"With a Little Help from Our Friends:" Input Needed on MetaMetrics' Vocabulary Research

Hosted by MetaMetrics on March 11, 2015, this Roundtable Discussion (RTD) features special guest Michael Graves and discusses vocabulary knowledge essentialness to students' reading proficiency. Learn how word lists—the vocabulary of core reading programs, the vocabulary of content area texts, general academic vocabulary, domain-specific vocabulary, etc.—can help teachers, schools, districts, and/or states select words for instruction. This presentation also explores how various tools and resources from MetaMetrics can assist with the teaching of vocabulary. RTD attendees were encouraged to offer feedback on the utility of these various lists and tools and help guide the next steps of this line of research.

RTD Presenters:
- Michael Graves, Professor Emeritus of Literacy Education at University of Minnesota & Reading Hall of Fame Member
- Jeff Elmore, Senior Research Engineer, MetaMetrics

Transcript

1. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. “With  a  Li)le  Help  from  Our  Friends:”   Input  Needed  on  MetaMetrics’  Vocabulary  Research   March  11,  2015   3:00  –  4:00  PM  EDT   MetaMetrics’  Roundtable  Discussion  Series   Michael  Graves,  Professor  Emeritus,  University  of  Minnesota     Jeff  Elmore,  Senior  Research  Engineer,  MetaMetrics  
2. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Logis;cs   •  If  you  experience  any  technical  difficulHes  during  the   Roundtable  Discussion,  please  refer  to  your   confirmaHon  email  for  assistance.   •  Throughout  the  presentaHon,  please  submit  your   quesHons  and  comments  to  the  Host,  which  can  be   selected  from  the  drop-­‐down  menu  in  the  Chat   feature  of  this  WebEx.   2  
3. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Presenters   Michael  Graves   Professor  Emeritus   University  of  Minnesota   mgraves@umn.edu       Jeff  Elmore   Senior  Research  Engineer   MetaMetrics     Host  and  Facilitator   3   Ma)  Copeland   Associate  for  InstrucBonal  InnovaBon  and  Support   E  mcopeland@lexile.com    T  (785)  817-­‐4403  
4. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Discussion  Objec;ves   1.  We  will  describe  six  word  lists,  ask  you  to  discuss  and   rate  each  list,  and  ask  if  there  are  other  lists  you  would   suggest.   2.  We  will  idenHfy  five  services  MetaMetrics  could   provide,  ask  you  to  discuss  and  rate  each  of  these,  and   ask  if  there  other  services  you  would  like  to  see.   3.  We  will  describe  the  Lexile  Vocabulary  Selector  Tool   and  ask  how  you  would  use  this  tool.   4.  We  will  ask  if  you  are  interested  in  collaboraHng  with   MetaMetrics  on  further  development  of  vocabulary   resources  and  technology.   4   Throughout  the  presentaBon,  please  use  the  Q&A  feature     of  this  WebEx  to  submit  your  own  quesBons.  
5. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Having  a  substanHal  vocabulary  is  criHcally  important   to  success  in  reading,  success  in  school  generally,  and   success  in  the  world  beyond  school.   Achieving  students  build  vocabularies  of  something  like   50,000  words  by  the  Hme  they  graduate  from  high   school.   Other  students,  including  students  who  struggle  with   reading  and  many  English  language  learners,  have   much  smaller  vocabularies.   Both  students  with  larger  vocabularies  and  those  with   smaller  vocabularies  need  help  in  building  their   vocabularies.   5   Beginning  Premises  
6. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Clearly,  teachers  cannot  teach  anything  like  50,000   words.   The  central  problem  MetaMetrics  is  invesHgaHng  in  its   current  work  on  vocabulary  is  how  to  help  teachers,   schools,  and  districts  select  the  relaHvely  small  number   of  words  to  actually  teach  from  the  50,000  words  that   might  be  taught.   Our  approach  is  to  idenHfy  a  set  of  common  words  that   most  students  are  likely  to  know  and  then  idenHfy   somewhat  less  common  but  sHll  fairly  frequent  words   as  candidates  for  instrucHon.       6   Iden;fying  Words  To  Teach  
7. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. We  have  idenHfied  the  most  frequent  ~4,000  English   words  and  are  considering  designaHng  those  as  words   that  most  students  know  or  can  learn  on  their  own.   We  have  idenHfied  the  words  occurring  in  four  current,   widely  used  core  reading  programs.   We  have  idenHfied  the  words  occurring  in  four  current,   widely  used  elementary  social  studies,  science,  and  math   programs.   We  are  in  the  process  of  idenHfying  the  words  occurring   in  four  current,  widely  used  middle  school  social  studies,   science,  and  math  programs,  as  well  as  those  that  occur   in  high  school  programs  in  these  same  content  areas.       7   Word  Lists  We  Are  Currently  Working  With  
8. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. General  Academic  Vocabulary  consists  of  words  that   are  not  among  the  most  common  words,  that  are  more   frequent  in  informaHonal  materials  than  in  ficHon,  and   that  occur  in  a  number  of  content  areas  rather  than   being  concentrated  in  one  or  two  content  areas.   Words  like  concept,  alternaBve,  license,  paradigm,  and   invoke  are  examples  of  General  Academic  Vocabulary.   We  would  create  different  lists  for  different  grade   ranges,  probably  for  K-­‐2,  3-­‐5,  6-­‐8,  and  9-­‐12.       8   Another  Type  of  List  We  Plan  to  Create:  Lists  of   General  Academic  Vocabulary  
9. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Domain-­‐Specific  Academic  Vocabulary  consists  of   words  that  are  not  among  the  most  common  words   and  that  are  unique  to  specific  academic  disciplines.   Examples  include  numeral  (math),  conservaBon  of   maLer  (sciences),  agricultural  economy  (history),   interstate  commerce  (civics),  and  pathogen  (health).     Again  we  would  create  different  lists  for  different  grade   ranges,  probably  for  K-­‐2,  3-­‐5,  6-­‐8,  and  9-­‐12.       9   One  More  Type  of  List  We  Plan  to  Create:  Lists   of  Domain-­‐Specific  Academic  Vocabulary  
10. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. 1.  Providing  the  lists  themselves,  probably  broken  into   smaller  groups  based  primarily  on  frequency.   2.  Searching  sets  of  materials  submieed  by  a  school   or  district  for  words  that  occur  on  these  lists.   10   Poten;al  Vocabulary  Services  for  Educators  (1)   For  example,  a  school  or  district  could  idenHfy   the  textbooks  and  the  variety  of  supporHng   materials  used  in  their  middle  grade  social   studies  program,  and  we  could  idenHfy  the   general  academic  vocabulary  and  the  domain-­‐ specific  academic  vocabulary  used  in  those   materials.  
11. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. 3.  Providing  a  web  based  tool  that  would  allow  a   teacher,  school,  or  district  to  input  a  text  and  have   the  words  that  occur  on  one  of  our  lists  idenHfied.   11   Poten;al  Vocabulary  Services  for  Educators  (2)   For  example,  an  elementary  teacher  might  input  a   story  he  or  she  is  planning  to  teach  and  request  a   list  of  the  words  in  that  story  that  occur  at  least   10  Hmes  in  core  reading  programs.    
12. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. 4.  Providing  tests  of  these  word  sets  so  that  schools   and  districts  can  determine  their  students'   knowledge,  or  lack  of  knowledge,  of  these  words.   12   Poten;al  Vocabulary  Services  for  Educators  (3)   For  example,  schools  could  test  first  grade   students'  knowledge  of  words  that  are  not   among  the  most  frequent  words  but  that   appear  relaHvely  frequent  in  primary  grade  core   reading  programs.    
13. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. 5.  Providing  teaching  materials,  probably  digital   teaching  materials,  to  teach  sets  of  these  words.   13   Poten;al  Vocabulary  Services  for  Educators  (4)   Such  materials  could  be  parHcularly  useful  for   students  whose  vocabularies  lag  behind  those  of   their  classmates  or  to  ensure  mastery  of  a   parHcular  set  of  words.  For  example,  an   individualized  digital  approach  might  be  used  to   teach  a  basic  vocabulary  to  English  learners  with   very  small  vocabularies.  Or,  an  individualized   digital  approach  might  be  used  to  ensure  that  all   8th  graders  master  a  core  set  of  science  terms.      
14. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Selec;ng  Vocabulary  Words   •  SelecHng  words  from  a  parHcular  text  or  set  of  texts   for  some  purpose   •  Lexile  Vocabulary  Selector  Tool   •  PowerV  on  Lexile.com   •  Other  potenHal  applicaHons      
15. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Vocabulary  Selector  Tool   •  Given  a  parHcular  text,  select  words  using  a  variety   of  criteria   •  Criteria   •  Word  characterisHcs:  Difficulty,  familiarity,   concreteness,  frequency,  decodability   •  Importance  in  the  parHcular  text   •  Importance  for  general  vocabulary  development   •  Emphasis  in  a  parHcular  domain   •  General  academic  language   •  Presence  on  exisHng  word  lists   •  Morphological  family  size  and  diversity        
16. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Example:  Photosynthesis       Top  words  by  importance  to  parHcular  text   Top  words  by  academic  vocabulary   photosyntheHc   chlorophyll   symbiosis   overview   symbioHc   microsecond   reactant   quanta   photon   metabolism   convert   accumulate   adjacent   via   variable   hence   potenHal   summary   successive   maintain    
17. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. PowerV   •  Select  10  challenging  words  from  a  text   •  Criteria   •  Lexile  measures  of  words  50L  to  250L  higher   than  the  text  Lexile   •  Important  for  the  parHcular  text   •  General  academic  words   •  Morphological  family  size   •  Selected  top  10  words  for  50,000+  books  on   Lexile.com        
18. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. PowerV      
19. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Poten;al  Applica;ons   •  IdenHfy  general  and  domain  specific  vocabulary  by   grade  for  your  parHcular  textbook  series   •  Select  a  set  of  target  words  to  facilitate  instrucHon   on  morphology          
20. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Your  Turn!   •  Your  experHse,  insight,  and  input  is  needed  to  help   guide  the  next  steps  of  this  important  line  of   research.   •  Please  unmute  your  phone  lines  or  use  the  chat   feature  of  this  WebEx  to  discuss  the  following   quesHons.   •  Note  that  we  will  also  be  sending  you  a  quesHonnaire   asking  you  to  rate  the  lists  and  services  we  are   considering.   20  
21. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Discussion:  How  Useful  Would  You  Find  Each  of   the  Lists  We  Have  Described?   1.  A  list  of  the  most  frequent  words   2.  Words  in  core  reading  programs   3.  Words  in  elementary  content  textbooks   4.  Words  in  secondary  content  textbooks   5.  Lists  of  general  academic  vocabulary   6.  Lists  of  domain  specific  academic  vocabulary   Are  there  other  lists  you  would  like  to  see   MetaMetrics  develop?     21  
22. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Discussion:  How  Useful  Would  You  Find  Each  of   the  Services  We  Have  Described?  (1)   1.  Providing  the  lists  themselves   2.  Searching  sets  of  materials  submieed  by  a  school  or   district  for  words  that  occur  on  these  lists   3.  Providing  a  web  based  tool  that  would  allow  a   teacher,  school,  or  district  to  input  a  text  and  have   the  words  that  occur  on  one  of  our  lists  idenHfied   4.  Providing  tests  of  these  word  sets  so  that  schools   and  districts  can  determine  their  students'   knowledge  of  these  words   22  
23. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Discussion:  How  Useful  Would  You  Find  Each  of   the  Services  We  Have  Described?  (2)   5.  Providing  teaching  materials,  probably  digital   teaching  materials,  to  teach  sets  of  these  words   Are  there  other  services  you  would  like  to  see   MetaMetrics  provide?     23  
24. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Discussion:  How  Would  You  Use  the  Lexile   Vocabulary  Selector  Tool?   •  For  individual  teachers   •  In  a  school   •  At  a  district  level   •  At  a  state  level         24  
25. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Cohort  of  State  Leaders     MetaMetrics  hopes  to  idenHfy  a  cohort  of  state  leaders   who  might  be  interested  in  on-­‐going  conversaHon   regarding  this  work.     If  you  would  be  interested  in  being  a  part  of  this   cohort,  please  contact:   25   Ma)  Copeland   Associate  for  InstrucBonal  InnovaBon  and  Support   E  mcopeland@lexile.com    T  (785)  817-­‐4403  
26. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. If  you  haven’t  done  so  already,  please  use  the  Chat   feature  of  this  WebEx  to  submit  your  quesHons.   26   Ques;ons!  
27. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. 27   Have  You  Seen?   •  The  new  Lexile  infographic   •  The  new  Lexile  informaHonal  video   •  MetaMetrics’  plans  for  the  naHonal  linking  study   with  the  Smarter  Balanced  and  PARCC  Assessment   Systems   •  OpportuniHes  and  resources  in  support  of  CCSSO’s   Summer  Learning  Challenge   For  more  informaHon  about  the  Chief's  Summer  Learning  Challenge,       or  to  begin  planning  for  Summer  2015,  please  contact  Julie  Worden   jworden@lexile.com      
28. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Thank  you  for  your  parBcipaBon  in  today’s   Roundtable  Discussion     Please  share  topics  of  interest  for  future  discussions  with  Ma)  Copeland  mcopeland@lexile.com       Roundtable  Discussions  are  offered  by  MetaMetrics  as  part  of  a  series  of  opportuniHes  supporHng     SEA  leaders  in  states  that  report  Lexile  and  QuanHle  measures.     28  
29. This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. For  more  informaHon  about  Lexile   and  QuanHle  measures,   visit  www.Lexile.com  and  www.QuanHles.com.       For  more  informaHon  about  MetaMetrics,     visit  www.MetaMetricsInc.com.       MetaMetrics   1000  Park  Forty  Plaza  Drive,  Suite  120   Durham,  North  Carolina  27713     Phone:  919.547.3400   Toll  Free:  1.888.LEXILES  (539.4537)   Email:  feedback@Lexile.com     29