Researchers from the University of Oregon have been awarded a $5 million grant to develop literacy screening tools for elementary school students learning Alaska Native languages.
The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development contracted a team led by Gina Biancarosa of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Oregon to conduct the five-year effort. Biancarosa is the Anne Swindells Chair of Education and a professor in the College of Education at the University of Oregon.
The project will support implementation of the Alaska Reads Act of 2022, which requires early literacy screening for all students, regardless of their language of instruction.
Alaska recognizes 21 official state languages, including English.
“We will work with Alaska Native partners throughout the process,” Biancarosa said. “We will start with language immersion programs in schools where students learn to read and write in the Alaska Native language.”
Her team intends to focus on three to four languages initially, with the aim of expanding to include up to six more languages in the coming years. Researchers and the state will form advisory committees made up of elders, educators and other members of the Alaska Native community to help guide their work and serve as partners in the work.
By the end of the five-year contract, the team aims to create an online tool to enable others to develop future literacy screening assessments for additional Alaska Native languages.
The Alaska Reading Act directs schools to assess students’ literacy knowledge in kindergarten through third grade to identify students who need help reading at grade level.
Ensuring Alaska students are reading at grade level by the end of third grade is one of the Alaska Department of Education’s top priorities. Alaska recognizes that developing reading skills in any language increases reading skills in all languages.
To assess English literacy, Alaska adopted the DIBELS Eighth Edition assessment developed by Biancarosa; Patrick Kennedy, Director of Data Management at the Center for Teaching and Learning; And their colleagues at the center. Kennedy will also participate with Biancarosa on an Alaska Native assessment project.
But Biancarosa said the work ahead won’t be as simple as adapting the DIBELS assessment to other languages.
“Languages are not all the same,” she said. “We need to respect the way language and literacy develop in different languages. We bring expertise on what it takes to develop measures and what the key elements are in literacy development. We will work with our Alaska Native partners to determine how they emerge in a Yup’ik or Inupiaq language Or another language.
For example, the timing methods used to conduct DIBELS evaluations may not translate well to Alaska Native education programs.
“We will have to collectively determine what makes sense culturally,” Biancarosa said. “One of the first conversations I hope to have with the committees is how acceptable any timing is. If not, we will work through the problem and come up with something that is culturally responsive to how they think about and teach language and literacy.”
The UO team includes other faculty from the College of Education. Kennedy has extensive experience working on the DIBELS literacy assessment for speakers of English. Professor Sylvia Thompson has done similar work internationally to develop assessments for languages other than English. Professor and data scientist Cengiz Zobologlu will help develop tools that Alaska can apply to create assessments for additional languages in the future. Two professional research fellows will also be appointed to support the work.
For Biancarosa, the project also represents a way to support indigenous language revitalization.
“I am very interested in partnering with and helping communities that I feel have been overlooked, under-resourced, or worse,” she said.
In her research, this initially led her to work with struggling readers of English.
“Partnering with Alaska Native communities feels bigger than just helping individual readers,” Biancarosa said. “It seems that supporting language revitalization efforts would be a more significant contribution than I would normally make through my research.”
—by Mark Foreman, University Communications
The University of Oregon (UO) team has recently entered into a partnership with the state of Alaska to support and promote Native language literacy. The collaboration aims to provide resources and expertise to help preserve and revitalize Native languages in Alaska, which are facing the threat of extinction. The UO team brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in language education and preservation, and is committed to working alongside Alaska to ensure that Native languages continue to thrive for future generations. This partnership represents a significant step towards addressing the urgent need to preserve and promote the cultural heritage of Alaska’s Native communities.