St. Croix Central School District

ENGLISH LEARNERS

English Learners Defined

Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Wisconsin created educational policies and mandates that addressed English Language Learner (ELL) and bilingual programming. Title III Part A, was written to help ensure that children and youth who are limited English proficient, Native American and/or immigrants, attain English language proficiency, develop high levels of academic attainment in English and meet the same requirements on state academic standard tests as their peers.

Identification

Selecting students for annual testing and program placement is based upon parent identification of the ethnicity of the child. Once a list of eligible students is identified then those students who are low-performing in reading and math will be tested with the ACCESS exam. Determining eligibility for testing is based upon the following information:

• Those students who are 1-2 grade levels behind in reading and math;

• Students who have been tested with the state assessment and score minimal/basic in reading and math;

• For Native American students, for grade levels where no test data is available we will test all Native American students in those grade levels (grades K-2).

The following process is observed in adding students to the ESL program:

• The Home Language survey is completed;

• The W-APT screener is administered;

• a letter of notification is sent to parents;

• an Individual Student Record Plan is developed with input from classroom teachers, parents, and the ESL teacher.

Programming

Each student in the English Learner Program has an Individualized Student Plan (ISP). The ISP includes the student’s current classroom performance, assessment scores, annual goals and services provided. ELL Programming with the St. Croix Central School District is provided upon a continuum of services based on the individual child’s academic and instructional needs. The following are services that may be provided for an English Language Learner that are not provided for their English speaking peers:

• Pull-Out Instruction: these students are pulled out of their regular classrooms for short periods of time for small group instruction, to enhance their English language skills or support classroom lessons and content.

• Monitoring: Monitoring allows students to stay with English speaking peers 100% of the time with English Learner staff monitoring their progress toward common core state standards.

• Accommodations: Accommodations are provided in order for English Learners to have continued access to curriculum with additional support provided for success. For example, tests may be read or grading may be modified.

Mandated Policies

Each spring the English Learner program has an annual Title III Parent meeting. All parents of students in the English Learner program are invited to review ACCESS for ELLs test scores, district data, and Federal Annual Measureable Achievement Outcomes. Eligible parents will receive an invite via mail.

The St. Croix Central School District updates its Title III Plan annually, based on the parent meeting. (click for 12-13 Title III Plan)

For more information on Annual Measureable Achievement Outcomes, please go to the Department of Public Instruction website at http://dpi.wi.gov/accountability/ellamao

Questions

If you have any questions regarding the English Learner Program please contact: