English Learner


EL Program Services

Learning First Charter is committed to providing quality, researched-based instruction to our English Learner students (ELs). Our goal is for all ELs to value their family language and culture, but also successfully communicate in English and perform rigorous grade-level academic work in English in classes with their English-speaking peers.
 
According to Massachusetts law, public school students who are not proficient in English must be placed in a Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) program. SEI has two required components:
  1. English as a Second Language (ESL)
  2. Sheltered content instruction
Once a child is accepted in the ESL program, he/ she will receive direct and explicit instruction in English as a Second Language (ESL). ESL Instruction is designed to support EL students to learn to speak, listen, read and write in English and perform rigorous grade-level academic work in English.  ELs are grouped together and ESL teachers guide students in systematic, dedicated, sustained time to develop various aspects of the English language that proficient English speakers already know.
 
Sheltered content instruction is designed to support ELs in accessing content (ELA, math, science, and social studies) while they are in the process of acquiring full proficiency in English. Teachers who provide sheltered content instruction have received or are in the process of receiving a Sheltered English Endorsement from Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), which designates each teacher as having completed training designed to equip content teachers with the skills and knowledge to make content instruction comprehensible to EL students. All the instruction and materials in the SEI classroom are in English. ELs participate in rigorous and challenging grade-level curriculum, utilizing instructional materials that have been adapted and modified to meet the students’ needs.
 
LFCPS provides both sheltered English instruction and ESL instruction to students identified. ESL services are offered to students so that they can gain the same knowledge as native speakers in their classrooms in all areas of academic content, while also becoming proficient in English language development.
 

Initial Identification

An English Learner is identified as “a child who does not speak English or whose native language is not English, and who is not currently able to perform ordinary classroom work in English” according to Massachusetts law (G.L. c. 71A).
 
To determine whether or not a student is eligible for the ESL program, LFCPS:
  1. Administers a Home Language Survey (HLS). The Home Language Survey is used to identify students  who speak another language or are exposed to another language in the home.  
  2. Students are then screened for language proficiency with the WIDA Model in kindergarten or WIDA screener in grades 1-8, unless ACCESS results from the test administered within the last year are obtained from the previous school.
  3. A determination is made based upon the screening results if the student is an EL student and an initial placement decision is made.
  4. The parent/legal guardian is notified of the language screening results and initial placement and informs parent/guardian of the right to opt out or secure a waiver in a language the parent can understand.

Opt Out Option

Parents may notify the district of their wish to have their child “opt-out” of the ESL program. This means that a parent/guardian chooses to decline their child’s entry into the ESL program offered at Learning First Charter Public School.

 
If a parent chooses to opt out, the district will inform the parent of the services the child would receive in the district’s English learner education programs, as well as the type of support that would be provided to the student if the parent decides to “opt out”.  Even when parents choose to “opt out”, the student will be placed in a classroom with an SEI endorsed teacher, provided access to the curriculum, continue to be classified as eligible for ESL and annually have their language assessed on the ACCESS for ELs 2.0 assessment. The students will receive support and scaffolds inside the general education classroom and progress will be actively monitored.  When parents choose to opt out, they will sign an “opt out” form.
 

Curriculum

The Learning First ESL department has developed a curriculum to support the English Language Development of students in conjunction with the SEI instruction that they receive in the general education environment. Based upon the current school schedule of four full days and half day Fridays, the curriculum has been designed.  The ESL department has structured the program with curriculum units which includes Math Mondays, Tuesday Tales, Writing Wednesday, Theater Thursday, and Foundations Friday in order to work on developing students’ reading, writing, speaking and listening skills and increase their English language proficiency. Based upon students’ language levels, grade levels and developmental needs ESL instruction is provided to students.  
 
Math Mondays includes a focus on the language of Mathematics including vocabulary, terms, concepts, and word problems used to understand grade level Common Core Math Standards.  Tuesday Tales includes a focus on Reading skills through social studies and science content including decoding skills, phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, and sight-word recognition.  Writing Wednesdays includes a focus on writing skills including grammar, vocabulary, structure, organization, volume, spelling patterns, and conventions.  Thursday Theater focuses on strengthening students’ speaking and listening skills through reading plays where students get to play the role of a character and orally read and act out the script of the play.  Foundational Fridays focuses instruction on specific areas of need for EL students.  
 

Reclassification of EL Students

LFCPS annually assesses ESL student’s language proficiency and academic achievement to determine whether such students are able to do regular school work in English, and to remove the English learner classification once ELs demonstrate the ability to do regular school work in English. The process of removing a student’s ESL classification is also known as “reclassification”.  Exit from ESL status is a high-stakes decision because a premature exit may place a student who still has linguistic needs at risk of academic failure, while unnecessary prolongation of ESL status (particularly at the secondary level) can limit educational opportunities, lower teacher expectations, and  demoralize students (see Linquanti, 2001; Callahan, 2009; Robinson, 2011). ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 is the state’s language proficiency assessment, and the results of the assessment must be considered when making language classification decisions. This includes achieving an overall score of at least 4.2 and a composite literacy score of 3.9 on the ACCESS for ELLs 2.0.  The team will also consider other relevant data to determine whether students can perform ordinary classroom work in English, and whether or not such students’ ESL classification should be removed. It is a violation of the Equal Education Opportunity Act (EEOA) of 1974 when ESL students are not exited from the ESL program after they have acquired English proficiency, so when students have achieved English proficiency they are exited from the ESL program.
 
In determining whether a student should be re-classified as a Former English Learner (FEL) student and continue to be monitored, the school-based team evaluates and considers a range of evidence of the student’s performance, including school based assessments, grades, observations, recommendations, MCAS (if applicable), WIDA performance definitions and CAN DO Descriptors.