Teacher Surveys

Impact Evaluation of Academic Language Intervention

Teacher Survey – Spring 2019

Hello! Thank you very much for your help!

We ask that you complete the survey below. The following page has a consent form with more information about the survey’s purpose. If you are willing to complete the survey, please check the appropriate box on the next page and then begin. Your responses will not be used for monitoring purposes and no reports will identify you or any other individual teacher or school.

We appreciate your time!

Sincerely,

XXXX

OMB#: 1850-XXXX

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According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 35 minutes per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. The obligation to respond to this collection is voluntary. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20210-4537 or email [email protected] and reference the OMB Control Number XXXX-XXXX. Note: Please do not return the requested information to this address.

Notice of Confidentiality

Information collected for this study comes under the confidentiality and data protection requirements of the Institute of Education Sciences (The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part E, Section 183). Responses to this data collection will be used only for statistical purposes. The reports prepared for this study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific individual. We will not provide information that identifies specific individuals, schools, or your district to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law.

PLEASE READ THIS FORM AND CHECK BELOW IF YOU AGREE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SURVEY

We would like to invite you to complete a survey about your experiences teaching students who are English Learners (ELs) or disadvantaged non-EL students. The survey will take approximately 35 minutes to complete. As a token of our appreciation, you will receive $XX two weeks after submitting your completed survey.

What is the purpose of the study?

Your school is participating in a national research study to help determine what types of instruction will best help English Learners (ELs) and disadvantaged non-EL students in the 4^th and 5^th grade improve language skills needed for reading and writing in school. The study is sponsored by National Center for Education Evaluation (NCEE) of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the survey is administered by MDRC and Abt Associates. The survey includes questions on your education, training, and teaching experience, and the types of instructional techniques you use and challenges you encounter in your classroom.

Is participation voluntary?

Taking part in the survey is voluntary. Deciding to take the survey or not will have no effect on your employment, teaching certification status, or your relationship with your school or district. You may choose to skip any question on the survey, or choose not to complete the survey at any time without penalty.

What are the benefits and risks?

There is no direct benefit to you from participating in the survey. You will be contributing to a national study designed to help improve academic outcomes for English learners and non-EL disadvantaged students and give teachers information and tools to work most effectively with these students.

This survey poses minimal risk to you. As part of the survey, you will be asked to provide some personally identifiable information (PII). We will protect your privacy to the extent permissible by law. This includes limiting access to personally identifiable information about you to authorized members of the research team only. There is a very small risk of disclosure of your PII to people outside the research team. However, the research team has many procedures in place to minimize this risk. We will remove PII from your other survey responses and store it separately in secure data files. The research team will not share your individual survey responses with your school, district, state, or the U.S. Department of Education. Your responses to this survey will be summarized along with the responses of other teachers for statistical purposes only. No reports will identify you or any other individual teacher or school. At the end of the study, we will share anonymous data collected in this survey with the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES). That is, before sharing any survey data we will remove information that identifies you or your school directly.

What if I have additional questions?

If you have any questions about the study or about the survey, including technical difficulties, please contact Carter Epstein at Abt Associates via email at STUDY NAME@abtassociates.com or toll free at 800-XXX-XXXX. For questions about your rights with regard to the study, please call INSERT MDRC CONTACT, MDRC’s Institutional Review Board Administrator, toll-free at 1-XXX-XXX-XXXX.

 By checking this box, I agree to participate in the survey that follows for the Impact Evaluation of Academic Language Intervention. [SURVEY BEGINS]

 I prefer not to participate in this survey. [EXIT SURVEY]

This survey uses the following terms which are likely familiar to you; however, your district may use different terms to define similar ideas.

Academic language = vocabulary words and sentence structures that are common in academic settings (e.g., textbooks, standardized tests) but that are less common in spoken language

English learner = students who are not native English speakers. Your district may call these students limited English proficient, English language learners (ELL), non-native speakers, English as a Second Language (ESL) students, or something else.

Instructional block = each time you instruct a group of students on a particular subject, whether that is one group of students to whom you teach multiple subjects or multiple groups of students to whom you teach one subject. Your district may call these blocks “class periods,” “classes,” or something else. We expect that most teachers teach 4 to 8 instructional blocks per day.

Professional learning community (PLC) = a group of educators who meet regularly to share knowledge and strategies and to work collaboratively to improve their teaching as well as students’ learning. Your district may call this a “community of learning” or something else, but the common idea is a group of colleagues that meet frequently to share instructional practices and work toward a common educational vision. A PLC does not include disciplinary meetings, IEP reviews, or other events focused on non-instructional issues.

Background, experience, and education

1. What grade(s) are you teaching this year?

   • 3^rd grade

   • 4^th grade

   • 5^th grade

   • 6^th grade

   • Other (please specify): ________________

2. What subject(s) are you teaching this year?

• English, reading, or language arts

• Mathematics

• Science

• Social studies or history

• Computer science or technology

• Foreign language

• ESL or bilingual education

• Art or music

• Health or physical education

• Other (please specify): _____________________________

3. Have you completed any college or university course, or other training offered or mandated by your state or district, on English learners or bilingual children?

   • Yes

   • No

4. Do you have a license or certificate to teach English learners (e.g., an ELL license, TESOL certification)?

   • Yes

   • No

5. This academic year, are you participating in any new intervention or program related to improving students’ knowledge and understanding of the words and discourse that form the basis for the language used in school (sometimes called Academic Language)?

   

   • Yes What is the name of this program? ______________________

   • No

   • Don’t know

6. In the past year—that is, in summer 2018, fall 2018, or this spring—did you participate in any professional development (PD) on the following topics:

Topic	Did you participate in PD on this topic in the past year?	If YES: In the past year, how many hours of PD related to this topic did you have?
Teaching English learners (ELs)	Yes No	1 to 3 hours 4 to 7 hours 8 to 12 hours 13 or more hours
Teaching other struggling students	Yes No	1 to 3 hours 4 to 7 hours 8 to 12 hours 13 or more hours
Strategies for helping students comprehend and use different types of language (e.g., expository, persuasive, or inferential language)	Yes No	1 to 3 hours 4 to 7 hours 8 to 12 hours 13 or more hours
Strategies for helping students determine the meaning of words (e.g., cognates, context clues, word parts, concrete representations, examples)	Yes No	1 to 3 hours 4 to 7 hours 8 to 12 hours 13 or more hours
Other (please specify): _______________________	Yes No	1 to 3 hours 4 to 7 hours 8 to 12 hours 13 or more hours

7. Do you participate in a professional learning community (PLC) at your school?

• Yes  Go to Q8

• No  Go to Q11

8. Does this PLC include…? Check one only.

• Only teachers who teach the same grade as you

• Some teachers who do not teach the same grade as you

9. Does this PLC include…? Check one only.

• Only teachers who teach the same subject(s) as you

• Some teachers who teach different subject(s) than you teach

10. How often does this PLC meet? Check one only.

• Less than once a semester

• Once or twice per semester

• Once a month

• Two or three times a month

• Every week

• Other (please specify): _______________________________

Use of specific instructional strategies

11. Which statement best describes the way your classes at this school are organized? Check one only.

• You instruct the same group of students for all or most of the day in multiple subjects (sometimes called a Self-Contained Class).

• You instruct several classes of different students for most or all of the day in one or more subjects (sometimes called Departmentalized Instruction).

• You teach only one subject to different classes of students (sometimes called an Elementary Subject Specialist).

• You are one of two or more teachers, in the same class, at the same time, and are jointly responsible for teaching the same group of students for all or most of the day (sometimes called Team Teaching).

• You instruct a small number of selected students released from or in their regular classes in specific skills or to address specific needs (sometimes called a "Pull-Out" Class or "Push-In" Instruction).

12. In the typical week, how many instructional blocks do you teach?

By instructional blocks, we mean each time you instruct a group of students on a particular subject, whether that is one group of students to whom you teach multiple subjects or multiple groups of students to whom you teach one subject. Your district may call these class periods or something else.

We expect that most teachers teach 4 to 8 instructional blocks per day. For example, if you teach 6 instructional blocks on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and 5 instructional blocks on Tuesday and Thursday, you would teach 28 instructional blocks per week.

­­­­­­­­­­­­_______________ instructional blocks

13. Of these instructional blocks, how many include English learners?

­­­­­­­­­­­­_______________ instructional blocks

14. In your most recent full week of teaching, which of the following instructional strategies did you use with ELs?

    	Used this strategy?	If checked: In how many instructional blocks did you use this strategy to instruct ELs?	If checked: How well do you think you are able to implement this strategy with ELs?
    Introduce, define, and prompt use of key academic and disciplinary language and terms		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Teach students words that signal relations between sentences (e.g., words that describe order of events)		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Model how to use titles, headers, figures, and other text cues to interpret text		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Use sentence starters or templates to help students organize their thoughts for writing		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Ask students to define words, use words in a sentence, or state synonyms		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Use think-alouds or roleplays to model skills and processes (e.g., how to use text clues to interpret text)		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Model how to generate questions and evaluate predictions about the text		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Develop content-driven class discussions between you and your students or among students to build deeper knowledge		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Ask students questions requiring inferences based on text		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well

15. In your most recent full week of teaching, which of the following instructional strategies did you use with other struggling students?

    	Used this strategy?	If checked: In how many instructional blocks did you use this strategy to instruct other struggling students?	If checked: How well do you think you are able to implement this strategy with other struggling students?
    Introduce, define, and prompt use of key academic and disciplinary language and terms		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Teach students words that signal relations between sentences (e.g., words that describe order of events)		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Model how to use titles, headers, figures, and other text cues to interpret text		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Use sentence starters or templates to help students organize their thoughts for writing		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Ask students to define words, use words in a sentence, or state synonyms		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Use think-alouds or roleplays to model skills and processes (e.g., how to use text clues to interpret text)		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Model how to generate questions and evaluate predictions about the text		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Develop content-driven class discussions between you and your students or among students to build deeper knowledge		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Ask students questions requiring inferences based on text		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well

16. In your most recent full week of teaching, which of the following instructional strategies did you use with ELs?

	Used this strategy?	If checked: In how many instructional blocks did you use this strategy when working with ELs?	If checked: How well do you think you are able to implement this strategy with ELs?
Provide accessible, supportive materials (e.g., pictures, charts, sentence starters) that students can use as references or prompts		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Modify assignments and assessments so that all students successfully meet the lesson’s goals		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Refer to or elicit students’ personal experiences to engage them in a new topic or illustrate a new point		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Incorporate culturally appropriate materials (e.g., books, foods, posters) into lessons		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Talk with students in their home language or dialect		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Ask other staff, students, or volunteers to interpret materials into students’ home language or dialect		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Use translated written materials		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Other instructional strategy (please specify): ________________		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well

17. In your most recent full week of teaching, which of the following instructional strategies did you use with other struggling students?

	Used this strategy?	If checked: In how many instructional blocks did you use this strategy when working with other struggling students?	If checked: How well do you think you are able to implement this strategy with other struggling students?
Provide accessible, supportive materials (e.g., pictures, charts, sentence starters) that students can use as references or prompts		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Modify assignments and assessments so that all students successfully meet the lesson’s goals		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Refer to or elicit students’ personal experiences to engage them in a new topic or illustrate a new point		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Incorporate culturally appropriate materials (e.g., books, foods, posters) into lessons		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Talk with students in their home language or dialect		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Ask other staff, students, or volunteers to interpret materials into students’ home language or dialect		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Use translated written materials		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Other instructional strategy (please specify): ________________		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well

Challenges in providing effective instruction

18. Which of the following are challenges for you in providing effective instruction to ELs?

	Is this a challenge for you in teaching ELs? Check all that apply.	Which is the biggest challenge for you in teaching ELs? Check one only.
Students speak multiple languages other than English
Language barriers between myself and the student
Need to modify classroom activities or work to accommodate ELs’ needs
Lack of a formal policy or procedures for instructing ELs
Lack of training in instructional strategies for improving ELs’ reading and writing
Lack of support from administration for meeting ELs’ needs
Other staff who do not share similar ideas about how to teach ELs
Other (please specify): __________________
None of the above

19. Which of the following are challenges for you in providing effective instruction to other struggling students?

	Is this a challenge for you in teaching other struggling students? Check all that apply.	Which is the biggest challenge for you in teaching other struggling students? Check one only.
Language barriers between myself and the student
Need to modify classroom activities or work to accommodate ELs’ needs
Lack of a formal policy or procedures for instructing ELs
Lack of training in instructional strategies for improving ELs’ reading and writing
Lack of support from administration for meeting ELs’ needs
Other staff who do not share similar ideas about how to teach ELs
Other (please specify): __________________
None of the above

Perceptions of English learners and school climate

20. To what extent do you agree with the following statements? Mark one response in each row.

	Strongly disagree	Somewhat disagree	Somewhat agree	Strongly agree
I am adequately trained to teach students in my classroom who are ELs.
Inclusion of ELs in my class has worked well.
Most of the ELs I teach are capable of learning the material I am supposed to teach them.
Teachers in this school are continually learning and seeking new ideas.
The school administrator knows what kind of school he/she wants and has communicated it to the staff.
The school administration's behavior toward the staff is supportive and encouraging.

If you are participating in WordGen Elementary, please go to Q21.

If you are not participating in WordGen Elementary, your participation is finished. Thank you!

For Teachers Using WordGen Elementary in Their Classrooms

21. In your most recent full week of teaching, which of the following strategies did you use to support English learners’ acquisition of language and literacy?

    	Used this strategy?	If checked: In how many instructional blocks did you use this strategy to support ELs’ acquisition of language and literacy?	If checked: How well do you think you are able to implement this strategy with ELs?
    Promote classroom discussion by using “talk moves (e.g., asking open-ended questions; asking students to ‘say more’)		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Facilitate classroom discussion by asking students to explain each other’s responses, respond directly to each other’s claims		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Prompt students to consider different perspectives (e.g., ask students to explain different understandings of an event)		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Provide students time to think before answering (e.g., having them turn and talk to a partner or jot their ideas down first)		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Model academic language, including the target vocabulary		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Model how to think through and make sense of a passage or solve a problem		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Providing textual supports in the classroom environment to support students’ language development		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
    Focus on the intended meaning in student talk or writing, not primarily on conventional correctness		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well

22. In your most recent full week of teaching, which of the following strategies did you use to support other struggling students’ acquisition of language and literacy?

	Used this strategy?	If checked: In how many instructional blocks did you use this strategy to support other struggling students’ acquisition of language and literacy?	If checked: How well do you think you are able to implement this strategy with other struggling students?
Promote classroom discussion by using “talk moves (e.g., asking open-ended questions; asking students to ‘say more’)		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Facilitate classroom discussion by asking students to explain each other’s responses, respond directly to each other’s claims		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Prompt students to consider different perspectives (e.g., ask students to explain different understandings of an event)		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Provide students time to think before answering (e.g., having them turn and talk to a partner or jot their ideas down first)		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Model academic language, including the target vocabulary		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Model how to think through and make sense of a passage or solve a problem		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Providing textual supports in the classroom environment to support students’ language development		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well
Focus on the intended meaning in student talk or writing, not primarily on conventional correctness		_____instructional blocks	Not well at all Somewhat well Moderately well	Very well Extremely well

23. What is the single AL instructional practice that has been most useful for you to adopt in your teaching of:

	ELs Check one only.	Other struggling students Check one only.
Promoting classroom discussion by using “talk moves (e.g., asking open-ended questions; asking students to ‘say more’ or explain their reasoning)
Facilitating classroom discussion by asking students to explain each other’s responses and to respond directly to each other’s claims and arguments
Prompting students to consider different perspectives (e.g., asking students to explain why individuals might have different understandings of an event)
Providing students time to think before answering (e.g., having them turn and talk to a partner or jot their ideas down first)
Modeling academic language, including the target vocabulary
Modeling how to think through and make sense of a passage or solve a problem
Defining unfamiliar words (excluding the target vocabulary)
Providing scaffolds (e.g., sentence starters) for students’ use of academic language forms
Providing textual supports in the classroom environment to support students’ language development
Focusing on the intended meaning in student talk or writing, not primarily on conventional correctness, by acknowledging correct content while modeling more correct forms of expression
Other (please specify): ­­­­­­­­­­______________________

24. What is the single AL instructional practice that has been easiest for you to adopt in your teaching?

	Check one only.
Promoting classroom discussion by using “talk moves (e.g., asking open-ended questions; asking students to ‘say more’ or explain their reasoning)
Facilitating classroom discussion by asking students to explain each other’s responses and to respond directly to each other’s claims and arguments
Prompting students to consider different perspectives (e.g., asking students to explain why individuals might have different understandings of an event)
Providing students time to think before answering (e.g., having them turn and talk to a partner or jot their ideas down first)
Modeling academic language, including the target vocabulary
Modeling how to think through and make sense of a passage or solve a problem
Defining unfamiliar words (excluding the target vocabulary)
Providing scaffolds (e.g., sentence starters) for students’ use of academic language forms
Providing textual supports in the classroom environment to support students’ language development
Focusing on the intended meaning in student talk or writing, not primarily on conventional correctness, by acknowledging correct content while modeling more correct forms of expression
Other (please specify): ­­­­­­­­­­______________________

25. What is the single AL instructional practice that has been hardest for you to adopt in your teaching?

	Check one only.
Promoting classroom discussion by using “talk moves (e.g., asking open-ended questions; asking students to ‘say more’ or explain their reasoning)
Facilitating classroom discussion by asking students to explain each other’s responses and to respond directly to each other’s claims and arguments
Prompting students to consider different perspectives (e.g., asking students to explain why individuals might have different understandings of an event)
Providing students time to think before answering (e.g., having them turn and talk to a partner or jot their ideas down first)
Modeling academic language, including the target vocabulary
Modeling how to think through and make sense of a passage or solve a problem
Defining unfamiliar words (excluding the target vocabulary)
Providing scaffolds (e.g., sentence starters) for students’ use of academic language forms
Providing textual supports in the classroom environment to support students’ language development
Focusing on the intended meaning in student talk or writing, not primarily on conventional correctness, by acknowledging correct content while modeling more correct forms of expression
Other (please specify): ­­­­­­­­­­______________________

THANK YOU FOR COMPLETING THIS SURVEY!