K-12 Lau (EL) Plan for Serving English Learners (ELs)

Transcription

1 Bondurant Farrar Community School District 300 Garfield SW Bondurant, IA K-12 Lau (EL) Plan for Serving English Learners (ELs) August, 2015 Required Lau Leadership Team Members: Central Office Administrator Becky Durand Equity Coordination, Becky Durand MS Principal, Chad Carlson ELL Teacher, Amy Williams McKern ELL Teacher, Karen Moe Second Grade Teacher, Kayla McConnell Middle School English Teacher, Andrea Goes High School At-Risk Teacher, Brad Hamilton Lau Plan The district plan designed to meet the instructional needs of English Learners (ELs) is referred to as the Lau Plan (Lau v. Nichols, 1974). The Lau Plan must be collaboratively written by the K-12 team identified above and must include the following required critical elements: I. Lau Plan Goals (See Appendix A) 1. To help students to become English proficient in the language skills of speaking, reading, writing, and listening. 2. To help students to successfully participate in classroom learning situations and other school activities. 3. To help students to develop and/or reinforce positive attitudes toward self, school, and community. 4. To provide inclusion in all school district activities without consideration of a student s multi-cultural background. II. Identification and Placement of ELs in a Language Instruction Education Program (LIEP) A. Home Language Survey ( copies are collected and stored in cumulative folders for all students. B. The Tennessee English Language Proficiency Assessment (TELPA) is used to identify potential EL students. We will transition to the ELPA21 in the fall of All ESL teachers are currently trained on administration of the TELPA.

2 C. As a general rule, EL students are placed at the grade level that corresponds with their chronological age. It may take several years for the EL student to perform grade-level tasks, however, socialization with same-age peers is as important, and will aid in the development of the student s social and academic language. The decision is made by the team, including grade level or content teachers. D. It is important that the parents of EL students are involved in the decisionmaking process of the development of an Instructional Plan for their child. It is well within the rights of the parents to refuse services for whatever reason; however, it is the responsibility of the teacher, EL team and EL teacher s responsibility to inform the parents of the benefits to receiving these supportive services. Parents will be notified within 30 calendar days of the beginning of the school year or within two weeks upon enrolling if after the beginning of the school year. Using TransAct ( parents will be notified of the student s eligibility based on initial assessment and once the student is placed. Using TransAct ( parents will be notified initially and annually of program placement. E. Process for waiving students from LIEP 1. If parents waive ESL services, a meeting will be arranged to discuss the student s needs, parent concerns and discuss an alternative plan for the EL student. 2. Using Transact ( the parents decision will be documented. 3. If a student has been opted out of the program, B-F will periodically monitor the progress of the student. If a student is not making progress, the student will be served in within the classroom with best practice strategies. III. Description of the LIEP A. LIEP Goals 1. To help students become English proficient in the language skills of speaking, reading, writing, and listening. 2. To help students successfully participate in classroom learning situations and other school activities. B. Program Description

3 English as a Second Language (ESL): A program of techniques, methodology, and special curriculum designed to teach ELs English language skills, which may include listening, speaking, reading, writing, study skills, content vocabulary, and cultural orientation. Further, ESL instruction is usually in English with little use of native language. C. Using TransAct ( parents will be notified annually of program placement. D. All instruction is designed by highly qualified staff members, holding an ESL endorsement through the Board of Educational Examiners. E. The administrator of the LIEP program will hold an evaluator s license and will have training in ESL. F. All EL students have access to the Iowa/Common Core in either the general education setting or ESL classes. Collaboration of the K-12 ESL team will take place through dedicated PLC time. G. Currently, we use supplemental materials to grade level and content curriculum. These materials are closely aligned to the Iowa/Common Core. IV. Process to Provide Meaningful Access to all Co-curricular and Extracurricular Programs A. EL students, who demonstrate higher academic skills, will have the opportunity to test for the Expanding Horizons program (Talented and Gifted). A formal test will be used (with accommodations as needed) along with an assessment of portfolio work. B. EL students who experience academic difficulty in the general education setting may or may not be in need of special education services. A comprehensive process is in place to ensure that a child s needs are met, taking into account language barriers and acculturation issues that may exist. The following is a step-by-step process used to identify EL students who may qualify for special education services. Please note that although it is important to place a child in need of special education services in a timely manner, it is also important that time is allowed for the child to adjust socially as well as academically. As a general guideline we ask, Is the problem a linguistically or cultural difference or a learning difficulty?! Initial Intake

4 ! Pre-referral documentation! Initial Referral Meeting (SST-Student Success Team)! Initial Intervention(s)! Follow-up SST Meeting! Refer on for evaluation if that is the recommendation of SST! Disability Suspected Meeting (parental consent is required for the evaluation)! Evaluation by Heartland Area Education Agency! Development of IEP (Individual Education Plan)! Initial Placement Meeting The goal of this process is to provide the best educational setting and least restrictive environment for the EL student.. C. Every student in the Bondurant-Farrar Community School District will be given equal educational opportunities. It is the responsibility of all staff to treat students without discrimination on the basis of linguistic background when determining students eligibility for district services. Teachers and counselors will provide notification of special programs to the parents of EL students taking into account the possibility of language barriers. The ESL Team will provide support to classroom teachers if they need assistance with home communication either written or verbal. V. Ongoing, Embedded EL Professional Development for Staff who Support ELs A. District administrators, who are responsible for ESL programs, will collaborate with Heartland AEA staff and a network of similar administrators. B. LIEP staff will receive training provided by Heartland AEA. C. Content and classroom teachers will receive on-going training provided by the ESL certified teachers. This training is incorporated into the Professional Learning Community time. The school district also provides tuition assistance to certified teachers who wish to obtain an ESL endorsement (Title II-A Funds, Recruiting and Retaining Highly Qualified Teachers). D. Paraprofessionals are provided training, as needed, for an ESL assignment. E. Building/district support staff - participate in building level, as well as K- 12 department PLC s. Appropriate training is provided during PLC time.

5 VI. Annual English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA21) Administration A. Annual training for the IELDA has been provided through Heartland AEA. (Through Spring, 2015) Heartland AEA will provide guidance and training in the administration of the ELPA21 assessment for the school year. B. Results are provided to the current and upcoming general education and content teachers. Results are also provided to supplemental teachers, as appropriate, such as Talented and Gifted or Special Education. Results are also placed in an EL student s permanent file. C. Heartland AEA will provide guidance and training in result interpretation for the ELPA21 assessment for the school year. D. Assessment results will be used to determine current needs of the EL students primarily in the domains of Reading, Speaking, Listening and Writing. VII. LIEP Exit Criteria and Procedures A. Criteria for Academic Year and Prior Academic Years The student: 1. Achieves a composite score of 6 on the I-ELDA 2. Meets 3 of the following 4 additional criteria a. Success in a regular classroom b. LIEP support not required c. Sustainability of success d. Score of proficient on district-wide and state-wide assessments, such as Iowa Assessments 3. Meets all criteria in the same school year Criteria for Academic Year and Future Academic Years The student: 1. Achieves the required score for proficiency on ELPA21 2. Scores proficient on district-wide and/or statewide assessments in Reading and Math (Use Iowa Assessments if available; use districtwide assessments if student is in a grade not tested by Iowa Assessments) 3. Meets both of the above criteria in the same school year. B. Procedures 1. Notify parents with state-approved TransAct exiting form in language most understandable to parents/families

6 2. Change student coding to "exited" so the student does not continue to generate unwarranted funding. District data personnel responsible for entering data should refer to Iowa Department of Education s Data Dictionary. 3. Begin required two-year monitoring process. VIII. Monitoring Procedures after Students Exit the LIEP Program A. We will monitor the progress of EL students who have been exited based on the current guidelines. Content knowledge will be monitored by results from district wide and state wide assessments. The goal of the monitoring program is to ensure that EL students are performing equal to grade level peers. EL teachers, Amy Williams-McKern and Karen Moe will monitor students who have been exited from the LIEP program. B. Re-entry to LIEP program may be warranted if a student is not performing on-grade level as determined by: teacher recommendation(s), screening and diagnostic results, classroom work/assessments, district-wide and state wide assessments. This will be a team decision, which includes the parents. Using TransAct ( parents will be notified of re-entry into the LIEP program. IX. LIEP Evaluation A. Describe the district s annual LIEP evaluation process, which includes evidence regarding progress toward meeting Lau Plan LIEP goals in both English language development and academic achievement: 1. An annual evaluation to measure proficiency growth is administered. Beginning the ELPA 21 will be used. 2. Annual Iowa Assessment results in reading and math. 3. Bondurant- Farrar uses the Deb Wahlstrom model to complete a comprehensive evaluation of ESL programming and goals every five years. B. The Bondurant-Farrar Community School district will evaluate the ESL program to ensure quality education and academic growth for students involved in the program. The ultimate test of a program s effectiveness is the success experienced by the students in the total school environment. The ESL teachers are evaluated annually with a comprehensive evaluation once every three years. Another component of the evaluation will be monitoring the progress of individual students. Collection of data will be maintained on a minimum

7 of a annual basis. Typically the data will be results from the TELPA, IELDA, and the Iowa Assessments. This data should be used in two ways. First, it should help in monitoring individual student progress. Second, it will look at the program s overall effectiveness. It is also important that a portfolio of work be collected on each student. This will include formal and informal assessment along with daily work samples. It is important that a comprehensive evaluation be addressed by a number of interested parties. Possible member of the evaluation team may include the following:! ELL Team Members! Principal! Curriculum Director! Heartland AEA Staff! Resource Teacher(s)! General Education Teacher! Parents The guidance counselors will also disaggregate state-wide assessment data for an annual report to the school board. The following information must be included (as grade level appropriate) in the annual report:! Grade Retention! Graduation! Dropout rate! Gender! English proficiency! Economically disadvantaged! Standardized test achievement levels! Multiple measures of academic achievement X. Appendices A. Letter to Districts from the U.S. Department of Justice: B. Description of LIEP Models

8 Appendix A Please download the full Department of Justice and Office of Civil Rights Joint Guidance document from:

9 Appendix B Description of LIEP Models Newcomer Program: Newcomer programs are separate, relatively self-contained educational interventions designed to meet the academic and transitional needs of newly arrived immigrants; typically, students attend these programs before they enter more traditional programs (e.g., English Language Development programs or mainstream classrooms with supplemental ESL instruction). Sheltered Instruction: An instructional approach used to make academic instruction in English understandable to ELs. In the sheltered classroom, teachers use physical activities, visual aids, and the environment to teach vocabulary for concept development in mathematics, science, social studies, and other subjects. English as a Second Language (ESL): A program of techniques, methodology, and special curriculum designed to teach ELs English language skills, which may include listening, speaking, reading, writing, study skills, content vocabulary, and cultural orientation. Further, ESL instruction is usually in English with little use of native language. Dual Language Program: Also known as two-way, or developmental, the goal of these bilingual programs is for students to develop language proficiency in two languages by receiving instruction in English and another language in a classroom that is usually comprised of half native English speakers and half native speakers of the other language. Other Bilingual Program: Bilingual education refers to approaches in the classroom that use the native language of English Learners (ELs) for instruction.