Outcome Evaluation for English as a Second Language

The past year has been unprecedented in the amount of extra work required from the ESL Dept. Chair and faculty. In addition to on-going professional development activities which strengthen our program, several faculty participated, as mentioned in the last EMP, on a variety of committees/work groups to address assessment issues in our state/district. Unfortunately, instead of "shoring up our assessment to insure that students will have more accurate placements which lead to better retention and completion rates and, in many cases, may reduce the number of semesters needed to achieve enough English to succeed in non-ESL courses," the entire project was scrapped, and we were left with a very unreliable assessment vehicle. AB705 has brought with it another set of challenges to which many ESL faculty have stepped up. Again, attendance at multiple day conferences, work groups, off and on campus meetings have stretched faculty thin with no guarantee of any real improvements made for our students.

We currently have ESL professors attending a variety of professional conferences off-campus and completing on-campus professional development activities including group grading sessions for ESL writing courses, the Online Institute, the ARC Teaching Institute, etc. The information learned during these activities has a direct impact on student learning in the case of group grading of midterm and final essays and in indirect ways when faculty report on their activities during ESL Dept meetings or in other discussions with colleagues. In addition, ESL faculty have been heavily involved in discussions regarding, piloting and beta testing, and evaluation of new assessment vehicles planned for state-wide implementation. Shoring up our assessment insures that students will have more accurate placements which lead to better retention and completion rates and, in many cases, may reduce the number of semesters needed to achieve enough English to succeed in non-ESL courses.

We currently have ESL professors attending a variety of professional conferences off-campus and completing on-campus professional development activities including group grading sessions for ESL writing courses, the Online Institute, the ARC Teaching Institute, etc. The information learned during these activities has a direct impact on student learning in the case of group grading of midterm and final essays and in indirect ways when faculty report on their activities during ESL Dept meetings or in other discussions with colleagues.

We currently have ESL professors attending a variety of professional conferences off-campus and completing on-campus professional development activities including group grading sessions for ESL writing courses, the Online Institute, the ARC Teaching Institute, etc. The information learned during these activities has a direct impact on student learning in the case of group grading of midterm and final essays and in indirect ways when faculty report on their activities during ESL Dept meetings or in other discussions with colleagues.

We currently have ESL professors attending a variety of professional conferences off-campus and completing on-campus professional development activities including group grading sessions for ESL writing courses, the Online Institute, the ARC Teaching Institute, etc. The information learned during these activities has a direct impact on student learning in the case of group grading of midterm and final essays and in indirect ways when faculty report on their activities during ESL Dept meetings or in other discussions with colleagues.

We currently have ESL professors attending a variety of professional conferences off-campus and completing on-campus professional development activities including group grading sessions for ESL writing courses, the Online Institute, the ARC Teaching Institute, etc. The information learned during these activities has a direct impact on student learning in the case of group grading of midterm and final essays and in indirect ways when faculty report on their activities during ESL Dept meetings or in other discussions with colleagues.

ESL faculty regularly attend different types of training sessions, workshops, and professional conferences both on and off campus. The department already has a D2L website where professors can share resources. Ongoing efforts are being made to streamline a system by which all faculty can be made aware of upcoming professional activities and log attendance at workshops and conferences in order to serve as resources for other faculty.