January 2023

General Updates:

NH ESOL Professional Standards

It has been 10 years since the ESOL professional standards in NH have been reviewed. For several months, a committee of NH EL educators and administrators has been hard at work reviewing and updating the standards.

At the January State Board of Education meeting last week, an initial draft of the revised ESOL professional standards (Ed. 5017.17) was approved. This begins an important period of public engagement:

A public hearing will be held at the State Board of Education meeting on March 9 @ 11am.
After the public hearing, NHED is required to keep the period of public comment open for 5 days to allow for additional written feedback.
After the public comment period closes, the committee will reconvene and prepare a final proposal to the State Board on April 13.

It is critical that a wide range of NH EL educators are involved in the process to update the standards. Anyone interested in providing feedback can attend the public hearing or submit written feedback or input to NHED Administrative Rules Coordinator, Julie Shea: Julie.R.Shea@doe.nh.gov

The NHED iPlatform has been updated and now includes the state assessment data and school environment data for the 2021-22 school year. This includes the English Language Proficiency (ELP) accountability data for your school and district. EL educators are encouraged to review this data to help inform instruction. If you would like to learn more about the iPlatform, please attend an upcoming webinar (specific information can be found below).

NH Seal of Biliteracy Award

The NH Seal of Biliteracy in an award given by a school or district in recognition of students who have studied and attained proficiency in two or more languages by high school graduation. Students who earn this designation will receive the state seal on their high school diploma and a state issued award certificate. In addition, documentation of this accomplishment will be included on the student’s official high school transcript, a distinction valued by prospective employers and institutions of higher education.

The State Seal of Biliteracy Committee is offering a series of webinars to support local implementation of the award program. The goal of these webinars is to support educators interested in implementing the program. The webinar will provide an overview of the NH program, including a review of resources and guidance for NH schools.

The webinars will be held from 3:30-4:30 on:

1/24/23

2/21/23

3/6/23

Webinar Details

Assessment Updates:

WIDA Screeners, ACCESS & Alternate ACCESS

ACCESS & Alternate ACCESS

Testing Window

2/1/23 - 3/24/23

Important ELP Assessment Reminders:

All NH schools are required to share information about statewide testing with families. Please share information about ACCESS & Alt. ACCESS testing at least 10 days in advance of your school's testing window. WIDA offers a handout for parents and families that explains ACCESS and what it means for their student's academic progress. Review the Preparing for ACCESS Testing Quick Start Guide for more family resources.

Collaborate with Special Education Case Managers to review the 2022-2023 WIDA Accessibility & Accommodations Manual and to complete an Accommodations Checklist to ensure all English learners who have accommodations as part of an IEP or 504 plan have the supports they need on testing day.

More information regarding WIDA assessments can be found on our NH WIDA webpage, including important testing dates, Test Administrator qualifications and test requirements.

Title III Updates:

2022-2023 Title III: The reallocation process is complete for this year. Final allocations have been posted and are now available in the Grants Management System (GMS). Grant Managers are asked to revise the grants by February 15, 2023 to allocate additional funds.

If you have questions or need Technical Assistance with the grant application process, please plan to join one of the Open Office Hours or TA webinars listed below or contact NHED Title III Consultant, Wendy Perron.

Resource Share:

USED Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA)

The Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) has synthesized key data on English learners (ELs) into two-page sheets on a variety of subjects for you to read online or print out and share. Click here to view the new Fact Sheets.

New Podcast Series on Effective Literacy Instruction for Multilingual Learners

OELA just released a two-part podcast series on effective instruction for multilingual learners. The podcast is hosted by Melissa Escalante, US Department of Education, Lead Management & Program Analyst.

Part I: Dr. Laurie Olsen, Strategic Advisor from Sobrato Early Academic Language, discusses key understandings about literacy development for MLs and literacy instruction in English-only educational contexts. Grace Delgado leads a Q&A with Aloise Miller, Adjunct Professor from Seidlitz Education.
Part II: Dr. Kathy Escamilla, Professor Emerita at the University of Colorado, discusses literacy development in bilingual settings, followed by a Q&A moderated between Grace Delgado and Dr. Ana DeGenna, Associate Superintendent of Educational Services at Oxnard School District.

Link to Podcasts

Upcoming Professional & Collaborative Learning Opportunities

NHED Facilitated PD

NHED EL & Title III

Open Office Hours

3:00-4:00 pm

Monday, January 23

Thursday, February 2

Monday, February 13

There is no set agenda for the open office hour. The time is offered for NH educators to seek Technical Assistance from NHED on any questions or issues related to programs for English learners or Title III.

Zoom Room Info:

Meeting ID: 865 3993 3224

Passcode: 673911

Click to Join Meeting

Statewide EL Educator's

Community of Practice Meeting

Thursday, February 16

from 3:30-4:45 pm

A Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of individuals with similar roles and responsibilities coming together to share ideas, resources and best practices. More information about the the NH Statewide EL Educator's CoP is available on the agenda linked below.

Agenda & Meeting Code

NHED iPlatform Webinar:

Introduction to iPlatform Webinar

January 26, 2023

3:15-4:15

Please join us to explore the updated NHED's iPlatform, which now includes the state assessment data and school environment data for the 2021-22 school year. We will review the accountability data in iPlatform, learn more about what this data represents, and explore ways to look for trends within schools.

WIDA Facilitated PD

During Testing:

Monitoring Test Completion for Test Coordinators

1/26/23

2:00-3:00 PM

This webinar provides information about student status reports, daily cumulative student status reports and online testing statistics.

WIDA Self-Paced Workshops

WIDA offers Professional Learning that you can complete when you want, where you want, and at your own pace. Complete the workshops individually or expand your learning by creating a local professional learning community to work through the modules with.

Click Here to View List of Current Workshops

For more information or to access the WIDA professional learning resources described above, please log on to the WIDA Secure Portal.

WIDA Secure Portal

General Updates: ﻿