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Greetings,
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Holiday Greetings and many thanks for being a part of the STAMP community and the movement towards proficiency.
Once again, we had the chance to see many friends at ACTFL and we're
grateful to those of you who were there to help us ring in our new name, Avant Assessment. As Avant
Assessment, we will continue to lead the way in developing and delivering
proficiency-based, language assessments via the Web in an effort to reinforce
good teaching and build bridges of communication.
In this issue of the STAMP newsletter, you can find useful information about What's New in STAMP and about immediate STARTALK 2008 deadlines. You can learn about the use of STAMP Data in Research and your opportunity to contribute key questions. Also, stay updated on Avant leadership activities in The Oregon Roadmap to Excellence and Where in the World. Finally, get inspired with a glimpse into the life of your colleague, Michael Bacon of Portland Public Schools in Sportlight on You.
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What's New in STAMP
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The
STAMP test has been updated! New Languages Chinese (traditional and
simplified) and Italian joined Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and for
2007-2008. Reporting now allows district administrators to search
student results by years of study, days per week, hours per week
and program model. This will help in further defining results for program
development and articulation. Please ask (info@avantassessment.com) for the new STAMP Order Form to take advantage of this
added feature. Practice tests in Spanish, French, Japanese and German
are now available at www.stamptest.net.
Taking the practice test is a great way for students to become familiar with
the types of questions and technology used by the STAMP test, and decrease test
anxiety. Writing & Speaking Rubrics have been updated to allow
for a wider range of scoring possibilities.
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STARTALK 2008 Applications Due December 21st
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Avant provided the assessment
component for STARTALK 2007, a project of the US National Security Language
Initiative which is a multi-agency effort to expand foreign language education in
under-taught critical languages by funding new and existing programs throughout
students' learning careers, kindergarten through university.
In the summer of 2008, the STARTALK project will
provide funding for summer programs that offer Arabic, Chinese, Hindi,
Persian, and/or Urdu language study for middle and/or high school students. STARTALK will also offer professional development opportunities for current or prospective
teachers of these languages from kindergarten through college. Applications are due December 21st. For more information,
go to http://startalk.umd.edu/2008_invitation.htm
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STAMP Data in Research for Language Educators
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What
have you always wondered about language acquisition?
What's
the best time to start learning a language?
Is
there an achievement gap in language acquisition?
How
long does it take to get to Novice-mid?
Avant's
research partner, CASLS is asking for your help in identifying the ten burning
questions that educators really want answered. Utilizing data collected from
SLA Web (which is populated with data from national delivery of STAMP), CASLS will combine original research with a review of
current literature to answer each of the ten burning questions. Those questions may be
broad in scope or focus on specific aspects of student performance, such as
pronunciation, spelling, fluency, and discourse structure. The first step
is to determine what the ten most burning questions are - please send yours to
lforrest@uoregon.edu.
For additional CASLS resources for language
educators, please visit http://casls.uoregon.edu
then go to SLA Web to
search test data based on student age, years of study, home language, and
immersion or heritage status; Pilot Tests for the latest status of test
development and availability in fifteen languages; and CASLS' latest offering, InterCom,
to view or subscribe to weekly updates of vetted articles and tools related to
language acquisition.
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Avant, CASLS & The Oregon Roadmap to Language Excellence
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 The State of Oregon is one of three states selected by the Federal
Language Flagship's 2007 U.S. Language Summits: Roadmap to Language Excellence
project to develop statewide action plans addressing the need for foreign
language skills. Avant's CEO, David Bong and CASLS' Director, Carl Falsgraf actively worked
with several dozen other leaders from Education, Business, and Government to
develop a mission and plan for Oregon that can serve as a model for other
states. While expectations were that business, education, and government
leaders would have unique and potentially self-serving interests related to
specific languages, conversations and findings indicated a common recognition
of the need for improved language proficiency in multiple languages. The
resulting Roadmap calls for state incentives for students demonstrating
language proficiency. To learn more about the process, outcome, and future of
the Oregon Roadmap to Language Excellence, please go to http://casls.uoregon.edu/roadmap. |
Where in the World - Avant at ACTFL and Beyond
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Avant
Assessment leaders travelled far and wide this year presenting STAMP and hearing about assessment challenges from language educators around the globe. ACTFL was reported to be one of the largest national conferences to date and Avant was very pleased that STAMP was a part of many assessment sessions in addition
to those where Kyle Ennis or CASLS's staff presented.You can see specifics
about presentations at ACTFL by searching or browsing at http://convention2.allacademic.com/one/actfl/actfl07/.
In addition to ACTFL, Avant leaders attended and presented at a number of state and regional conferences
including WFLTA, MIWLA, SWCOLT, and KWLA. Additionally, Kyle Ennis spent a week training Department of Defense Education Activities (DoDEA) educators on use of
STAMP and ClassPak in Japan. Throughout 2008, we will continue to step up our
event presence and training activities as leaders in the assessment field and we hope to see you
frequently.
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Spotlight on You
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Michael
Bacon
Portland Public Schools Immersion Program
Coordinator
Avant Assessment is pleased to publish this
Spotlight on You story celebrating your colleague, Michael Bacon, Immersion
Education Coordinator at Portland Public Schools (PPS) in Oregon, whose sense
of adventure and "anything is possible" results in an enjoyable and inspiring story. Michael's vision and experiences are combined in his specific
strategies to continue the growth of the successful 20-year-old PPS program
focused on creating a generation of leaders with the linguistic, cultural and
academic training to lead global relationships. You can
see Michael's full story (and others as the collection grows) at http://www.avantassessment.com/about/news.html.
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