giving students writing frames and sentence starters, pre-teaching key vocabulary, speaking at a slower rate, and recruiting peer tutors or in-class language "buddies" - just to name a few.

Larry spent nineteen years as a community organizer prior to becoming a teacher. As an organizer, he recognized that "we live in the world as it is, not as we would like it to be." That doesn't mean we have to be cynical, but it does mean that as we continually strive towards how we should treat all ELLs, we also have to recognize that because of time pressures, lack of professional development, and just plain overwork, some mainstream teachers might not be able to provide the differentiated instruction needed by ELLs.

In those situations, we believe that it's critical for teachers to at least recognize that ELLs are faced with the sometimes overwhelming task of learning academic content and the English language simultaneously, and show compassion and support when it comes to giving them a letter grade.

We should always strive towards creating the world as we would like it to be. However, that doesn't mean we should act oblivious to how the world is at the present time.

Another option some districts use is to apply Pass/Fail grades to ELLs in content classes or to provide letter grades indicating accommodations were made (though those notations can appear on report cards, they may not be able to be added to formal transcripts).

The lives of many of our English Language Learners, who have been uprooted from their home, culture, and native language through no choice of their own, can be very difficult.

Let's not make it harder. Instead, let's demonstrate good sense, compassion and respect good educational practice. Let's treat them as we would like our own children to be treated if we had been uprooted to a new country, a new culture and a new language.

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Grading English Language Learners - A Perspective From Two Teachers

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Note: This article complements one written by one recently posted at Colorin Colorado and written by Diane Staehr Fenner, Jill Kester, and Sydney Snyder. That piece is titled The Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs. Larry will be joining Diane for a free Webinar on Equitably Grading ELs that will take place on March 19th.

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Watch this video about a newcomer in a regular classroom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6Y0HAjLKYI&feature=youtu.be
In modifying assignments for newcomers, be careful not to water down the content. Instead find ways to make the content accessible, such as using visuals (realia, photos, labeled pictures), scaffolding, first language supports, etc.
Making Text Accessible for ELs: SupprtEd video (handout at the bottom of this page) https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=549&v=BHrN_v7_VoU&feature=emb_logo
https://www.middleweb.com/39954/achieving-accessibility-for-all-of-our-learners/
Helpful Hints for Teaching Newcomers/Beginning ELLs:

Please include your newcomer/ELL in class activities and lessons. Regular interaction with an English-speaking teacher and peers is essential!

Spending the majority of their time secluded on a computer is rarely helpful to newcomers and is a form of discrimination.

Modifying lessons does not necessarily require making new ones, just changing/adapting what you've already created .

Your ESL teacher is there as a support for the students and as a resource for you. The real difference is made in your classroom.

ReWordify: Enter complex text and watch it be simplified! http://rewordify.com/

Videos: https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/differentiated-instruction-english-language-learners
Video: Differentiating Instruction:It's Not as Hard as You Think Video: Differentiating Instruction: A Guide for Teaching ELLs General Strategies:

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Courtney Elementary offers pre-kindergarten through 5th grade and is part of Yadkin County Schools.

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Matching expectations and grades for ELLs

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Matching expectations and grades for ELLs

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Matching expectations and grades for ELLs

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Colorín Colorado is a national multimedia project that offers a wealth of bilingual, research-based information, activities, and advice for educators and families of English language learners (ELLs). Colorín Colorado is an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation's capital, and receives major funding from the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association.

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Newcomer ELL students should not receive a failing grade if the contributing factor for failure is solely related to language acquisition.

Content teachers and ENL teachers should collaborate on grading and assessments, if applicable.

For all ELLs, be prepared to provide evidence of differentiation and modifications in daily lessons, units, and assessments.

In content classes that do not have the support of an ENL teacher , content teachers must seek the council and support of ENL teachers that work with the student or an ENL teacher that can make best practice recommendations for differentiation.

Procedures for assessing and grading students that receive English as a New Language Services

Focus on meaning and content knowledge, not on English language proficiency.

Grade the student on process as well as the product.

Explain how you grade and show examples so that students are clear about expectations and standards.

Have grades reflect a wide variety of formative assessments (including alternative assessments), rather than solely on exams.

Students must have access to modified and scaffolded materials during instruction and assessments.

Teachers must student growth toward mastery of content using multiple measures by documentation of progress monitoring, student portfolios, etc. (suggestive list, not comprehensive)

Grades provide feedback to students on their individual understanding of and progression through a course or subject.

All students, including ELLs, should be working toward the standards and skills required in each content -area class.

The following table shows appropriate instructional and grading considerations to follow,

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RCSD Bilingual Education & World Languages - ELL Grading Guidance

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Webinar: The 5 Pillars of Equitably Grading ELs

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Webinar: The 5 Pillars of Equitably Grading ELs

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Webinar recording

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In the Caesar Rodney School District, we use the following grading guidelines for our ELs. @drguido04

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Supporting English Language Learners (Tools, Strategies and Resources)

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This site is intended for use by teachers, administrators and consultants working with English language learners. This site allows users to:

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Have EL families that do not have access to internet?  Visit www.everyoneon.org.  Follow @efraintovarjr on Twitter. #CAellchat

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Find low-cost internet and affordable computers in your area. Find Offers

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I created this Thinglink and shared with all admin in my district. There are district-specific links and our handbook as an FYI.

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View the interactive image by Starkweather

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Here's a link to a video on the Colorín Colorado website that exemplifies co-planning and co-teaching. It's of Mason Crest ES in VA.

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This video showcases a 5 th-grade team planning a science lesson about the difference between vascular and non-vascular plants. ESOL specialist Katy Padilla plays a key role in advocating for ELLs throughout the lesson planning process and sharing her strategies for engaging and supporting students. You can learn more from Katy in her in-depth interview, as well as our Facebook Live conversation with her about collaboration on behalf of ELLs.

School Name: Mason Crest Elementary School

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ELLs Belong to All of Us: The Role of ESOL Specialists in Collaboration

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This video showcases a 5 th-grade team planning a science lesson about the difference between vascular and non-vascular plants. ESOL specialist Katy Padilla plays a key role in advocating for ELLs throughout the lesson planning process and sharing her strategies for engaging and supporting students.

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Handbook for Educators of ELLs with Suspected Disabilities

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Handbook for Educators of ELLs with Suspected Disabilities

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I mentioned this during today's webinar as a valuable resource.

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We have been using these to communicate with teachers and families at semester end (twice a year). We have one for each level if interested and secondary.

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This post is a combination of my describing my homework policies and actual homework sites for my ELL classes.

Once or twice a week students probably have a little non-online homework to do at home if they don't complete some of the writing tasks we do in class. But that's pretty minimal.

Online homework is a different kettle of fish.

As part of more than one personal conversation I have with each student, I learn their goals, their personal situations (including age, work schedules, family and living situations, and access to the Internet). We discuss the difficulties of learning a new language, what the research says about the length of time it takes, and how much time they have left in high school. I explain that I make individual "contracts" with students about online homework based on their goals, age, and access to the Internet, and also tell them that our school library is open for two-and-a-half hours after each day so, if they don't have a Smartphone or service at home, they can use computers there (and/or receive tutoring).

At the end of our conversation, I ask each student how much time they think they can spend on one of the sites we use (I have this conversation after students have become familiar with using them during classtime). Sixty percent of the time, students say an unreasonably high amount of time and I say, "That's great, but why don't we start at a lower amount and then build up to that time?" I'm happy with thirty minutes a day, five days week. However, that amount can be challenging for students who are working full-time or who have had minimal prior school experience or don't have a smartphone or Internet access at home. In those situations, we make different agreements.

In each case, we make a joint call home to talk with a family member (if a family member is not available during school hours, I'll call home at night if the family is Spanish-speaking) and both explain the agreement. I do this both to support the student if there's only one computer in the house or if there is a limited data plan and to help ensure there's a little more accountability support at home.

All the sites students can use - and choice is important - provide me with reports on student progress and students know this - I show the reports to them. The atmosphere, however, that I work hard at creating in my classroom is not one of "If you don't do it, then your grade will go down." Instead, it's more of "What's going on? Has something changed? Do we need to re-adjust the time expectation?" I use a system where students have a major influence in grading themselves (see The Best Resources On Grading Practices) and grades don't function as a big motivator in my classroom. But it's clear that most students want me to believe that they do follow-up on what they say they are going to...

So, with that lengthy introduction, here are the sites that my ELL students can presently use for their online homework (new ones are added periodically). All let teachers monitor student progress:

Raz-Kids costs $110 per year for a classroom, and has tons of leveled books with audio and visually support for the text. Many of the books offer comprehension quizzes.

Duolingo, which is free and everybody loves!

English Central, which lets students watch videos, record themselves repeating what is said, and then automatically provides "grades" on accuracy and pronunciation. Many of the videos are free, but you have to pay for "seats" in a classroom to get unlimited access (I think it's worth it).

USA Learns, which is free and provides good online introductory activities for Beginners and Intermediates.
"ESL Video" Improvements Turn Good Site Into Great One
StoryWorld provides text and audio stories in Spanish, English and Chinese. I've had Spanish-speaking students who are not literate in their home language use this site, which is not free, but does offer a lengthy free introduction period.

Lyrics To Learn is another site that I've sometimes tried with students who are not literate in their home language. It costs for a subscription but it, too, provides a free introductory period. For me, the jury is still out on its effectiveness for ELLs. However, some of my students with minimal prior school experience seem to enjoy listening to the music, so I'm not quite ready to take it off this list.
Create Customized Exercises & Monitor Student Progress At "LyricsGaps"
Study Ladder has been on the The Best Sites Where Students Can Work Independently & Let Teachers Check On Progress list. I'm now adding it here.

LingoJingo is a new site that lets teachers create virtual classrooms where students can learn English and other classes. Teachers can get a twelve-month free trial. It looks pretty interesting, though it seems a bit more complicated than it has to be when registering students (they require them to have an email address).
LyricsGaps Gets Even Better - Now ALL Existing Songs Can Be Assigned & Student Progress Monitored
Quizziz is on The "All-Time" Best Online Learning Games list. Now that they let you assign quiz games for students to do as homework, I'm adding it to this list, too.
Another Reason iSLCollective Is One Of Top Sites For ELLs - Their New Online Homework Feature! "Your Agora" Has The Potential To Be A Great Virtual Classroom For English Language Learners "oodlu" Definitely Looks Like A Winner When It Comes To Creating & Playing Online Learning Games GOOGLE UNVEILS NEW & IMPRESSIVE FREE READING APP: "RIVET" WOW! WORDWALL LOOKS LIKE A GREAT - & FREE - SITE FOR CREATING ONLINE LEARNING GAMES
There are lots of other options at The Best Sites Where Students Can Work Independently & Let Teachers Check On Progress, but these are the sites that seem to work best with my ELL students.

What are others that you use?

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The Best Online Homework Sites For English Language Learners - Please Offer Your Own Suggestions

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This post is a combination of my describing my homework policies and actual homework sites for my ELL classes. Once or twice a week students probably have a little non-online homework to do at home if they don't complete some of the writing tasks we do in class. But that's pretty minimal.

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You will need to copy this to your own Google Drive in order to use it.

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This is template was created based on the "Differentiated Writing Rubric" by © Fairbairn & Jones-Vo (2017) as presented at the WiDA Conference 2017.

I will add a blank template.

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The Go To Strategies Project walks you through step by step.

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The Go To Strategies Project walks you through step by step.

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Link

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Here's an example of a rubric we are using to give a proficiency grade for ELD at the elementary level based on the ELP standards.

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Here's an example of a rubric we are using to give a proficiency grade for ELD at the elementary level based on the ELP standards.

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use rubric rather than exactly what native speakers are using and graded with

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Exemplars from beginner (Level 1) to advanced (Level 5) from LearnAlberta

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Exemplars from beginner (Level 1) to advanced (Level 5) from LearnAlberta

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Link

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This collection of videos provides teachers of English language learners with an introduction to understanding language proficiency and using the Benchmarks. Classroom scenarios demonstrate how language and content can be taught simultaneously and how students at all proficiency levels can participate in classroom discussions and learning activities.

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This collection of videos provides teachers of English language learners with an introduction to understanding language proficiency and using the Benchmarks. Classroom scenarios demonstrate how language and content can be taught simultaneously and how students at all proficiency levels can participate in classroom discussions and learning activities.

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Charlotte's official grading policy and my site

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STEP - Steps to English Proficiency Ontario Ministry of Education

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STEP - Steps to English Proficiency Ontario Ministry of Education

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Link: http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesELL/Assessment/STEP/STEPUserGuide_November2015.pdf

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I refer to this diagram and adapt it for ELs 

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I refer to this diagram and adapt it for ELs 

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http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el201002_jung.pdf

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These are downloadable forms that I have my students use for self-assessment.  I (Larry) will be referring to them in the Webinar. Please share anything similar (or different!) you have!

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As regular readers know, I regularly have students evaluate themselves as part of the grading process (see The Best Resources On Grading Practices) and also have them anonymously evaluate the class and me, and subsequently make the results public (see The Best Posts On Students Evaluating Classes (And Teachers) ).

Our First Quarter is finished this Friday, and I've taken the opportunity to make some revisions in the forms I use for both and am making them available for download.

Check them out, modify them for your own use, and let me know how I can make them better!
Class Evaluations For Mr. Ferlazzo's Classes Student Self-Assessments For Mr. Ferlazzo's Students

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Here Are Forms My Students Are Using To Evaluate Themselves & Me

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As regular readers know, I regularly have students evaluate themselves as part of the grading process (see The Best Resources On Grading Practices) and also have them anonymously evaluate the class and me, and subsequently make the results public (see The Best Posts On Students Evaluating Classes (And Teachers) ).

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Please share any resources you have for EL grading here. Thank you!

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Please share what your challenges are with equitably grading ELs in your context.

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Please share your promising ideas for EL grading best practices here.

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In our work with educators of English language learners (ELLs), we often find that there is a lack of resources in our field about how to equitably grade ELLs. This blog post offers some insights and ideas that we hope will spur further discussion.

First, we'll share the reason behind our focus on this topic, as well as a summary of challenges related to grading ELLs. Next, we'll give you a brief overview of related research before sharing our own recommendations developed in response to our research, which we call the Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs. (You can find a related infographic on the SupportEd website.) We'll end the post by providing a space for you to share your thoughts, add some additional resources, and share some references with you.

Resources from Larry Ferlazzo

This post complements the following from Larry Ferlazzo:

We also produced a webinar with Larry, available on the SupportEd website (scroll down to "The Five Pillars of Grading ELs Equitably).

COVID-19 updates

For more information on grading equitably during COVID-19, see the following:

Why this topic?

As part of developing a blended ELL assessment professional development course for the Mid-State Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network in Central New York State, we were asked to create a component on grading ELLs. We thought our task would be straightforward enough, but once we started researching the topic, we found very limited resources specifically for ELLs.

In an effort to gather more information, we reached out to our online professional learning network. Diane posted the following questions on the Colorín Colorado Facebook page, the Advocating for ELLs Facebook page, and Twitter in early January 2018:
We're doing a little research on grading ELs at SupportEd. Could you please share your answers to these questions? 1. What are the challenges that you and your colleagues may have in grading ELs? 2. What are some strategies or tools that you find particularly helpful in grading ELs? 3. Do you have any exemplary EL-friendly report card samples you can share?
The responses were numerous and came quickly. Many of our online colleagues shared that they were also looking for guidance around this topic. We also took part in a Twitter #ELLCHAT on January 8 on the same topic with a similar response from colleagues around the country. (You can see a transcript from that Twitter chat by registering for a free account from Participate.com.) We'll summarize the top three challenges that we read about next. Please note we don't share answers to questions 2 and 3 since we incorporate some resources to address these questions in our Five Pillars.

Challenges from the Field

The challenges we saw most often were:

1. Issues with the structure and content of report cards: Teachers mentioned not having an ELL-specific report card, and they also mentioned not being able to adapt their curriculum or school report card so that the ELA skills graded are "on level". (Example: 4th grade beginner student failing ELA because she does not meet grade four ELA standards and is performing at a grade two level.)

2. Lack of validity in grading content: One comment was, "Sometimes a child's grades are just a reflection of how well the teacher taught to their learning style, rather than a true representation of what the child knows." Another colleague wrote, "Separating ELD from content knowledge! So integral to each other - how to assess accurately??" She noted these are listed separately on report card, but there is no tool to assess them.

3. Challenges with school or district policy: Often, educators commented that existing policies at the school and district level don't address the unique considerations inherent in grading ELLs, such as inflexible time limits for exemption from letter grades regardless of the students' language proficiency and educational backgrounds.

Synthesis of Research on Grading Challenges for Teachers of ELLs

The challenges our colleagues reported on social media are in line with what the research tells us, namely that there are many obstacles that may prevent ELLs from benefiting from equitable grading practices. Here we summarize some of findings from relevant research. Please note that this is not an exhaustive literature review!

Research shows that grading, even among teachers at schools with clear grading policies, is often inconsistent (Reeves, 2008; Seeley, 1994). This inconsistency can lead to inequitable grading practices and even failure for certain groups of students, such as ELLs (Waldsburger, 2012). Many teachers believe that report card grades should be based solely on students' mastery of grade-level content standards, which can be challenging for some students. Jung and Guskey (2012) note that while an ESOL teacher may complete a supplemental progress report for ELLs, that piece of assessment information does not often support the general education teacher in assigning grades.

Another obstacle in grading in general is that many classroom teachers feel uncertain about how to hold all students to the same expectations for performance as other students (Guskey, 2011). Teachers can find it challenging to differentiate instruction and grading for ELLs while trying to meet the needs of the other students in their classroom (Pawan & Craig, 2011). Even those teachers who are able to differentiate instruction may find it difficult to score learning tasks and assign grades based on differentiated student work.

Still another challenge that stands in the way of equitable grading for all students is the belief that grades should be used to identify and maximize differences among students (Guskey, 2011). Many teachers feel that there should be students who perform well and students who perform poorly, such as with a normal bell-shaped curve. Jung and Guskey (2012) share that teachers often grapple with questions of fairness, such as giving a passing grade to an ELL who did not meet grade-level content standards. However, Guskey (2011) notes that when teachers identify what they want students to learn and be able to do and when they do all they can to support students in meeting these goals, it is possible for all students to obtain high scores on academic tasks and thereby receive high grades.

The literature we reviewed notes several recommendations for improving ELL grading systems as a whole (e.g., Waldsburger, 2012). For example, one recommendation is not giving letter grades to newly arrived ELLs who are beginning to learn English. Another option is to provide narrative assessments only or use a system of pass, fail, and high pass that measures effort, language growth, and content standard mastery based on students' levels of language proficiency. Tomlinson (2001) suggests providing two grades for all students. The first would be a traditional, standards-based grade, and the second would be a grade based on an individual student's progress towards language and content learning goals. Similarly, several authors (e.g., Jung & Guskey, 2010; Tomlinson, Moon, & Imbeau, 2015) recommend three grades for differentiated classrooms based on a student's product (mastery of content), process (effort, motivation, and participation), and progress (improvement over time).

Our Recommendations: The Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs

We drew from our colleagues' responses, the research we synthesized on grading ELLs, our review of best practices in ELL grading, as well as our own expertise in the field to create five recommendations for equitably grading ELLs. We call them the Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs. For each pillar, we provide a few steps to incorporate that pillar. In defining and describing the five pillars, we fully realize how intertwined effective instruction and equitable grading are. You simply can't fairly grade ELLs if you haven't already positioned them to access the instruction of content.

Pillar 1: Identify the content and language standard(s).

In setting up a system in which ELLs can be graded fairly, teachers first need to define which content as well as language standards they would like their students to meet. Hand in hand with these two sets of standards go content and language learning objectives for ELLs based on these standards. We recommend that teachers share these content and language learning objectives with ELLs using "student-friendly" versions to the degree possible. Also, we recommend that teachers identify success criteria for ELLs in meeting the objectives, and share models of strong work samples with ELLs so that students are aware of teachers' expectations. Model work samples should also include models produced by ELLs at different levels of proficiency so ELLs can see themselves reflected in exemplary student work.

Pillar 2: Incorporate scaffolding to support ELLs in achieving the standards.

Depending on their level of English proficiency, most ELLs will not be able to access grade-level content standards without appropriate scaffolding. We recommend using three types of scaffolds in the areas of materials, instruction, and strategic grouping of students to work toward removing linguistic barriers for ELLs. In implementing scaffolds, we recommend you do so based on ELLs' English language proficiency level as well as individual ELL strengths and needs and also the demands of the particular lesson (Staehr Fenner & Snyder, 2017). In addition, we recommend that teachers set expectations with students for the gradual removal of scaffolding, as appropriate. ELLs should be aware that scaffolds are temporary and will be removed as they gain language proficiency and content knowledge and skills. Further, we stress that it's crucial for ESOL and content teachers to collaborate to determine appropriate scaffolds for their ELLs to meaningfully access content.

Pillar 3: Support ELLs' progress toward mastery.

We believe that grades should not be used punitively for any students, and especially not for ELLs who are already more inclined to drop out of school than non-ELLs. Therefore, we suggest providing ELLs sufficient time and opportunities for learning, such as offering " lunch bunch" and after-school opportunities to do schoolwork with guidance from teachers, tutors, or peers. In addition, we recommend focusing on ELLs' progress towards mastery as well as their achievement. It is important to underscore that we are evaluating ELLs' progress towards mastery, not just whether they have mastered the objective or not. In spite of careful scaffolding, all grade-level standards may not always be 100% achievable for certain ELLs. It may be more motivating for an ELL to recognize his or her progress than to see an achievement score alone.

Also, since many ELLs have responsibilities such as work and taking care of siblings outside of school, they may not be able to complete all assignments on time. Therefore, we recommend allowing ELLs to turn in some work late without penalty if they are in communication with the teacher about the unique circumstances. Moreover, late work may be a sign that an ELL is needing more support to be able to access the content, understand the directions, and/or complete the task. Finally, if homework is given, we recommend using it as an opportunity for non-graded practice.

Pillar 4: Assess ELLs' progress equitably.

In order to equitably assess ELLs, teachers need to design assessments and supports that allow ELLs to access and demonstrate mastery of content and/or language objectives. To equitably assess ELLs' progress, it is critical to also scaffold assessments (not just instruction) for ELLs based on individual ELL strengths and needs. For example, depending on an ELL's level of English proficiency, that student could be provided sentence frames, images, or a word bank to lighten the "linguistic load" of the assessment to be able to provide a more valid picture of what that student knows and can do in a particular content area. During instruction, ELLs should have ample classroom opportunity to practice with any scaffold that will also be provided during an assessment. Another aspect of equitably assessing ELLs' progress comes in the form of group work. While we recommend strategically grouping ELLs as a form of scaffolding instruction, for grading group work we recommend assigning individual scores instead of a group grade to students, including ELLs. In this way, individual students aren't penalized if all students aren't contributing equally to a particular group project.

Pillar 5: Involve ELLs, families, & colleagues.

We have often found that ELLs and their families do not have a full understanding of grade-level expectations, how grades are given, and what each section of a report card means. We advocate for explaining grade level expectations, the grading process, and report cards to ELLs in their home language whenever possible. In addition, ELLs and their families should be involved in the entire grading process, beginning the school year or their enrollment in school with an overview of what the grading expectations and processes look like. Such meetings are also a good time for ELLs and their families to set goals for their learning. Finally, while collaboration and co-teaching have been on many teachers' radar for some time now, co-grading may not be. We strongly recommend that ESOL and content teachers co-grade, collaborating to assign grades to ELLs on formative and summative assessments as well as discuss final grades on report cards. In that way, the level of collaboration will strengthen, and all teachers can leverage their expertise when it comes to ELLs.

Your Thoughts

While we offer our ideas on guidance around equitably grading ELLs, we also encourage you to share your thoughts here. If you have any samples of ELL-friendly report cards, grading policies, success stories, or additional considerations, please share them in the blog post comments!

Additional Resources

References

Guskey, T. (2011). Five obstacles to grading reform. Educational Leadership, 69(3), 16-21.

Jung, L. A., & Guskey, T. R. (2010). Grading exceptional learners. Educational Leadership, 67(5), 31-35.

Jung, L.A. & Guskey, T. R. (2012). Grading exceptional and struggling learners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Pawan, F. & Craig, D. (2011). ESL and content area teacher responses to discussions on English language learner instruction. TESOL Journal, 2(3), 293-311.

Reeves, D. (2008). Leading to change: Effective grading practices. Educational Leadership, 65(5), 85-87.

Seeley, M.M. (1994). The Mismatch Between Assessment and Grading. National Education Association. National Education Association. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/teachexperience/ ask040326.html.

Staehr Fenner, D., & Snyder, S. (2017). Unlocking English learners' potential: Strategies for making content accessible. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). Grading for success. Educational Leadership, 58(6), 12-15.

Tomlinson, C.A., Moon, T. and Imbeau, M.B. (2015). Assessment and student success in a differentiated classroom, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/assessment-and-di-whitepaper.pdf

Waldspurger, T. (2012, March). A? B? C? Assigning meaningful grades for ELLs. Presented at the TESOL Convention, Philadelphia, PA.

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The Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs

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In our work with educators of English language learners (ELLs), we often find that there is a lack of resources in our field about how to equitably grade ELLs. This blog post offers some insights and ideas that we hope will spur further discussion.

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Grading ELLs - A Perspective from Two Teachers

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Grading ELLs - A Perspective from Two Teachers

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Note: This article complements one written by one recently posted at Colorin Colorado and written by Diane Staehr Fenner, Jill Kester, and Sydney Snyder. That piece is titled The Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs. Larry will be joining Diane for a free Webinar on Equitably Grading ELs that will take place on March 19th. You can register for it here.
Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull Sypnieski are teachers in the Sacramento City Unified School District and authors of several books on teaching English Language Learners.
Grading English Language Learners - A Perspective From Two Teachers By Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull Sypnieski Our Overall perspective on grading
We must begin by saying that grades have seldom been an issue in our classes - whether they were ELD/ESL, mainstream, intervention, or advanced courses.

Because of that experience, we are often bewildered by the amount of energy, pressure and angst about them that we see among many teachers and administrators.

We view grades as information. They are one of many forms of communication we use with students and their parents, and definitely not the most important kind. As Rick Wormeli says, they are not rewards or punishments.

We view grades as, in many ways, the lowest level of communication between students, parents and ourselves. As its Latin word root suggests, they are "steps toward something." Assessments, however, are an entirely different kettle of fish. Its Latin roots mean to "sit beside" and to assist. Whereas a grade is just a letter, continuous assessments (both teacher and student-initiated) and reflections on their meanings provide directions for a student's journey- assisting them to adjust both their routes and their destinations.

We emphasize building upon our students' assets instead of their deficits. That doesn't mean we ignore or minimize challenges they are facing. It does mean, however, that we focus on leveraging both their academic and non-academic strengths, like perseverance, critical thinking ability, appetite for learning, and success in outside-of-school venues, towards targeting needed areas of academic improvement. As most teachers know, highlighting past examples of student success and the steps that made it happen can go a long way in helping them find the appetite/desire to applying those qualities again and again - especially to further a high-interest goal.

Just to be clear, even though some might consider us "easy" graders because of our perspective, we also feel confident - and proud - of our students' results on "high-stakes" assessments, such as state tests and International Baccalaureate - supervised Oral Presentations and Essays.
Grading For English Language Learners
This portion of our article is divided into two sections:

How we handle grading in our English Language Development classes

How we handle grading ELLs in our mainstream classes

ELD CLASSES:
We base our grading structure in ELD classes (where students are all Beginner or Intermediate ELL students) on a Course Of Study that we helped our district develop a number of years ago.

Our slightly modified version (taken from the work of Thomas Guskey and others) looks like this:
Grading Guidelines 35%- Product Criteria (quality of student work) 35%- Process Criteria (how students do their work)

Collaboration/working with other students and teacher

Daily participation and effort

Daily attendance

30%-Progress Criteria (evidence that students are progressing)

Academic language development

Demonstrated growth in speaking and listening

Demonstrated growth in reading fluency and comprehension

Demonstrated growth in writing proficiency

ELLs IN MAINSTREAM CLASSES
First, we must say that at this time, our own District does not offer grading guidance to mainstream teachers who have ELLs in their classes. We hope that will change in the near future. To our best knowledge, our state of California also does not provide guidance in that area.

In addition, our experience is in middle and secondary schools, and we will focus most of this section in those areas.

However, based on guidance from other states and districts - as well as the federal government - and based on our own experiences, we offer the following thoughts and advice:

Federal guidelines make it clear that it is the responsibility of high schools to create a pathway for a student who enters high school as a Beginner to be able to graduate in four years (which is a particularly challenging timeline since it takes four-to-seven years to gain proficiency in academic English). They must graduate with the prerequisites to enter college. They must be able to attain success in the school's "standard instructional program." We can't see how that is possible without a system of differentiated instruction and differentiated grading for ELLs in our schools.

The federal government also provides clear instructions that accommodations on assessments must be made by states' Departments of Education on any assessments administered to ELLs. Though those guidelines only specify state assessments, it doesn't appear to us much of a stretch to believe that teachers should follow them in their own classes, too. We're not experts, but we wouldn't be surprised if a Civil Rights complaint to the Department of Education would result in the same opinion.

The districts and states that we have found to have specific grading policies for ELLs in mainstream classes appear - in various degrees - to have some key points in common:

It is the responsibility of the teacher to make content and assessments comprehensible to ELLs.

No student should be retained because of English language challenges.

These policies point out the difference between being "equal" and being "fair" and make it clear that treating ELLs "equally" by treating them the same as English-proficient students is not "fair" and could even be unlawful.

Guidance from the state of Indiana offers an example of a "fair" assessment for ELLs:
If a student is struggling with sequential vocabulary, they may not be able to write an essay on the water cycle. However, if given the opportunity to do a hands-on type of assessment through experimentation or pictures, the same student may be able to demonstrate knowledge of that content, confirming for the teacher their knowledge of science, not their limitations in English.
Accommodations during class could include differentiation strategies such as providing more time, allowing access to cellphone translation, providing needed background knowledge though home language materials, offering similar texts at different lexile levels, giving students writing frames and sentence starters, pre-teaching key vocabulary, speaking at a slower rate, and recruiting peer tutors or in-class language "buddies" - just to name a few.

Larry spent nineteen years as a community organizer prior to becoming a teacher. As an organizer, he recognized that "we live in the world as it is, not as we would like it to be." That doesn't mean we have to be cynical, but it does mean that as we continually strive towards how we should treat all ELLs, we also have to recognize that because of time pressures, lack of professional development, and just plain overwork, some mainstream teachers might not be able to provide the differentiated instruction needed by ELLs.

In those situations, we believe that it's critical for teachers to at least recognize that ELLs are faced with the sometimes overwhelming task of learning academic content and the English language simultaneously, and show compassion and support when it comes to giving them a letter grade.

We should always strive towards creating the world as we would like it to be. However, that doesn't mean we should act oblivious to how the world is at the present time.

Another option some districts use is to apply Pass/Fail grades to ELLs in content classes or to provide letter grades indicating accommodations were made (though those notations can appear on report cards, they may not be able to be added to formal transcripts).

The lives of many of our English Language Learners, who have been uprooted from their home, culture, and native language through no choice of their own, can be very difficult.

Let's not make it harder. Instead, let's demonstrate good sense, compassion and respect good educational practice. Let's treat them as we would like our own children to be treated if we had been uprooted to a new country, a new culture and a new language.

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Grading English Language Learners - A Perspective From Two Teachers

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Note: This article complements one written by one recently posted at Colorin Colorado and written by Diane Staehr Fenner, Jill Kester, and Sydney Snyder. That piece is titled The Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs. Larry will be joining Diane for a free Webinar on Equitably Grading ELs that will take place on March 19th.

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These are from Eastern Suffolk BOCES and are in multiple home languages.

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The following ENL Report Cards, developed by the L.I. RBERN Report Card Committee in August of 2016, are available in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. They can be downloaded and adapted for use by districts in disseminating progress reports to parents/guardians of ELLs over the course of the academic year. In addition, the ENL Report Cards have been designed to meet the needs of districts in terms of trimester or quarterly reporting.

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ENL/Bilingual Programs / ENL Report Card Templates

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The following ENL Report Cards, developed by the L.I. RBERN Report Card Committee in August of 2016, are available in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. They can be downloaded and adapted for use by districts in disseminating progress reports to parents/guardians of ELLs over the course of the academic year.

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Idea for Grading Newcomer/Emerging Students

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Idea for Grading Newcomer/Emerging Students

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This draft is from a colleague on Twitter - we'll keep the district anonymous for now!