Since its inception, DSD has been committed to using research-based, best instructional practices. The Common Core State Standards and the Christina School District curriculum are used in the development of each student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP) and to guide instruction for each student. ASL development classes at DSD are designed to provide enrichment and instructional activities regarding the features and uses of ASL. Students engage in ASL handshape study and activities; the study and development of ASL poetry; the study and application of ASL non-manual features such as facial expression and tone; and the practice / development of expressive and receptive ASL skills.

1. S
ASL Instruction &
Assessment in the Time
of the Common Core
State Standards
Karen Martin, Bilingual Literacy Specialist
Marianne Belsky, K-12 School Leader
Delaware School for the Deaf
2013 ASLRT Presentation

2. Delaware School for the Deaf:
Who are we?
A Member of the Christina School District (26 schools)
S Pros:
S Support
S Opportunities for dual placement/mainstreaming within the district
S Salary; benefits for our staff
S Curriculum materials and training
S Cons:
S Constant cycle of educating district personnel about deafness and Deaf
Education
S At times, less autonomy for our program
S Some initiatives don’t “fit” our students

3. Delaware School for the Deaf:
Who are we?
Student Demographics
S FACES Program (birth-5): 33 students
S K-5: 30 students
S 6-8: 19 students
S 9-12: 33 students
Number of families with Deaf parents: 4 (7 students total)

4. Delaware School for the Deaf:
Who are we?
Teachers Paraprofessional
s
Deaf
9 12
Hearing
8 6
K-12 Instructional Staff Demographics

5. As the School Leader…
S Courses (K-12)
S School Success Plan
S PLC’s (Professional Learning
Community)
S School wide Communication
Expectations
S Assessments

6. ASL at DSD
S Bilingual Training
S ASL-ELA Framework
S K-2
S 3-5
S 6-8
S ASL Assessment
S Social ASL (Kendall P-Levels)
S Academic ASL (ASL Prompts)
S ASL Specials
S ASL Classes
S ASL Enrichment
S After School Programs
S ASL Poetry Competition
S ASL Summer Camp

7. Bilingual Training
DSD began training with CAEBER (The Center for ASL-
English Bilingual Education and Research) in 2007 with a
cohort of 6 Preschool/Elementary teachers & 2 SLP’s with 2
mentors.
Since then:
S SUMMER BOOT CAMP (included Dorm, Paraprofessionals
& Related Service Providers)
S ALL STAFF ARE REQUIRED TO COMPLETE OUR AEBT
(ASL-English Bilingual Training)
S A NEW COHORT BEGINS EACH YEAR

8. The
Thresholds
Theory
Source: Baker (2006) p. 172
ASL-ELA Framework
Cummins, 1977 as referenced in Baker, 2006

9. ASL-ELA Framework
At each level (K-2; 3-5; 6-8) we typically have 3
mixed-age groups for the morning
“Language Arts” Block.
Placement is based on language needs
(derived from data)
DATA for ASL:
Kendall P-Levels
ASL Prompts (DSD ASL Rubric)

10. ASL-ELA Framework
Group A:
S Students in this group are Limited
Bilinguals.
S They have low levels of competence in both
languages (ASL and English)
S LANGUAGE ACQUISITION &
DEVELOPMENT OF WORLD
KNOWLEDGE – Social language

11. Group A Language Allocation for
Instructional Planning Purposes
Social ASL Social English
Academic ASL
Academic English

12. ASL-ELA Framework
Group B:
S Students in this group are Limited Bilinguals or
Less-Balanced Bilinguals.
S They are moving toward age-appropriate
competence in one of their languages (ASL or
English).
S Continued language acquisition & world
knowledge, but moving into more academic
ASL; getting ready for academic English

13. Group B Language Allocation for
Instructional Planning Purposes
Social ASL Social English
Academic ASL Academic English

14. ASL-ELA Framework
Group C:
S Students in this group are Less Balanced
Bilinguals or Balanced Bilinguals.
S They either have age-appropriate
competence in one but not two languages
(ASL or English), or they have age
appropriate competence in both
languages.

15. Group C Language Allocation for
Instructional Planning Purposes
Social ASL Social English
Academic
ASL
Academic
English

16. ASL Instruction within the ASL-
ELA Framework
One critical guiding principle we have at
DSD is that all of our teachers are
LANGUAGE teachers.
S Guided/Shared/Independent viewing of ASL literature
S Handshape and ASL vocabulary work
S Signer’s Workshop

17. ASL-ELA Framework and the
Common Core State
Standards
S The CCSS Standards call for:
S Increasingly concept-based instruction
S Students to develop “grit and perseverance”
S The use of inductive reasoning
S Close reading & answering text-based questions with
evidence from the text
S Developing the skill of argument (to collectively “get to the
bottom of things”)

18. ASL-ELA Framework and the
Common Core State
Standards
If students can’t do the things
listed on the previous slide
in ASL first, we’re doomed!

19. We believe the CCSS are
supportive of our instructional
approaches

20. ASL-ELA Framework and the
Common Core State
Standards

21. How do we build knowledge and
academic vocabulary?
Associative Learning
The associations between vocabulary and contexts are
bidirectional.
The brain is amazing!
Adams, 2010

22. How do we build knowledge and
academic vocabulary?
Knowledge is represented
relationally.
Adams, 2010

23. Data informs our instruction
S Demographics
S Assessment Data (ASL, English, Math)
Leads to school structures for
instruction and language access

24. ASL Assessment
Data is collected on both Social ASL
and Academic ASL:
S Social ASL = Kendall P-Level assessment
S Academic ASL = ASL Prompts, scored with the DSD
ASL Rubric

25. ASL Assessment
S DSD ASL Rubric – 5 point rubric
S 6 Analytic Scoring Areas:
S Ideas
S Organization
S Expressiveness/Affect
S Fluency
S Sign Choice
S Structure

26. A glimpse of our 2-
sided rubric.
Handouts available
out on the info table
and the PDF will be
placed in the ASLRT
Dropbox folder.
We will be working on
“Student-Friendly”
versions this year and
next.

27. ASL Specials - Elementary
S K-5 students have weekly ASL “Specials” class for
45 minutes.
S Includes:
S ASL shared/guided viewing
S ASL expression (creative and descriptive)
S ASL handshape work
S ASL games

28. ASL Specials Video

29. ASL Classes - Secondary
S ASL is recognized as a World Language in Delaware.
S Our students get High School credits for taking 2 years of ASL
S Students who take ASL courses at DSD are not “2nd language
learners” – a little different focus here
S Strengthening knowledge of their primary language
S Deaf Studies / Deaf History
S Students who already exhibit competence in ASL have the
option to go to the mainstream HS for foreign language
courses

30. ASL Enrichment
AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS
S Athletics – all of our coaches are Deaf
S Girls’ Volleyball
S Boys’ Soccer
S Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball
S Elementary after school program – all instructors are Deaf
S Fall, Winter, Spring programs
S Includes arts and crafts; Yoga; hip-hop dance; ASL activities
and skits; sports; pottery; bowling

31. ASL Enrichment
ASL POETRY COMPETITION
S All students in K-12
S Handshape stories or ASL poetry
S Students have 2 months to develop their submissions
S Collect & judge (team of Deaf judges), and then announce winners
at the final “Student Success Celebration” of the year
S Resources we’ve used:
S Info & guidelines from the Marie Jean Philip ASL Poetry, Storytelling,
and Deaf Art Competition at Northeastern University
S Info & guidelines from Kansas School for the Deaf’s ASL Poetry &
Storytelling Competition, provided at last year’s ASLRT

32. ASL Poetry Competition

33. ASL Poetry Competition

34. ASL Poetry Competition
Some Sample Submissions

35. ASL Poetry Competition
Some Sample Submissions

36. ASL Poetry Competition
Some Sample Submissions

37. ASL Enrichment
ASL SUMMER CAMP
An ASL immersion experience for students who are deaf / hard of
hearing (CODAs are welcome). We welcome students from
neighboring states as well (NJ, PA, MD)
S Three 1-week sessions – Middle School, High School, Elementary
S Students build language through experiences:
S ASL activities
S Field trips
S Games
S Art
S Crafts
S Recreation activities

38. As a result…
DSD was singled out by the
district as one of the few
schools showing consistent
progress on our test scores

39. As a result…
An email received on Friday, November 1st:
It is my pleasure to invite you and your staff to the Christina
School District Board of Education meeting on November
12th, to be held at Gauger-Cobbs Middle School at 7:30
p.m.
The Board wishes to honor the Delaware School for the
Deaf-Secondary Program for its accomplishments on
the 2012-2013 DCAS assessments.
Because of the level of excellence demonstrated by
your students and staff, your school will receive the
Academic Excellence Award.

40. As a result…
Statewide test scores:
Reading Growth Target Met – 53%
Reading Standards Met – 21%
Math Growth Target Met – 55%
Math Standards Met – 27%
(5th Grade…75% of students met math standards)

41. This gives us strong footing!!
We can justify our instructional practices…
ASL-English Bilingual
Instruction
Because these practices have made a
difference. The DATA proves it!

42. Where do we want to go from
here?
S Finish “Student-Friendly” versions of our DSD ASL Rubric
S “Tighten up” our ASL curriculum (anxiously awaiting K-12 ASL
Standards!)
S Add an “ASL Comprehension” assessment to our school-wide measures
S Provide more access to incidental ASL for our students throughout the
day
S Get to the point where we have very few Secondary students with IEP
goals for ASL
S Add an ASL resources section to our website
S Publish students’ ASL works on our website
S Officially change our report cards to include grades for ASL

43. Sources
S Adams, Marilyn J. (2010). Advancing our students’ language and literacy:
The challenge of complex texts. American Educator, Winter 2010-2011
S Baker, Colin (2006). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism
(4th Ed). Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
S French, Martha M. (1999). Starting with assessment: A developmental
approach to deaf children’s literacy. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet
University Pre-College Mission Programs.
S French, Martha M. (1999). Starting with assessment: The toolkit:
Appendices for starting with assessment. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet
University Pre-College Mission Programs.