Identifying ELL Students For Services

Curricular Investigation #2By: Meredith Stevenot, Jessica DeLillo,

Marcella Biordi and Nicole Fallon

How to identify ell students?

Step 1A home language survey is to be given to each and every new enrollee. The survey includes a series of questions about a child's language use with family members and others as well as a few questions about prior schooling. If the answer to any question on the home language survey indicates that a child uses a language other than English, the child must be assessed to determine whether he or she is an English Learner.

Home-Language Questionnaire

Step 2The ENL teacher meets the potential ELL(that of which indicated a language other than English is spoken at home) at kindergarten/newcomer orientation. The teacher will perform an informal interview asking the student general questions about him/herself. At this time, the ENL teacher will decide whether or not the child should take the NYSITELL.

Step 3An identification test must be given to a newly enrolled student who answers to any question on the home language survey that indicates a child uses a language other than English.The identification test will determine whether the student is an English Language Learner. The New York State Identification Test for English Language Learners (NYSITELL) should be administered to eligible students within two weeks of their initial enrollment. This screening is not necessary if the student’s ELL status is available from a previous school.

nysitellThe NYSITELL will:

-Identify a student’s need for ENL services.-Establish an ELL’s English Proficiency level.-Determine the number of ELLs in a district and their English language and learning needs. -If the student is identified as an ELL, students can be offered bilingual services. Parents can refuse bilingual services but can not refuse ELL services.

Proficiency LevelsEntering:Students have limited to no understanding of English. They respond nonverbally to simple commands. Students should be developing BICS at this level.

Emerging: Students are able to understand phrases and short sentences. Students are beginning to memorize simple phrases to communicate information.

Transitioning: Students understand more complex speech but may need some repetition. Students speak in simple and comprehensible sentences but contain grammatical errors.

Expanding: Students day-to-day communication skills are advancing but they still have difficulties with the syntax of sentences.

Commanding: Students are able to express themselves fluently on a wide range of topics. The are able to communicate with English speaking peers confidently.

CR Part 154-2 (K-8) English as New Language (ENL) Units of Study and Staffing Requirements

As of May 2015, NYS has developed a new procedure for servicing English Language Learners.Upon taking the NYSITELL, each ELL will be classified as a certain proficiency level. Each proficiency level requires different amount of hours, type of ENL services, and specific staffing requirements per week.

Units of Study K-8

Units of Study K-8 Continued

Exit ExamFor students to no longer receive ENL services, they must score commanding on the NYSESLAT (New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test) which is given once a year. Upon receiving a commanding score on the test, students will still receive ENL accommodations for the following 2 years. Specific rubrics for each grade level and focus area(reading, speaking, listening, and writing) can be found on engageny.org.

Discussion Questions

1. What improvements are necessary in order to make the Home Language Survey more adequate for students and their families?

2. Do you think their should be a different approach to identifying ELLs?

3. Does your school/district use a different approach to initially identify ELL students?