EL Q&A

Pull-out services for English Learners are available to students in our schools for whom it was indicated as a need by a school team. Often, those students are newcomer ESL students who need specialized support to develop basic language and literacy skills and transition to a new school. In  some cases, pull-out support is provided by classroom teacher request to help the student reach the goals of their EL plan. The student's English language proficiency data plays an important role in making a decision regarding the need for EL pull-out services. 

During the first couple of months of school (or shortly after a student is newly registered), you will be meeting with the EL team to create an EL Plan. Within this plan, you will receive the student language proficiency scores along with the WIDA Can Do statements. Using these scores and the Can Do you will be able to understand what your student is capable of doing in each domain of language. Next, you goal set for the year by looking one box to the right in each domain. Then, you will identify some accommodations in the domains of language with the greatest need, this could also include accommodations in multiple domains or assessment. At the time of your meeting, you will also receive Recommended Language Strategies that are tailored to your student’s needs based upon their screener or ACCESS test information. This is your first step.

After the creation of the plan, if you need more support, look at the strategy section of this website. You will find strategies for each domain of language and a resource warehouse. You can also contact the EL Team for more support including; consults, modeling strategies, meeting and lesson planning, observations, and/or co-teaching. 

The main trigger for the language screener is the Home Language Survey (HLS) that parents complete during school registration. HLS  is a required part of the registration packet. 

Home Language Survey:

1. What language did your child learn when he/she first began to talk?
2. What language does your child most frequently speak at home?
3. What language is spoken by you and your family most of the time at home?
4. Is there a tribal or heritage language spoken by you or your family within the past few generations? If yes, what language or languages?
5. IF AVAILABLE, in what language would you prefer to receive information?

If any of the answers to the questions in the HLS indicate that there is a language other than English (including world or indigenous languages) is used in the student's home, then the language screener MUST be administered. This process does not take into consideration the student's ability to speak their home or heritage language or the student's race/ethnicity. 

No. To be considered an English Learner, a student with a Native American background must also demonstrate academic performance needs and academic language needs as noted by the classroom teacher and measured by student's performance on the WIDA language screener. Student must also have a current 506 (Tribal Identification) form on file with the Indigenous Education Department.

Even though siblings have the same home background, they may have different academic and language skills. Sometimes siblings may have different 506 (tribal identification) paperwork on file, which may impact their eligibility for services.

Each year students who are identified a English Learners participate in ACCESS for ELLs, a state-wide assessment that gives information to schools, teachers, and parents about the student's academic English language proficiency. This test window for this assessment is usually December - February. 

Once students earn a composite score of 4.7 on the ACCESS test, they are reclassified as Former English Learners. The school will monitor their academic performance and grades even after students reach the Former EL status. If needed, a placement into the EL program can be revisited.

ACCESS for ELLs is an assessment that helps teachers measure students' academic language growth from year to year. We know from research that academic language takes 5-7 years to develop and ACCESS for ELLs is helping us see where the student is on their journey to academic language proficiency. The expected annual rate of growth on the proficiency scale is 0.5, but it may vary based on the student's starting point. Typically students at the low levels of proficiency can make greater gains, than students are the higher end of proficiency scale. The EL team looks at the student's ACCESS test results at the end of the school year and records the outcome in the EL plan. Every student's journey is unique. If you are concerned about your student, please contact the EL team and we can discuss your student's performance on this assessment.

While there are test taking strategies you can share with your student that can help them feel more comfortable with the assessment and possibly perform better, there is little one can do to review for the test. Academic language is acquired by engaging with academic content through listening, speaking, reading, and writing in the classroom and with the teacher's support to make language comprehensible. ACCESS test includes items that address the academic language of mathematics, science, social studies, English language arts, as well as social and instructional language. As a result, students growth relies on classroom supports in a variety of contexts overtime.

Yes. Parents receive a letter upon the student's placement into the EL program that explains which assessments will be administered to measure their child's progress in language each year. Then, parents are reminded about the upcoming ACCESS test at the beginning of the test window. Following the assessment, individual student ACCESS score reports are mailed home in the spring, usually in May. A copy of this report is kept in the student's cumulative file.

Most English learners participate in state-wide content assessments with accommodations and supports for English learners that are allowed within the specific test system. Those accommodations must be familiar to the student, routinely used in the classroom, and included in the student's EL plan. Newcomer EL students , who are in their first calendar year in the US, are exempt from participating the Reading portion of the state assessment.