PreLAS Success Story Acelero Learning
“The team at DRC
is consistently responsive to our specific needs and works with us behind the scenes to ensure the preLAS system meets those needs, leading to timely and lasting impact for our students and educators.”
Lynsey Werkheiser
Vice President of Education
Acelero Learning
Supporting Early Learning with preLAS
For education providers like Acelero Learning—an Early Education/Head Start provider with centers in multiple states—a key area of focus for teachers and coaches is the ability to develop and honor their English learners’ home language while also supporting English language development. In this success story, Lynsey Werkheiser, Vice President of Education at Acelero Learning, shares how preLAS provides usable data and student-specific strategies/activities to improve home and English language outcomes for their 3–5-year-old learners.
What challenges do you have in your centers specific to language learning?
Finding staff who speak the same languages as the children in our centers can be a challenge, as well as helping staff honor and develop home language while also supporting English language development.
Why did you select PreLAS, and how is it used in your centers?
We desired a valid and reliable assessment tool that would provide our teachers with the information they need to support young learners as they develop their language skills. We use PreLAS as a child assessment twice each year. Data is pulled into teacherfriendly reports that include proficiency levels that are connected to strategies teachers can use to individualize support for both home and English language development.
About Acelero Learning
Headquartered in Wisconsin, Acelero Learning is an Early Education provider that operates licensed Head Start centers in five states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, and South Carolina. Annually, they serve over 5,000 children and their families,
including 2,000 English learners. Acelero Learning provides high-quality early education to prepare children for kindergarten and beyond, using data-driven tools and an evidence-based approach to accelerate child and family outcomes. They deliver full-day, full-year early childhood education for infants, toddlers, and pre-school-aged children across their 52 early learning centers.
PreLAS Test Components
PreLAS captures and holds the attention of young learners with playful activities and colorful materials that help assess language proficiency. PreLAS uses graphics and stories based on early childhood literature and Kindergarten readiness skills.
The Oral Language Component uses five subtests to report oral language scores:
- Part 1 – Simon Says
- Part 2 – Art Show
- Part 3 – Say What You Hear
- Part 4 – The Human Body
- Part 5 – Let’s Tell Stories
The Pre-literacy Component uses a fun game board format to assess the student’s:
- Letter, number, and color recognition
- Shapes and spatial relationships
- Reading and writing of two- and three-letter sight words
What aspects of the preLAS assessment do you find particularly engaging for children ages 3-5 years old?
Our children love the Art Show section of the assessment. (The Art Show section of the test measures a student’s developmentally appropriate oral vocabulary and use of verb phrases.)
What about the preLAS data and report(s) do you find most useful/beneficial?
The ability to export data to create reports in a format that meets our teachers’ and coaches’ need to easily interpret and use the data is beneficial for us.
How do your educators use preLAS data/reports to inform instruction?
Reports are reviewed in a professional learning community setting where coaches lead teachers through a data review. Teachers use the data to identify specific strategies/activities they will use to support their students’ continued language development in both home and English languages.
How do teachers use preLAS data to inform parents about their childrens’ language development?
Teachers share preLAS data with families during parent-teacher conferences, along with family-friendly activities that can be done at home or on the go to support language development.
ACELERO LEARNING
ORGANIZATION SUMMARY
Number of years in operation: 20
Ages served: Birth through 5
Total student population: 5,000
Number of English Learners: 2,000
Percentage of English Learners: 40%
STUDENT POPULATION
African American: 45%
Asian/Pacific Islander: 2%
Caucasian: 19%
Hispanic: 31%
Other: 3%
PROGRAM TYPE
Early Education/Head Start
Which PreLAS features are particularly important to your centers? How do they address specific concerns and needs?
An important feature of PreLAS for our centers is that there are customized ways for teachers to access the testing platform, so that technology does not become the barrier.
Is there anything else you would like to share about your experience
with PreLAS?
The team at DRC is consistently responsive to our specific needs and works with us behind the scenes to ensure the preLAS system meets those needs, leading to timely and lasting impact for our students and educators.