The ELL Data Retreat is a process-oriented, reflective approach to utilizing ACCESS for ELLs® and other test data in commitment to academic language achievement improvement planning for English Language Learners. Based on a professional learning community concept and a cyclical model of implementation, the ELL Data retreat incorporates identified school and district leaders and collected data on ELLs to observe and improve effectiveness in the delivery of ELL support services.

Specifically, participant teams do the following:

• engage in readiness for the retreat through reflection and understanding;
• gather ELL data for analysis;
• summarize collected data in tables;
• graphically represent and highlight the data;
• pose hypotheses of practice;
• strategize classroom connections for improving data patterns;
• articulate an improvement plan based on clearly defined criteria, timeline for roll out and monitoring, and procedures for ongoing clarification.