English Language Learners

At Woodridge Local School District, we take great pride in our diversity among our students. English Language (EL) programs are designed to support students who are learning English as a second or additional language. These programs aim to help EL learners develop their English language proficiency while simultaneously providing access to grade-level academic content. The ultimate goal is to enable EL students to successfully participate in mainstream classrooms and achieve academic success.

• 1. Language Instruction: EL programs provide explicit instruction in the English language, focusing on listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. This helps students develop the necessary language proficiency to communicate effectively in academic and social settings.
• 2. Content Support: EL teachers collaborate with content-area teachers to ensure that EL students have access to the same curriculum as their native English-speaking peers. This may involve modifying assignments, providing additional language support, or using scaffolding techniques to make content more comprehensible.
• 3. Cultural Integration: EL programs help students navigate the cultural differences they may encounter in their new educational environment. This includes understanding school expectations, social norms, and cultural practices, which can contribute to a smoother transition and better overall adjustment.
• 4. Family Engagement: EL programs often involve outreach to students' families, providing resources and support to help them understand the educational system and actively participate in their child's learning journey.

• 1. Pull-out instruction: EL students are removed from their regular classroom for a portion of the day to receive targeted English language instruction.
• 2. Push-in instruction: ESOL teachers work alongside content-area teachers in the regular classroom, providing support and language instruction to EL students within the context of the general curriculum.
• 3. Sheltered Instruction: This approach involves teaching grade-level content using strategies that make the content more accessible to EL learners, such as visual aids, vocabulary instruction, and modified texts.

English Language Learners are students with limited English proficiency. ELLs are individuals who, by reason of foreign birth or ancestry, speak a language other than English, and either comprehend, speak, read or write little or no English, or who have been identified as English Language Learners by a valid English language proficiency assessment approved by the Department of Education for use statewide.

Many different terms have been used to describe or characterize children whose second language is English. For example, students with Limited English Proficiency (LEPs), students for whom English is a Second Language (ESLs), or Second Language Learners (SLLs). Currently educators refer to these children as English Language Learners (ELLs). This shift in language represents a more accurate reflection of the process of language acquisition. It should be noted that the No Child Left Behind Act (Public Law 107-110) uses the term LEP for Limited English Proficient, rather than ELL (English Language Learner). For that reason, the term LEP is used throughout this document.

DEFINITION OF AN LEP STUDENT

The term "limited English proficient" or LEP, as defined in the No Child Left Behind Act describes an individual

• who is aged 3 through 21; AND
• who is enrolled in an elementary school or secondary school; AND
• who has a native/home language other than English whether born in the U.S. or another country,AND
• whose difficulties in speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English language may impact the ability to meet the State's proficient level of achievement on State assessments, OR to successfully achieve in classrooms where the language of instruction is English.

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN LEP STUDENT

LEP students represent many different native/home languages of families who are living in the United States. The families may come to join other family members or to seek improved economic opportunities or university degrees. Others are seeking refuge from political repression or persecution in their home countries. LEP students may be from families that have been in the United States for many years but speak languages other than English at home. American families are also adopting children from other countries who have no previous experience in English. Some LEP students have a strong educational background while others had had little or no prior formal educational experiences.

A student's previous experiences with education significantly affect the ease and rapidity with which the student learns English and other academic material. Students might go through a "silent period" where they listen but do not speak in the classroom as it might cause personal embarrassment. During this time, they are acquiring the sounds and patterns of their new language, but are not willing to share their voices in a classroom setting. They may be willing to try out the new language in a non-threatening situation with a peer. The child's personality and English background influence the speed with which s/he is willing to speak and gain language competency.

Researchers have found that, although LEP students can develop peer-appropriate basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) in two to three years, developing academic proficiency in cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) may require five to seven years of instructional time to reach academic parity with that of the native English speaker (Cummins, 1984; Baker & Jones, 1998). According to the California Educational Research Cooperative (CERC), seven years may not be enough time to gain English fluency. The researchers estimate that the path to fluency for students with limited formal schooling may require ten years or more (University of California Riverside Study by CERC, 1997).

The student might also experience a period between BICS and CALP which is referred to as "threshold." This is the time when many students and teachers believe that the student can function in a regular classroom without any other intervention. The standard teacher comment is, "The student speaks very well and can read orally better than many of my other students." The real questions to ask are: Can the student comprehend what s/he pronounces? Can the student comprehend all that occurs during instruction, e.g., textbook, activities, instructions, lectures, tests? If the student cannot, then the needed English language skills for the content area (CALP) have not been mastered.

Many LEP students also experience culture shock, especially when there is a marked difference between their native way of life and that of life in the United States. Their frustrations may cause them to act out physically due to their inability to express themselves verbally.

LEP services are structured to present opportunities for the student to gain cultural knowledge as well as English language skills and content knowledge – all of which are needed to succeed in U.S. schools.

Federal and state governments have enacted laws and regulations to protect the rights of English language learners and their families. Every public school in the United States is required to provide a free and equitable education to all school age children who live within the boundaries of the school district. Some federal laws are supported by funding to which all eligible schools districts are entitled (i.e., Title I and Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001). However, regardless of funding, public school districts must comply with the laws and regulations to the best of their abilities.

Over the years, federal court decisions have recognized that school districts have a responsibility to take the steps necessary to provide equal educational opportunities for students who are English Learners (EL).

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs receiving federal financial assistance.

Department of Health, Education and Welfare Memorandum (May 25, 1970) clarified the requirements in Title VI by stating that a district must take affirmative steps to rectify students' language deficiencies in order to open its instructional program to them.

Lau v. Nichols (1974) directs school districts to take steps to help LEP students overcome language barriers and to ensure that they can participate meaningfully in the districts' educational programs.

The Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974 recognizes the rights of LEP students and requires educational service providers to take appropriate action to help these students overcome language barriers. 

In Castaneda v. Pickard (1981), the courts stated that schools must: base their program on educational theory recognized as sound or considered to be a legitimate experimental strategy, implement the program with resources and personnel necessary to put the theory into practice, and evaluate programs and make adjustments where necessary to ensure that adequate progress is being made.

In its publication The Provision of an Equal Education Opportunity to Limited English Proficient Students (1992), the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, provides guidelines to school districts regarding their legal obligation to language minority students. The following is a summary of the guidelines.

School districts must identify all students whose Primary or Home Language is Other Than English (PHLOTE) by requiring the completion of a Home Language Survey and then assessing them to determine if they are limited English proficient and need special language assistance.

School districts must then determine what kind of services are to be provided and must implement those services. Since a specific type of intervention program is not prescribed in Ohio, districts have the flexibility to decide on the educational approach that best meets the needs of their EL students as long as it is based on sound theory and best practice and provides effective instruction.

Services must be provided by a certified teacher or properly trained staff and appropriate instructional materials used. Districts also have the responsibility to notify parents of an English Learner of school activities that are called to the attention of other parents. Such a notice, to be effective, may have to be in a language other than English.

Once a school district implements a program for its English Learners, it must monitor student progress on a regular basis and take steps to modify the program if the students are not making reasonable progress.     

Source: Ohio Department of Education / Lau Center.
Guidelines for the Identification and Assessment of Limited English Proficient Students/English Language Learners/English Learners.