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News & Updates
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Check here for monthly updates on state policy changes, answers to teachers' most frequently asked questions, and news from the field of ESOL.

August '10

  • Due mainly to projected deficits in available funding, there have been changes and cuts in the Grades 3-8 and Regents Testing Programs. While some of the cuts have been restored, other approved changes will continue.  The August 2, 2010 memo (Changes in Regents Exams for 2011) from Deputy Commissioner King lists all these changes.

 

May '10 From the Office of State Assessment of the NYS Education Department:

  • The State Education Department invites teachers to evaluate the test components for the spring 2010 NYSESLAT as well as the process for ordering the tests, receiving orders, ordering additional materials, and returning materials.

    Suggestions and feedback from teachers provide an important contribution to the test development process. Your opinions and suggestions would be appreciated. Please be as specific as possible in your comments.  http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/teacher/evaluation.html

March '10:

  • This May-June will be a very busy time for the NYS Testing Program in Grades 3-8. Most LEP/ELL students will be taking the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT); ELA and Mathematics in Grades 3-8; and, Science in Grades 4 and 8. See Related Files below for the 2010 Timeline of Activities for NYSESLAT and Important Information Regarding the Administration of State Assessments.

November '09:

  • The State Education Department is extending the make-up dates for the Listening, Reading, and Writing subtests of the 2010 NYSESLAT to Thursday, May 27, 2010. This will allow an additional two (2) days during which to administer these parts of the NYSESLAT. More information can be found at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/nyseslat/2010-nyseslat-admindatechange.pdf.

October '09:

  • In July 2009, the NYS Education Department announced the revised 2009-2010 Grades 3-8 testing schedule (http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/schedules/2010/3-8schedule-11242009.pdf). This included a change in the administration dates of the 2010 English Language Arts Tests from January to late April. Because of this, the date used to determine whether recently arrived LEP/ELL students may be exempted from these tests has also changed.

     

    Effective with the April 2010 Administration, schools are permitted to exempt from the Grades 3-8 English Arts Language Arts Tests:

     

    English Language Learners (including those from Puerto Rico) who, on April 1, 2010, will have been attending school in the United States for the first time for less than one year.

     

    In other words, students who registered on or after April 2, 2009, may be exempt. For the full memo, please follow this link:

    http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/english/ei/ela-exemption.pdf

 

September '09:

  • The website of the NYS Office of Bilingual Education and Foreign Language Studies (OBE&FLS) has a new look. Along with this new look are new links. You may find that internet favorites from previous years no longer work. Please visit the Bilingual Education homepage for the current links.

 

August '09:

  • Mid-West BETAC is offering two workshop within the first month of the 2009-10 school year: Administration and Scoring of the LAB-R  and Getting Started: ESL Basics. Information about these workshops and other upcoming conferences can be found on the Upcoming Workshops page of our Web site.

May '09:

  • Jean C. Stevens, Associate Commissioner of the Office of Instructional Support and Development, sent a memo recently to Superintendents and Administrators. This was in regard to the option that parents have to withdraw their children from a State-mandated instructional program. She clarifies that CR Part 154 gives parents the option of withdrawing their children only from participation in a bilingual program. Parents cannot withdraw their children from free-standing ESL programs. (To view the full text of the memo, see the "Parent Withdrawal Memo" below under Related Files.)

April '09:

  • The Office of State Assessment of the NYSED has released a Notice to Teachers regarding the Directions for Administration for the Speaking Subtest of the Grades 2-4 NYSESLAT. The responses for Sample C are incorrect. There are amended directions in this Notice. The most up-to-date information about the NYSESLAT (including this Notice) can be found on the NYSED’s website: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/nyseslat/

March ’09:

  • Information about the Tri-BETAC Symposium on SIFE & Refugee Students can be found online at http://www.ocmboces.org/teacherpage.cfm?teacher=922. In addition to the links for online resources, you will find downloadable documents that you are free to adapt for your district’s particular needs.

January ’09:

 

  • Mid-West BETAC has announced the dates of the following events: NYSESLAT Training (March 24, 2009) and the Tri-BETAC Symposium on SIFE and Refugee Students (March 30, 2009). Please go to the Upcoming Workshops page of our website for downloadable flyers and registration forms.

December '08:

  • The Office of Standards, Assessment and Reporting of the NYS Education Department has released a revised schedule for the Elementary- and Intermediate-Level Assessments for the 2008-2009 School Year. There are new dates for the NYSESLAT Speaking subtest and the NYSESLAT field test. You can find this revised schedule at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/schedules/elerev08-09.pdf.

  • Mid-West BETAC would like to connect the educational community through the reading and discussion of a shared book. Tough Choices or Tough Times was written for anyone concerned with the future of this country and the state of our schools and our job training systems. Join a regional discussion group on Thursday, December 11, 2008, 4-6 pm, at Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES. (No fee required.)

November '08:

  • Newly posted on the Office of Bilingual Education and Foreign Language Studies’ homepage is a document that addresses frequently asked questions (FAQs) about CR Part 154 and Title III. Within this document you will find the answers to many of your questions about identification, placement, and assessment; instructional programs for LEP/ELLs; and, other topics. You can find this document at: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/biling/faq_000.htm.

  • The 2008 Teachers' Institute and 38th Annual NYS TESOL Conference took place on November 14-15, 2008, in Buffalo. Copies of the presentations by Mr. David Abrams, Assistant Commissioner for Standards, Assessment, and Reporting, and Dr. Pedro J. Ruiz, Coordinator of the Office of Bilingual Education & Foreign Language Studies, can be found at: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/biling/TeachersInstituteInformationatNYSABE.htm

September '08:

  • Testing accommodations are now available to former LEP/ELL students for two (2) years after they achieve proficiency on the NYSESLAT. These accommodations are available for all state assessments beginning with the Elementary Level Examination in Social Studies (Grade 5) that will be administered in November 2008. Further descriptions of the testing accommodations for LEP/ELL students can be found in the School Administrator's Manual for each test.

June '08:

  • On behalf of all of us at BETAC I want to wish you all a happy end of the year. I will be going back to the classroom next year but hopefully this feature will continue in September with whoever picks up the torch. It has been a real pleasure working will the teachers and districts in our region.  Best wishes and happy summer!    -Genevieve Silbert
  • In June all of the BETACs from around the state come together for two days in Albany to be updated on state initiatives, etc. A few interesting pieces of information from this year's meeting follow:
  • Harcourt will no longer be publishing the NYSESLAT. The 2009 NYSESLAT will be published by Pearson.
  • The state standards are slated to be revised and reevaluated over the next few years, starting with the ELA next year. This does not necessarily mean big changes, but it will be interesting to see how the changes to the standards will reflect subsequent changes to the Regents tests.

May '08:

  • NYSESLAT testing is under way and once again we have been hearing from districts in the area that testing materials are not arriving on time. Harcourt has been contacted and is aware of the delay. They claim that all districts should have their materials by early this week (May 5). If your district has not received your tests by Wed. May 7, you may want to contact Harcourt at 1-800-763-2306.

April '08:

  • The NYSESLAT homepage has finally been updated by State Ed! You can now access the 2008 bilingual parent brochures and administrator's manual. You can get to the site by clicking on "State Assessments and Testing Accommodations" on our homepage or through this web address: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/nyseslat/home.shtml  
  • The 2008 national TESOL covention took place April 2-5 in New York City. Those who were there will confirm that this year's turn-out for the convention was huge (over 1,000 participants). The down-side to the crowds was long lines and many people getting closed out of popular workshops. The up-side was the realization that we are part of a dynamic group of thousands of ESOL teachers around the world and that our field is growing. For ESOL teachers who feel marginalized or little understood in their school communities, as many of us do from time to time , it is invigorating to know that we are not alone, but part of one of the fastest-growing fields in education. Attending a national TESOL convention certainly brings this realization to life. For those who missed this year's event, the 2009 convention will be in Denver, CO. For more information on the organization and convention please visit www.tesol.org.

March '08:

  • Please note a minor change to the 2008 NYSESLAT test. NYSED writes, "The Repeat/Read Aloud task, which measured pronunciation and fluency, has been phased out of the 2008 NYSESLAT. The speaking portion of the exam now includes the following: Sentence Completion, Storytelling, Picture Description, and Social Interaction. The other sections of the test remain the same as the 2007 version."

February '08:

  • We now have official word that there will be no major changes to the NYSESLAT test this year, meaning that if you have attended a training session on administering the NYSESLAT in the past you will not need to do another training this year. The test samplers will also be the same as last year so you can save some paper if you already have old ones printed up.
  • 2008 NYSESLAT exam ordering information will be sent out to your building principals in mid-February, according to a memo sent to BETAC from State Ed. As of now NYSED still has not told us any exact dates for ordering the tests but we will keep you posted.

January '08:

  • The ELAs are starting and we have had many questions about exemptions for ELLs. The current exemption policy is as follows: Students who have entered US school within the past year; i.e. on or after Jan. 2, 2007, are exempt from the ELA. All other ELLs must take the ELA. Please note that students who have re-entered US school, having gone back to their home country for one or more academic years, are also exempt.
  • Many of you may have seen the article, "Caught in the Crossfire" in this month's NEA Today magazine. It addresses the issue of illegal immigrants and how schools in Tulsa Okalhoma have been effected by harsh new immigration laws there. It is important for us as ESOL teachers to be aware of the 1982 Supreme Court Ruling, Plyler v. Doe, which mandates that schools provide a free and equal public education regardless of a child's immigration status. For more information on the rights of immigrant students you can click on the document at the bottom of this page.


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