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AboutUnderwoodsELLpopulation
(numbersarefromBEFOREGarethsmaternityleave)
Also,Underwoodhasaplethoraofotherbilingualstudents,notontheELLcaseload.Theyspeak:
Greek,Tamil,Farsi,Teluguandotherlanguages
HowlongdostudentstypicallystayontheELLcaseload?
Currently,allofourstudentsareintheirfirst,second,orthirdyearofELLservices.Thereisnominimumor
maximumamountoftimestudentsmustbeenrolled.RecentlyDESErecommendedthatallKindergarteners
remainontheELLcaseloaduntiltheendofgrade1.
HowlongdoesittakestudentstolearnEnglish?
IfastudentsentirejourneythroughELLwasreducedto1hour,we
wouldexpecttypicallybrainedstudentstospend:
5minutesatWIDAlevel1
10minutesatWIDAlevel2
20minutesatWIDAlevel3
20minutesatWIDAlevel4
5minutesatWIDAlevel5
(thisisbecauseitisthoughtthatstudentnowhave
adequateEnglishtocontinuedevelopingtheirEnglishskillsintheirregularclasses)
Formoreexplanationsastowhyseetheicecreamconeanalogyonthepagebelow.
NotethatinNewtonweuse0fornopriorEnglishexposureand6forpeerequivalency.
*adaptedfrom
www.wida.us
onOct17,2015
HowareELLstudentsplacedontheELLteacherscaseloads?
UsuallyparentscalleitherUnderwoodortheEd.Centertoregistertheirchild.CarolStoneandDeb
Marino(secretaryattheEd.Center)havebeentrainedtoaskfamiliesifanotherlanguagebesides
Englishisspokeninthehome.StudentsaretypicallythentestedinEnglish.Whenstudentscome
fromanotherMassachusettsdistrictweaskfortheirACCESSscoresandiftheywerereceivingELL
servicespreviously.
UnderwhatconditionsdoesastudentexitELL?
StudentsareexitedfromELLbasedon:
theirlistening/speaking/reading/writingEnglishskillsscoreasreportedontheACCESStest
classworkandparticipation
teacherrecommendation,includingspecialistsandinterventionists
AtUnderwoodwechoosetodiscussthedecisionwithparentsbeforeexitingstudents.
Aftertheyexit,canstudentseverreenrollinELLservices?
Yes,andstudentsareoccasionallyreenrolledafteraperiodofbeingexitedbecauseeachgradelevel
bringsanewlevelofacademicdemand.
Howdoesreenrollmenthappen?
TypicallyateacheroraparentwillshareaconcernaboutastudentsEnglishskillswithGarethor
Greta,orperhapsAmanda.TheELLteachersthenconsiderseveralfactorswhendecidingtoreenroll
astudentsincluding:
Classwork
classroomobservations
formalassessments
theopinionofclassroomteachersandparents
howlongthestudenthasbeenintheUSA
howlongthestudenthasbeeneducatedinEnglish(someforeignbornstudentsattendEnglish
speakingschoolsortakeclassesinEnglishbeforemovingtoNewton)
whatthestudentsfirstlanguageis(ittypicallytakeslongerforspeakersofAsianlanguagesto
acquireEnglishthanspeakersofRomancelanguages)
ThisisalsowhathappenswhenstudentsareoccasionallynotsignedupforELLserviceswhentheyregister
forschool.
WhatsthedifferencebetweenRTIandELLinstruction?
RTI
Tiers2and3
decontextualized,
stepbystepsystematicinstructionofareadingormathskill
repetitionuntilmastery
doubledosethesamecontentasaTier1lessonbutpresented
inasmallergroup,perhapswithdifferentiations
groupsofnomorethan3
frequentprogressmonitoring
ELL
Tier1
highlycontextualized
systematicinstructionoftheEnglishlanguage
repetitionofnewvocabularywords5to7timesacrossproductive
andreceptiveEnglishskills
opportunitiestopracticelanguageEnglishstructuresforsocialor
academicpurposes
groupingsideallybasedonWIDAlevels