Meeting the needs of English Language Learners

Program information

Identification of Limited English Proficient Students Parent completes Home Language Survey (HLS) If any language other than English is indicated, the school is required to either test for English proficiency or determine if the child was already identified as Limited English Proficient (LEP) in a previous school in Texas or has exited a program previously Schools have 20 school days to investigate/identify

Identification of Limited English Proficient Students If HLS indicates a language other than English, and student is from another state, country, home school or private school, the school must test for language proficiency A Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC) will evaluate language proficiency test results to determine proficiency level and whether or not the student is LEP

Identification of Limited English Proficient Students If a student is LEP, the school recommends program services in order to support the student’s increase in English proficiency The two language support programs in Texas are ESL and Bilingual

ESL (English as a Second Language) ESL programs can also be referred to as ELL (English Language Learner) programs Schools may recommend a self-contained setting, whereby a content area teacher who is also ESL certified serves students within the classroom and provides all of the language proficiency strategies and needs (ELPS) Schools may also recommend a pull-out setting, whereby an ESL teacher either pushes into a classroom to offer language support or pulls students out of their classroom at some point during the day to provide language support

Bilingual Programs If school districts have at least 20 students within a grade level across the district who all speak the same home language, they are required to begin a bilingual program There are several Bilingual program models: Transitional early exit Transitional late exit Dual language

English language proficiency standards

ELPS In 2007, the Texas Education Agency adopted a set of language standards known as the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) Any teacher who teaches a student who is Limited English Proficient is expected to incorporate these language standards into his or her instruction along with the content objectives (TEKS)

ELPS These standards are designed to incorporate sound teaching strategies while focusing on the four domains of language: listening, speaking, reading and writing

ELPS: 4 Categories ELPS Framework: (a) Big Ideas (b) Big Responsibilities Make content comprehensible Linguistically Accommodate: Build Academic Language *Communicated *Sequenced *Scaffolded (c) Student Expectations (d) Proficiency Level Descriptors *Learning Strategies *Beginning (L,S,R,W) *Listening *Intermediate (L,S,R,W) *Speaking *Advanced (L,S,R,W) *Reading *Advanced High (L,S,R,W) *Writing

PLDs, ELPS, and TELPAS In the state of Texas, the way we assess whether or not students are making progress in the English language is through TELPAS: Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System

Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System PLDs, ELPS, and TELPAS In the state of Texas, we assess student progress in the English language through TELPAS: Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System TELPAS focuses on– 4 proficiency levels Beginning Intermediate Advanced Advanced High 4 language domains Listening Speaking Reading Writing

TELPAS provides proficiency level ratings for each language domain, plus an overall composite rating.

TELPAS and ELPS TELPAS(assessment system) is used to measure the implementation of the ELPS (standards). The PLDs (our rubric) determine how effectively the ELPS have been implemented. They are all aligned in order to better instruct and assess our ELLs.

Sources U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2016). The Condition of Education 2016 (NCES 2016-144),English Language Learners in Public Schools www.tea.texas.gov www.lexialearning.com Grantmakers for Education. 2013. Educating English Language Learners: Grantmaking Strategies for Closing America’s Other Achievement Gap. https://edfunders.org/sites/default/files/Educating%20English%20Language%20Lea rners_April%202013.pdf