A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Audience Approved by PEP for LEP students with intermediate oral English proficiency levels in grades 1-5.

Description Computer Education for Language Learning (CELL) provides a highly organized reading and language arts program using the inherent benefits of Computer-Assisted-Education (CAE) such as maintaining student interest with interactive learning and capitalizing on the students' natural excitement about computers and technology. The components of the CELL Practice are: (1) the CELL computer lab; (2) the Skills Prescription Guide which correlates commercial software to the ESL continuum and indexes software programs by difficulty level; and (3) the organization and communication system between the computer lab and the classroom. After students' needs and levels are diagnosed by the classroom teacher using Irvine Management System benchmark tests and teacher observation of classroom performance, the lab technician prescribes CELL software and activities coordinated with classroom instruction. Students use commercial educational software in 30-minute lab sessions four times per week. At the end of each skill segment, the students' skill acquisition is assessed and progress records are maintained. The teacher performs periodic checks to assure the application of newly acquired skills; and standardized forms are used to convey progress information between the teacher and lab technician. Students exit CELL when they achieve Fluent English Proficient status.

Evidence of Effectiveness After eight months of CELL instruction, students in grades 1-5 achieve statistically and educationally significant gains in English reading and language arts as measured by the CTBS form U total reading and language scales. Analyses of NCE scores and effect sizes show that CELL students significantly close the gap between their English reading and language levels and those of the norm group. Equal program effect sizes are found in dissemination sites and the original site regardless of a school's high or low LEP concentration.

Requirements A one-day inservice is conducted for lab technicians and a site contact person who is either the principal or a credentialed teacher. In addition, the computer lab requires three to eight computers (any combination of Apple IIe, Apple IIGS, and Macintosh) and commercial software as recommended by CELL.

Costs Costs vary depending upon a school's hardware, software, and personnel needs. The estimated installation cost is $1040-$2040 per site ($21-$41 per student for 50 students per site), $100 for CELL manual and forms, $500-$1500 for commercial software. The cost estimate for subsequent years' operation is $120 per site: $100 for commercial software.

Services In addition to training and materials, technical assistance is available on-call, replicating sites are updated on new software and technology available to them via the CELL Newsletter, and site visits/support are available.

Contact

Celia Edmundson or Brenda Dolan, Irvine Unified School District, 5050 Barranca Parkway, Irvine, CA 92714. (714) 733-9391 or (800) 237-CELL.

Developmental Funding: USDE ESEA Title VII, Academic Excellence grant from OBEMLA, state, and local.
PEP No. 93-17 (4/2/93)

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[Books And Beyond]

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