February 2023

EL & Title III Newsletter

EL Related Assessment Updates:

WIDA Screeners, ACCESS & Alternate ACCESS

ACCESS & Alternate ACCESS

Testing Window is Now Open!

2/1/23 - 3/24/23

Documenting Special Situations During Statewide Assessments

NHED has released a new reporting feature as part of the online i4see student information system managed within the myNHDOE platform. The new feature allows a more efficient and secure way for test coordinators to:

Report test security incidents; and to
Request assessment exemptions or special considerations waivers.

For more information, please reference the new NHED TA Guidance: Documenting Special Situations During Statewide Assessments linked below.

Link to TA Guidance

Manually Adding New Students in WIDA AMS

Any newly identified EL student that is manually added to the WIDA AMS system must be added using the student's 8-digit State Assessment ID, not the 10-digit Student SASID #.

If you need help locating a student's State Assessment ID, please reference, NHED TA Document: Locating Student State Assessment IDs.

Alternate ACCESS Field Testing

The WIDA Alternate ACCESS test is getting a revamp! This important redesign work requires administration of a field test in addition to the current Alternate ACCESS test. All EL students who are required to take the Alternate ACCESS test, must also take the additional 1-time field test. Your participation will help inform the revised Alternate ACCESS Test; as well as, the development of a new Alternate Screener.

The field test is open from February 14, 2023 - April 17, 2023. Districts are asked to complete the current operational Alternative ACCESS Test first and should allow adequate time between assessments to reduce the effects of testing fatigue on students.

All Alternate ACCESS Test Administrators are strongly encouraged to watch the recorded webinar from December 1, 2022 entitled, "Alternate ACCESS for ELLs Field Test 2022-23." The webinar recording and additional resources are available in the WIDA Secure Portal.

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

General Updates

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:

2/21/23

3/6/23

Webinar Details

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

Title III Updates:

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) contracted with the WestEd National Research & Development Center to Improve Education for Secondary English Learners to create a collection of publications, briefs, professional learning activities and webinars to support educators working with culturally and linguistically diverse students. These open source resources are now available using the link below.

Here are a few highlights:

Link to Resources

Upcoming Professional & Collaborative Learning Opportunities

NHED Facilitated PD

NHED EL & Title III

Open Office Hours

3:00-4:00 pm

Thursday, February 23

Tuesday, March 7

Wednesday, March 15

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

WIDA Facilitated PD

Post Testing: Data Validation

3/7/2023

2:00-3:00 PM

This webinar provides information about validating and correcting student data.

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