Amanda Bollinger

Field Based Observation Journal.

I was slightly shocked when I looked up the information for Bayfield Elementary School
on GreatSchools.org. Bayfield Elementary is a public school with about 670 students, it serves a
variety of students reflecting a span of nationalities and cultures. However, on Great Schools
website Bayfield Elementary is given 3 out of 10 rating. This is attributed to Bayfields low test
scores, poor student academic growth and students college readiness. Great Schools declares
Bayfield as a Below Average school system. From what I have seen, however, students are
motivated and excited to learn. Bayfield schools embrace diversity and celebrate community.
Student success is put in the foreground and students thrive in this enriching environment.
Bayfield is comprised mostly of white students. 81% of the population are Caucasian,
13% are Hispanic, and the remaining 6% are represented by a mixture between American Indian
and Asian. According to Elementaryschools.org only 34% of students are eligible for free or
reduced-price lunch. 23% being free and 13% being reduced-price. There are 13 students
attending Bayfield Elementary School who are designated as ELLs, although Holley, the ELL
Coordinator, has many students she monitors, but are not designated ELL students. The student
to teacher ratio is fairly good at 16:1, student-learning is put as the main focus and allows for
better mastery of content.
Holley began teaching core curriculum at Bayfield fifteen years ago and there were only
two ELL students. She informed me that these students would be classified as FEP now and
didnt need much support from an ELL coordinator. A few years after Holley started a family of
four children joined the Bayfield School District. These children spoke no English and the
district decided to hire bilingual aids to support their learning. Soon after Holley applied for the
job as ELL Coordinator and has been supporting Bayfield ELL students since.
Holley informed me that they use a program called PowerSchool that acts as a place to
house student demographic for the school. This program allows teachers to be informed at all
times of their ELL students progress and placement with Holley. Bayfield School system has a
diverse program of ELLs, students come from Mexico, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Indonesia, and Native
American lines.
Students are classified based on the NEP, LEP, and FEP model. WIDA Standards and the
WIDA Access test are used to distinguish students needs and levels. Once students exit the
program they are then monitored by Holley for the following two years in order to assess their
learning and make sure they stay at a proficient academic language proficiency. These students
are identified as FELL (Former English Language Learners).
Although there are no Native American students in the ELL program because they arent
qualified for the program. These students first language is English but they have cultural and Ute
and Navajo language background. Holley classifies many of them as a-lingual, meaning they are
not proficient in English or their Native language. A few students have no stable living situation
which fails to help their language proficiency levels increase. For example, one student lives
with his parents some who speak both the native Navajo language and some English in the home,
then he will stay with his grandparents for an extend amount of time but, they only speak the

Native Navajo language. This back and forth in language structure doesnt support mastery of the
content or language proficiency. Holley has been working with and monitoring these students
outside of the ELL program and has reported that they hover right at the end of the LEP
spectrum. Many of the students have no academic language, partially due to the fact that it is not
modeled at home. Holley has struggled to fight for these students. The district wants to place
them in the special education classes because of their lack in language proficiency and the fact
that English is their Native Language. I would be curious to see if there is a program in which
students like these can get help in the way the really need it.
The model used various for each ELL student and their proficiency level. NEP students
are the highest risk students. Holley uses a pull-out method for these students, but is careful to
pull them during intervention and not core lessons unless its essential. A push-in model is used
mostly in the middle school, in which Holley plans and team teaches with the core content
teacher. They differentiate student learning and set up stations, grouping and rotation with ELL
students and Non-ELLs. Some students follow the sheltered instruction model where they learn
language in class. When students show a decrease in language proficiency, however, they are
referred back to the pull-out model. Holley encourages teacher to use SIOP teaching in
classrooms regardless of ELL student presence or not. My CT is one of the teachers that uses the
SIOP teaching for vocab words.
Bayfields diversity population is steadily growing, although many current teachers dont
have proper ELL professional training. Holley does her best to inform these teachers and help the
students shes involved with. Ahe told me to remember that wherever you are changes the ELL
program. Demographic and various student population changes the course of instruction and the
model that works best for the children in the community.

BES ELL Student Demographic

Studen
t

Grad
e

ESL

Immigrant

Lang.

Lang.

Yes

no

Background Proficiency
spa
LEP

2
3

2
2

No
Yes

no
no

spa
spa

PHLOTE
LEP

Yes

no

spa

LEP

No

yes

bxm

PHLOTE

6
7
8
9

3
3
3
3

no
no
no
no

spa
spa
spa
spa

LEP
LEP
LEP
FEP

10
11
12
13

4
5
5
5

Yes
Yes
Yes
Monito
r yr1
No
Yes
Yes
Yes

no
no
yes
no

ind
spa
bul
spa

PHLOTE
LEP
NEP
LEP

Lang.
Background
Key
spa: Spanish
bxm:
Mongolian
ind:
Indonesian
bul:
Bulgarian