Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Comprehensive English
Language Learner
(ELL) Policy and
Procedures
August 2013
Table of Contents
Introduction2
Mission of the MPSD's ELL Program.2
Federal and State Laws....3 - 4
Procedures for Identification and Placement of ELLs....5-8
I.
Identification..5
II.
Screening....6
III.
Parent Notification6
IV.
Program Placement...7
Introduction
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We often focus on gender, age, race, national origin, and ethnicity when we discuss diverse
populations. Terms that should also be included are the wide range of academic, linguistic,
physical and emotional characteristics that students bring to the classroom. English Language
Learners are students from diverse backgrounds who come from homes where a language other
than English is spoken. As a result they have the opportunity to develop some level of
proficiency in a language other than English, and are also faced with specific challenges in
acquiring the English language. While ELL students enrich the cultural and linguistic
environment of the classroom, they also require additional resources to improve their limited
English proficiency.
The ELL population is growing at a rapid rate statewide and nationwide. It is therefore critical to
establish a program which not only addresses the needs of this population of students, but also
incorporates and taps into the valuable resource of linguistic and cultural diversity that ELL
students bring to a school district.
The Moss Point School District will ensure that students residing within the school districts
boundaries will be allowed admission regardless of their ability to present a birth certificate,
social security number, their immigrant status or English-Language Proficiency (Plyler v. Doe).
The Moss Point School District will ensure that registration procedures include a process for:
a. Assigning a student number if the student does not have a Social Security Number.
b. Enrolling a student pending receipt of required immunization records.
Mission of the MPSD's English Language Learner's Program
The mission of the Moss Point School District is to graduate empowered, world-class citizens.
An important element in achieving our mission statement is to adequately service the English
Language Learner's students of the Moss Point School District. While our main purpose is to
ensure that our ELL students acquire proficiency in the English language as well as academic
content, there are several goals for the Moss Point School District's ELL Program:
1. To provide learners from non-English and culturally diverse backgrounds with the support
necessary to develop proficiency in the social, cultural, and academic language necessary to
become successful and productive citizens.
2. To provide ELL students with an equitable educational experience as their native English
speaking peers; the opportunity to participate in gifted, vocational, athletics etc.
3. To provide the families of ELL students with the opportunity to be equitable members of the
Moss Point School District community.
4. To provide ELL students and their families with the opportunity to share their culture with the
Moss Point School District and community.
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4. To provide adequate training to Moss Point School District employees on how to strategically
service ELL students from initial enrollment in the ELL program to program completion and
exit.
Federal and State Laws
The following laws have shaped the current expectation for the service and education of English
language learners.
1964 Civil Rights Act
"No person in the United States shall, on the grounds of race, color, or national origin, be
excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under
any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance"
This landmark Act barred discrimination based on race, color or national origin in federally
funded programs as well as determined that all students have a right to effective instruction.
May 25th, 1970 Memorandum
"Where inability to speak and understand the English language excludes national originminority group children from effective participation in the educational program offered by a
school district, the district must take affirmative steps to rectify the language deficiency in order
to open its instructional program to these students".
The Department of Health, Education and Welfare released a memorandum which requires
districts to work towards correcting language deficiencies that prevent a student from effective
participation in the district's educational program.
Lau v. Nichols 1974
"...there is no equality of treatment merely by providing students with the same facilities,
textbooks, teachers, and curriculum; for students who do not understand English are effectively
foreclosed from any meaningful education."
A district must establish procedures to identify and assess nonnative English-speaking students
who need additional language support to participate meaningfully in the district's educational
programs. According to the Office of Civil Rights interpretation of the ruling, these procedures
must gauge whether LEP (Limited English Proficiency) students:
a) Perform as well academically as their non-LEP peers.
b) Successfully participate in all aspects of the school's curriculum -- including Advanced
Placement and other honors courses -- without the use of simplified English materials.
Equal Education Opportunity Act 1974
"No state shall deny equal educational opportunity to an individual on account of his or her
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race, color, sex, or national origin, by the failure of an educational agency to take appropriate
action to overcome language barriers that impede equal participation by its students in its
instructional programs."
The EEOA prohibits discriminatory conduct, including segregating students on the basis
of race, color or national origin, and discrimination against faculty and staff serving these groups
of individuals, as it interferes with their equal educational opportunities. Furthermore, the EEOA
requires LEAs to take action to overcome students' language barriers that impede equal
participation in educational programs.
Plyer v. Doe 1982 (U.S. Supreme Court Decision)
"The illegal aliens who are plaintiffs in these cases challenging the statute may claim the benefit
of the Equal Protection Clause, which provides that no State shall 'deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws'...The undocumented status of these children does
not establish a sufficient rational basis for denying them benefits that the State affords other
residents...No national policy is perceived that might justify the State in denying these children
an elementary education" -457 U.S. 202
The decision means that immigrant students have the right to public education regardless
of their legal status. This also means that schools may not require proof of citizenship or legal
residence to enroll or provide services to immigrant students. Schools many not ask about the
student or a parent's immigration status and parents are not required to give a social security
number. Students are entitled to receive all school services such as free or reduced breakfast or
lunch, transportation, educational services, NCLB, IDEA etc.
Presidential Executive Order 13166
"Entities receiving assistance from the federal government must take reasonable steps to ensure
that persons with Limited English proficiency have meaningful access to the programs, services,
and information those entities provide".
Recipients of federal assistance are required to help students overcome language barriers
by implementing consistent standardized language assistance programs for LEP.
No Child Left Behind Act 2001
"Title III of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act requires that all English language learners
(ELLs) receive quality instruction for learning both English and grade-level academic content.
NCLB allows local flexibility for choosing programs of instruction, while demanding greater
accountability for ELL's English language and academic progress"
The purpose of this act is to ensure that children who are limited English proficient attain
English proficiency, develop high levels of academic attainment in English, and meet the same
challenging State standards as all children are expected to meet.
Procedures for Identification and Placement of ELL
The identification and placement of ELLs in an appropriate language program a four-step
process:
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If the answer is yes to any of these questions, then the student must take the W-APT
screener to determine their English language proficiency level.
The home language survey allows the district to identify those students who speak a language
other than English outside of school, as well as find any academic and family history that may
affect the types of services the student will require.
It is the responsibility of each school's registrar to ensure that ELL students are identified and
properly coded in SAMs. Copies of the student's registration forms should be provided to the
ELL coordinator for ELL records. It is also the responsibility of the registrar to provide the ELL
coordinator with a copy of the schools ELL roster at the end of each month to ensure that all
ELL students are assisted, including those who enroll when the academic year is in progress.
Teachers should also observe their classrooms to identify ELL students which may not have
been flagged in the enrollment process. If a teacher would like to recommend a student for ELP
testing, they must communicate with their administrator to request a teacher recommendation
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instruction for the student, and ensuring the school communicates this information to the
students parents in their native language.
When the SET is creating an individual ELL students LSP, an essential task is determining the
types of accommodations the particular student needs to ensure academic success, and accurate
measure of the students comprehension of the content.
Assessing ELL Students/ Accommodations
The accommodations allowed by the state of Mississippi for ELL students, are changes made to
the testing procedure in order to provide ELL with the equivalent opportunity as their peers to
perform successfully on the state mandated examinations, and provide an accurate display of
their abilities. Accommodations include, but are not limited to:
Provision of a bilingual word for word dictionary which must be utilized in class
throughout the school year to be utilized on state mandated examinations.
Having the test directions and test items read aloud to them (except on reading exams).
To utilize any of the state approved accommodations with ELL students, the Student Evaluation
Team is expected to include the chosen accommodations in the individual Language Service Plan
for the student and ensure that they are implemented. In addition, the accommodations must be
listed in an accommodations chart that is kept in the students cumulative files. The accommodations chart detailing all state approved accommodations can be located in the MPSD ELL
program resource guide, or on the Federal Programs page of the Mississippi Department of
Education website.
ELL students are required to participate in all state mandated examinations. The sole exceptions
are those ELL students who have spent 12 months or less in a United States school. These
students are not required to participate in the MCT Language Arts examination. However they
are expected to participate in all other exams with allowable, predetermined accommodations.
Overview of English Language Proficiency Standards
Based on the results of the annual English Language proficiency exam WIDA ACCESS, a
student's language proficiency is classified into one of six stages: Entering, Beginning,
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Developing, Expanding, Bridging, and Reaching. It is important for teachers and administrators
to be aware of their ELL students' proficiency levels, to provide each individual student with
adequate services. The following details the WIDA Consortium's English Language Proficiency
Standards:
Level 1: Entering
At this stage of English language proficiency a student is limited in all four domains of
proficiency; reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Often at this stage of English language
development, ELL students go through a silent period. This most commonly occurs when a
student has had little to no exposure to the English language, and is then immersed into an
English-only environment. In this silent period the student will listen and may even respond
through gestures and nonverbal communication. Because elaborate oral responses are not
provided, it is difficult to determine the level of comprehension of the LEP student.
According to the WIDA Consortium, at this level of proficiency, a student demonstrates the
following abilities:
Level 2: Beginning
According to the WIDA Consortium, at this level of proficiency, a student demonstrates the
following abilities:
Oral or written language with phonological, syntactic, or semantic errors that often
impede the meaning of the communication when presented with one to multiple-step
commands, directions, questions or a series of statements with visual and graphic
support.
Level 3: Developing
According to the WIDA Consortium, at this level of proficiency, a student demonstrates the
following abilities:
Oral or written language with phonological, syntactic, or semantic errors that may impede
the communication but retain much of its meaning when presented with oral or written,
narrative, or expository descriptions with occasional visual and graphic support.
Level 4: Bridging
According to the WIDA Consortium, at this level of proficiency, a student demonstrates the
following abilities:
Oral or written language with minimal phonological, syntactic, or semantic errors that do
not impede the overall meaning of the communication when presented with oral or
written connected discourse with occasional visual and graphic support.
Level 5: Expanding
According to the WIDA Consortium, at this level of proficiency, a student demonstrates the
following abilities:
Level 6: Reaching
According to the WIDA Consortium, at this level of proficiency, a student demonstrates the
following abilities:
has established the following criteria for exiting ELL students from the ELL program. ELL
students are ready for exit when they have attained the proficiency of a native-English speaking
peer, and are able to succeed academically without supplemental assistance. A student's ability
to succeed in the mainstream is examined in their abilities to:
1. Understand and speak English
2. Read and comprehend academic English
3. Write in English, and
4. Demonstrate proficiency in other areas of the curriculum.
If a student demonstrates proficiency in these four areas, he/she is then placed in a federally
mandated two year monitoring period. Throughout this two year period, the student's grades,
performance in all classes, and results on state mandated assessments will be reviewed. The
student's teacher will also fill out an end of the year recommendation form, either recommending
the continuation of the monitoring period, or reconsideration for program participation. The
Student Evaluation Team will jointly decide when to begin exiting a student and whether a
student should or should not continue the monitoring period (refer to MS Guidelines for English
Language Learners for exit criteria.
EXIT CRITERIA
Grade
WIDA TIER
3-5
Performance on
WIDA ACCESS
5.0
Performance on
State Exams: SATP / MCTII
proficient
3-5
4.5
proficient
6-8
5.0
proficient
6-8
4.0
proficient
9-12
4.0
proficient
9-12
4.0
proficient
Accommodations
Beginning
Bridging
Complete Immersion
Developing
EEOA
EL
English Learner
ELL
ELP
Entering
ESL
Expanding
Exit Criteria
FORMER ELL
FLL
HLS
Imagine Learning
LEP
L1
L2
LSP
MODEL
English language proficiency screener option for W-APT for K, 12, and 3-5
NCLB
NL
Reaching
SET
SLA
TESOL
TL
Target Language
W-APT
WIDA
WIDA Consortium
Word-for-Word
Dictionary
References
Brown, H. (2007). Principles of language Learning and Teaching 5th ed. White Plains, NY:
Pearson Education.
Gass, S. M., & Selinker, L. (2008). Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course 3rd
ed. New York, NY: Routledge.
Hakuta, K. (2001). Key policy milestones and directions in the education of English language
learners. Washington, DC.: Presented at the Rockefeller Foundation Symposium.
www.stanford.edu/~hakuta/Docs/Rockefeller%20Executive%20Summary.doc.
Mississippi Department of Education. (2011). Guidelines for English Language Learners:
Policies, Procedures, and Assessments. Jackson: MDE.
Williams, M. (1991). Policy update on schools obligations toward nation origin minority
students with limited- English proficiency (LEP students). Washington D.C. :
Memorandum fromn Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights to the United States Department
of Education. www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/ell/september27.html.
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