Title of project: Project ESTRELLAS: Electronic Supported Text Research for English Language Learner Academic Success

Director/s: Lynne Anderson-Inman, Ph.D.

Funding agency: Institute for Education Sciences (IES)

Beginning – Ending Dates: April 1, 2009- March 31, 2012

Description:

Project ESTRELLAS is a three-year design-based research project to develop and test three types of eText supports for improving text comprehension and content learning of ELL adolescents struggling to read traditional content-area texts in Science and Social Studies. Students participating in the ESTRELLAS Project are Spanish-speaking middle school students (Grades 6-8) who have been identified as English Language Learners (ELLs).

The long term goal of Project ESTRELLAS is to develop and test an Electronic Reading System designed to improve reading competence and content-area learning of Spanish speaking adolescent English Language Learners (ELL) through supported versions of electronic reading materials. The ESTRELLAS Electronic Reading System for Expository Text will provide ELL readers with a customizable selection of three types of eText supports: Structural Supports, Content-Specific Supports, and Strategic Supports. Each will be tested to determine the best ways to provide that type of support to students reading the text materials assigned as part of the curriculum. The supports to be developed and tested in Project ESTRELLAS derive from the typology of eText supports developed by the National Center for Supported Electronic Text (NCSeT) at the University of Oregon.

Key outcome measures include: indicators of software useability based on screen capture and computer log files; teacher and student descriptions of factors that facilitated/inhibited use of the materials in the classroom; student performance on tests of vocabulary, comprehension, and content knowledge; surveys of teacher and student satisfaction, read alouds and observations of student engagement with the materials.

Key people:

• Dr. Lynne Anderson-Inman, Director
• Dr. Mark Horney, Research Coordinator
• Dr. Fatima Terrazas-Arellanes, Research Associate
• Mindy Frisbee, Materials Developer
• Judith Blair, Web and Communications
• Dr. Edward Olivos, ELL Expert

Collaborators/partners:

• Advisory Board
  
  • Dr. Eugene Garcia
  • Dr. Robert Jimenez
  • Dr. Michael Kamil
  • Dr. Keiko Koda
  • Frank Hernandez
• Partnering Schools
  
  • Agnes Stuart Middle School, Springfield, OR
  • Hamlin Middle School, Springfield, OR

Contact: Dr. Lynne Anderson-Inman, Project Director