Message to the English Team with 1/12-13 Meeting Feedback

 

Dear English Development Team,

We have an update for you on the progress of the English College Readiness Definitions, and it includes the following sections:

  1. Recap of our work at the January 12-13 session.
  2. Next steps for the English College Readiness Definitions


Recap of January 12-13 Session

Congratulations on the excellent work you completed on the definitions during the session! Following is a list of your accomplishments in the 2-day session:

  1. An overview of the project and an opportunity to meet other participants was provided.

  2. You received foundational information from David Conley and his group (EPIC) as follows:

    •
    		 Summary of standards development progress and issues in the US today
    •
    		 Update on the TMP and placement testing (Bill Moore)
    •
    		 Potential impact of our project in WA State
    •
    		 Differences between characteristics of English and English and high school and college cultures
    •
    		 Explanation of the comparative analysis completed by McREL and the standards included in that document
    •
    		 Description of the online rating tool


  3. You identified controllable and uncontrollable factors regarding student readiness for college.

  4. You formed three small groups with a mix of high school, 2-year and 4-year representatives, and worked in these small groups on the English standards from McREL/EPIC to synthesize and consolidate the language for each standard with multiple definitions (110 items). You selected one of the existing definitions, eliminated the item or wrote new language for the item. You finished this task on Thursday evening, and a revised worksheet was generated with one definition for each item.

  5. The English team started Friday morning in the same tables-by-topic as the previous day, and you re-formed the groups twice during the day, in order to have the opportunity to interact with a variety of individuals, while keeping a good mix of high school, 2-year and 4-year representatives.

  6. You discussed the overall session process and determined that you needed more time to discuss the overall standards framework and definitions before further review of the McREL document. You also discussed the contents of the McREL document. You lacked confidence in the sources used and found the list of McREL standards to be lacking, and you determined that some prominent Washington State standards need to be added to the mix.

  7. College instructors listed the things they want to see in high school students as they enter their English courses. These were shared with the large group.

  8. You discussed various possible taxonomies for the standards. High school instructors discussed the format for the standards that would be most helpful to them, which may include Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening.

  9. You reviewed the Washington State English GLE’s, and especially Grades 9-10 GLE’s, and decided to base the College Readiness Definitions for English on the structure of the GLE’s for the following reasons:

    •
    		 High school instructors are used to this format.
    •
    		 The gap between grades 9-10 and college readiness will be very clear.
    •
    		 The GLE’s cover the basic territory that the team had in mind.
    •
    		 The structure of the GLE’s will assist the team in moving the process forward.


  10. You decided to add a personal attributes section to the GLE’s, like the TMP did. These will need to be written.

  11. You decided to be sure to include a cultural component in the standards.

  12. You self-selected six members of your development team (2 each from high school, 2-year college and 4 year colleges) to meet and further develop the standards in accordance with the determinations you made in the January 12-13 session. The individuals in the group of six are: Marilyn Henselman, Janet Praxel, Kathleen Byrd, Mark Fuzie, Gail Stgall and Sharon Straub. They will meet for a 2-day session on February 16-17 to accomplish this work.

  13. You identified the Washington State source documents which you want to be used in the February 16-17 session:

    •
    		 Washington State English GLE’s
    •
    		 ABE/ESL WA State standards on ABLE website
    •
    		 WPA—2 pager
    •
    		 McREL list
    •
    		 College instructor “wish lists” from our January session
    •
    		 SBCTC Outcomes from Bill Moore
    •
    		 Lake Washington School District standards

Next Steps for the English College Readiness Definitions

  1. The group of 6 will meet on February 16-17 to develop the initial set of definitions. This initial draft will follow the essential structure set by the GLE’s.

  2. The initial draft will be sent to Bob Eddy to review the definitions with respect to the cultural piece into the standards.

  3. The initial draft will be posted on the Web site.

  4. This initial set of definitions will be loaded into the online tool.

  5. You will receive instructions on using the tool to make your comments regarding the initial set of definitions.

  6. Once you have completed the work on the tool, your input will be analyzed and we will prepare a presentation for you at your next session.

  7. The complete development team for the English College Readiness Definitions will meet again for two days on April 28-29 to work further with the definitions.


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College Readiness Project