Questions and Answers about the ELE Program

January 15, 2009

Members of our school committees and the community at large brought forward some questions about the ELE program in our districts. These were brought to the teachers working in our program and they chose to take the time to answer them and share them with the Regional School Committee. Many of the teachers will be at the next regional meeting on Tuesday, January 20th, and will be available to answer the questions in more detail, if needed. This is the compilation of the questions, along with the answers supplied by our teachers. We are very thankful to them for their expertise, hard work and dedication to our students, as well for taking the time to answer these important questions.

Why are there more ELE teachers at CF than FR, when they have the same number of students?
CF has the equivalent of 4 FTE’s (6 teachers) and FR has 2.9 FTE’s (3 teachers). The number of teachers in each school reflects the hours that were needed at each of the schools to provide an ELE instructional program as well as the native language component. In brief, Crocker Farm has great numbers of students of just one language – Spanish, many of whom come from low literacy backgrounds and thus the school needed a couple of highly trained SEI teachers in addition to the ELE teachers.

An important note: Students with low literacy backgrounds or interrupted schooling often require ELL for many years. Our programs are designed to develop the English proficiency while providing these students with access to the grade level content. We do this by providing both pull out ELL and in-class, often co-taught (ELL teacher with classroom teacher) sheltered content instruction.
What is the actual cost of busing students for open language clustering enrollment in the elementary schools?

The business office has told us this is difficult to calculate. We are currently transporting 42, current ELL’s, 13, former ELL’s, and 16 students for SE programming. Even though we are not supposed to transport open enrolled students, we currently provide the service for 19 students.

There are also 24 students being transported for unknown reasons.
Why do some kids (with no special needs) stay in the program for 3 or more years?

Elementary:
Research clearly shows in multiple studies that it takes from 5-7 or more years for students to attain academic language proficiency in English. The less literacy skill a child has on entry into school, the longer it will take. Some precocious language-proficient students might do it in 3 years. But "3" as a ceiling that all ELL students should be English-Proficient by is totally a bogus number. Academic Language Proficiency is not the same as communicative proficiency, the latter being the research findings from which the "1-3" years figures come from through Amherst would like to think of itself as Lake Wobegone, where everyone is above average, it is actually not the case, especially regarding out town’s populations of ELLs.

Secondary:
Jim Cummins is one of the most prominent researchers in the field of ESL. He states that it takes 5-7 years to acquire mastery of the academic language. Students with interrupted schooling, inadequate prior schooling, little time or support to study at home, emotional trauma may take more than 3 years to develop enough proficiency to exit the ELE portion of their program. Exited ELLs are still acquiring English while in less-supported regular Ed classes which explains the state mandate for 2 years of monitoring after exit.
What is the actual cost of native language tutors?

Our current budget has $52,000 in the Region and $44,132 in Amherst for tutorial support. The cost of not having them would be considerable since we would then have to group/segregate all ELLs into dedicated SEI classes and increase classroom/ teacher assignments to teach those small classes. Thus, bilingual tutors are a money saver for the district.
Have you compared the academic achievement of kids who get tutoring in their native language compared with kids who don't get tutoring?

A.The Rennie Center was commissioned by the Dept. of Education and others to conduct a study of post Question 2 outcome. It found, not surprisingly, that when schools do not use the native language, their ELL population has not done well, or as well as those who do. We have attached the report here for your reference.

B.According to NAEP results, ELL students in the 3 states that banned TBE (CA, AZ, MA) are farther behind the average mainstream students in those states than is the case in other states. That would extrapolate to a conclusion that first language use in content study is an important component of academic success for ELLS. Also, students who have academic language proficiency in 2+ languages out perform monolingual students. Many studies have shown this at the High School level. Those ELLS who did not receive the bilingual support they needed in their Math and Science classes did not do well and in some cases, they failed and had to repeat classes. The struggle in Math and Science is also reflected in MCAS scores. Students who have received bilingual tutoring while in levels 1 and 2 did well on MCAS testing in Math and Science and those who did not have tutoring did not do as well. We have MCAS scores and lists of students to support this.
Why would you provide tutors for students entering K or first grade? Shouldn’t tutoring be saved for the kids who really need it in the HS and MS?

A case could be made for restructuring the ELE program to concentrate more intensive SEI time in the elementary schools and assign the native language tutors in very selective situations in the secondary schools to help new students in the beginner or low intermediate skill level to connect with course work.

One example: When K and first grade students come newly, they need some tutor time to access instruction when they're not in ESL or SEI. Specials, in particular, are very problematic when there's no tutor. Usually, at Crocker, these kids might not have much of a concept of what school is about and need help with getting oriented to it. Even though it may seem that having 2 SEI teachers at CF is a lot, these 2 teachers are hard pressed to meet all the needs. Thus, having tutors can fill in some of the gaps.

BY LAW (CH. 71a), ELL STUDENTS ARE ENTITLED TO GET CLARIFICATION IN THEIR NATIVE LANGUAGE AS NEEDED, AND NO SPECIFICATION IS MADE AT WHAT AGE THAT SHOULD START, OR STOP. Also, the federal law LAU vs. NICHOLS requires equal access.
How do you service SE students who are ELL’s? How do you monitor their progress?

Secondary School Example: A determination is made at a TEAM meeting about the best course of study for a dual needs student. Some students are in ELL classes with Special Education Para support and academic support with a special education teacher. The special education staff consults with the ELE staff. Some ELLs (especially exited) are not in ELL classes, but ELE teachers consult with regular Ed and special education staff, sometimes provide materials and monitor the academic progress of dual needs ELLs who are not in the ELL classes. We monitor progress, as with all LEP and FLEP students by looking at progress reports, report cards and conferencing with teachers and guidance counselors. At 8th grade transition meetings both and ELE and Special Education teacher from the high school participate to discuss the best program for a dual needs ELL coming to the high school.

Elementary School Example: Wildwood SE/ELL students tend to have intensive special needs because of the Special Education programs housed at WW. With intensive needs students, Special Education services usually take priority with scheduling and ELL staff often act as consultants to Special Education staff regarding language and ELL issues. Bilingual staffs are often pivotal to parent outreach, math support instruction, assessment translation and translation during special education/parent meetings. ELL staffs also prepare assessments for annual meetings.
Can you review your student achievement data carefully to determine whether students have been inappropriately enrolled in the ELE program? Was it because their family speaks another language at home, because their vocabulary or reading is not at grade level or because they are being retained in ELE beyond the point where they have mastered the English language but are below grade level in reading/writing?

Central to determining what level an ELL student is considered to be is how that student reads and writes grade level material. If an ELL child is achieving below grade level in reading and writing then we know that child is still acquiring academic English, unless there is a proven organic weakness. Below are examples of procedures and approaches from the secondary and elementary levels.

Secondary Example: At the secondary level, students are tested annually in the spring using the same tests that are used for placement purposes. Teachers review these test scores carefully as well as the result of MEPA and MELA-O tests, grades on report cards and progress reports and examples of student work. Decisions to exit students from ELE or to retain a student in the ELE program are made very carefully based on transparent criteria and communicated both to the student and the parent. Sometimes a student is exited too early and, through monitoring and a conference, the decision is made to readmit the student to ELL classes or offer more support. Sometimes a student is retained in ELL classes when they clearly are up to the challenge of regular education classes - at which point there is another meeting, parent conference and the student is exited and monitored. The tests that are used at the secondary level for placement, annual testing and exiting are:

SLEP - Secondary Level English Proficiency Test, Educational Testing Service
IPTII Oral - IDEA Proficiency Tests, Ballard and Tighe
Writing Assessment - Rubric Developed by ARHS teachers based on MCAS ELA Composition Rubric
MEPA R/W Tests
MELA-O Test
(See attached template)

Elementary Examples: A teacher has13 students on her caseload at Wildwood Elementary from grades 1- 6. These students have been enrolled in ELL because they cannot keep up with their grade level peers, especially in reading/writing/social studies/science. This means that they are performing one or more grade levels behind their peers. There are several measures that confirm this. They are:

BSM
QRI, class writing prompts
MEPA
MELA-O
MCAS,
Classroom observations and student interviews.

It may seem that some students are inappropriately assigned because their English seems fine. However, when you start doing more intensive semantic/vocabulary work with them, you see that they have gaps in vocabulary that seriously hinder their comprehension.
With the budget situation the way it appears to be for next year, how will you cut costs? Money should be spent for streamlining services where most needed - the pre-school year for entering ELL kids, as an example.

We propose to cut our materials budget. We cannot cut staffing at all and still meet state and federal mandates. The community needs an education about BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communications Skills) VS. CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency) and the effects on schooling of a literacy upbringing VS. a non-literacy upbringing.

The budget situation is, indeed, dire, and therefore the community—especially the school committee—should be acutely on guard to safeguard the services for some of the districts neediest students, those whose parents will not actively be advocating on their children’s behalf.
Do we deal with widespread languages (e.g. Spanish) differently than
"onesies and twosies" (e.g., Croatian)?

Secondary: No difference in the high school ELE Program. Students who share a language can be grouped in similar math and science classes with a bilingual tutor for clarification.
Elementary: Please see question # 1. We have SEI teachers as well as ELE teachers at Crocker Farm and Wildwood because of their large population of Spanish and Chinese students. The students from less common languages receive tutor support.
How do ELL students exit the program?

We follow a careful procedure of testing and other steps described in our program booklet in accordance with the DESE regulations. At the very minimum, we test students upon entrance and annually. As an example see an attached chart and please see #8.
What's our "success rate" with transitioning kids as soon as possible?

The purpose of teaching anything is to help students be successful in school academically, socially, and, in out-of-school situations. ‘Transitioning’ means preparing students to be successful doing mainstream classroom work. We are doing this every day by providing small group skill based work for ELL and mainstream students. We are specifically teaching ELL students how to talk with their peers and work in pairs and teams, figure out class directions and rules and discuss them. These oral skills are linked to academic achievement as is first language support. We provide consultations and support for other teachers who are on the “receiving end”. We transition the kids after team discussions and of course in accordance with the state regulations, and when the students demonstrate that they are ready.
How do our former ELL students do on MCAS (or other measures -
Graduation, college attendance)?

We would need to spend some time answering this question with data. However, we can say that ELLs who are not dual needs generally pass all MCAS tests and graduate with their classes. We have a 100% MCAS passing rate at the high school for seniors as of the class of 2008. LEP students generally do not pass all MCAS tests while they are in Levels 1A, 1B, and 2A. Often students need to take retests as their skills in English and Math develop. Formerly LEP students generally go on to college - including selective private schools and community colleges.
Does the fact that the ELL category only includes non-fluent English speakers (in other words, when they are fluent, they're no longer in the ELL subgroup) explain MCAS performance by the ELL group?

Only partially – ELL category includes many students – those with low literacy backgrounds and those with strong literacy. Academic Language Proficiency has little to do with speaking fluency, other than the fact that by the time a student has attained academic proficiency, by definition they will have already gained conversational oral fluency (I.E., the timelines of BICS vs. CALP acquisition). So the ELL category does not “only” include non-fluent students.
Should we consider a preschool program specifically to teach English to non English speakers, with a goal of leveling the playing field before Kindergarten?

Good idea. However, the playing field for non-literacy oriented students will not be leveled with one year of Pre-School. It certainly can’t hurt. But it will not supersede a future need for some ELL.
Why can’t other elementary kids learn Chinese or Spanish? Why is this privilege for Wildwood students sonly? If others can’t do it, no one should.

We would love for all of our students to begin learning a second language in the elementary schools as early as possible. The reality is the district was able to secure a grant to implement a Chinese program and it received a great deal of support.
How many ELL children come in at K versus the upper grades?

The ELL students arrive to us at all different grades and it varies from year to year.
Are ELL students refused entrance into high level academic classes at ARHS?

No. ELLs are encouraged to take honors classes and participate in honors projects. For students in levels 1A, 1B and some level 2A, bilingual tutors make this possible.
Where is the tutoring happening? Shouldn’t it be more appropriate for classes like physics at ARHS level?

Students who are unable to do ordinary work in English (the federal definition of an ELL) are entitled to receive 'clarification' in the native language (state regulation).

Students in all grades (K-12) are required to comprehend and perform at highly complex intellectual levels. Our school curricula at all grade levels are highly demanding. Our students at all grade levels need native language support, especially in certain content areas, such as science, social studies, literature, and math. According to Lau vs. Nichols (Federal Law) and Chapter 71A (State Law) students need to fully participate in the class activities and lessons. The state law specifies active class participation at least 80% of the time.

At the high school, bilingual clarification is happening in math and science classes, in mandatory health classes, and in the math/science study center for students who would not be able to understand and complete homework without help. Bilingual clarification is not usually offered for level 2B and Level 3 students who are placed with SEI trained math and science teachers, sensitive to the needs of second language learners.;

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Last updated February 24, 2009