English Acquisition Program Overview

The Bethlehem Areas School District (BASD) shall provide an appropriate instructional program for identified students whose primary language is not English. The English Acquisition Program will increase the English language proficiency of eligible students so that they can attain the academic standards adopted by the Board and achieve academic success. The BASD complies with all Pennsylvania mandates and the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) requirements for English Language Learners.

ESOL Mission

In a nurturing and challenging environment where diversity is celebrated, our students will experience academic success
while acquiring English in order to become capable and productive members of society.

Click here to learn what ESL, ESOL, and ELL mean and how ESOL support helps ELLs.

English Acquisition Program

The goals of the English Acquisition Program are:

• To provide an academic setting that accelerates the acquisition of English
• To integrate English Language Learners into mainstream classes and achieve success
• To increase language proficiency and ensure the attainment of academic standards
• To coordinate the child's educational program to ensure continuity and reduce fragmentation
• To enhance concept clarification with native language support
• To facilitate communication between the home and school

Parents/guardians of all BASD students at the school district are given a Home Language Survey (HLS) to complete for the identification of English Language Learners (ELL). All the original surveys are sent to the Center for Language Assessment where formal language assessments are administered. As required by law, if a language other than English is indicated then the student is formally assessed by the District's language evaluator. Students identified as non-English or limited English proficient are assigned to their schools and receive ESOL services within a seventy-two hour period.

INITIAL EVALUATION

The personnel at the Center for Language Assessment (CLA) located at Northeast Middle School registers and test all entering students whose home language is other than English (as per the Home Language Survey). Students are given the WIDA: ACCESS Placement Test (W-APT) as mandated by the state to determine language proficiency; Addition reading assessments are given and writing samples are written. Secondary school students also take a mathematics test. Results of this testing is sent to schools for review by administrators and teachers. For students who speak Spanish, (more than 85% of our English language learners,) testing is conducted both in English and in Spanish. Two part-time evaluators, bilingual in English and Spanish, tests more than 700 students each year, including newcomers, students for whom schools request diagnostic testing, and pre and post testing of all kindergarten students who speak a language other than English.

If students are found eligible for ESOL, the following English Acquisition levels that are aligned to the WIDA proficiency levels are used to determine English instruction for English Language Learners (ELLs).

Level 1 - Pre-Production (*Entering): Student demonstrates very limited or no proficiency in English. This student may understand and use simple, short utterances. This student is not able to converse in English in simple social situations. This student may lack formal education and/or may have experienced interrupted schooling; therefore, the student may not have acquired the skills necessary for reading and writing in his/her native language or English.

Level 2 - Beginner (*Beginning): Student demonstrates limited proficiency in English. This student may use patterned expressions when he/she speaks. This student can participate in simple conversations and respond to routine classroom procedures. This student has acquired some skills necessary for reading and writing, but has not yet acquired a level of English sufficient to read and write.

Level 3 - Intermediate (*Developing): Student demonstrates some proficiency in English. This student may understand and use basic sentence patterns when he/she speaks. This student can converse in social situations with some repetition and hesitation and may begin to demonstrate the ability to participate in class discussions of limited content area topics. This student may read and write, but is confused by complex structures and technical language. This student cannot meet passing requirements independently in the mainstream classroom.

Level 4 - Advanced (*Expanding): Student demonstrates English proficiency in social situations and some proficiency in classroom situations. This student can understand and use complex sentence structure in conversation, but demonstrates some difficulty with content area topics. This student may read and write, but needs assistance with content area class work and therefore, does not yet meet passing requirements independently in the mainstream classroom.

*PDE proficiency level terminology

English Acquisition at the Elementary School Level

At the elementary level 16 schools are categorized as high impact, moderate impact, or low impact schools. High impact schools have reduced class size ratios. Moderate impact schools have class sizes reduced when large numbers of ELLs are served at a particular grade level.

At the high and moderate impact schools, students at the Pre-production and Beginner level of English acquisition are served for 75 minutes daily. Intermediate students are given 45 to 60 minutes four or five times a week; advanced students receive support based on their particular needs.

At low impact schools, the ESOL specialists schedule sessions for small groups of students from three to five sessions a week. Additional support is provided for ELLs by tutors at the school's request. Tutors, under the direct supervision of the ESOL specialist, may also be used in low impact schools, particularly if the student's home language is other than Spanish to ensure adequate ESOL support.

High Impact: (more than 30% ELLs) Donegan and Marvine

Medium Impact: (10% to 30% ELLs) Clearview, Freemansburg, Fountain Hill, and Lincoln

Low Impact: (less than 10% ELLs) Asa Packer, Calypso, Farmersville, Governor Wolf, Hanover, James Buchanan, Miller Heights, Spring Garden, Thomas Jefferson and William Penn

English Acquisition at the Middle School Level

In keeping with the district’s teaming concept in the middle schools, English Language Learners are assigned to a traditional academic team. At the Pre-production and Beginner proficiency levels, ELLs attend Broughal Middle School. This novice group is part of an academic learning team that provides extensive interaction between the ESOL specialists and the teachers who deliver content area instruction. The students receive two ESOL periods daily, language arts and reading, with both ESOL specialist and the teacher of language arts and reading. Preproduction and Beginner level students also receive language development; a class taught by the reading specialist and offered three times each six-day cycle. Content area teachers with the support of a bilingual assistant teach other core subjects. All Preproduction and Beginner students attend physical education, industrial arts, home economics, art, and music with their English-speaking peers. These students are assigned peer assistants and attend lunch, homeroom, and activity periods with regular students.

Intermediate stage students attend their home schools at the middle school level. The program consists of two periods of ESOL daily and regular instruction in mathematics, science, and social studies with native English speakers. ESOL specialists and content area teachers use the co-teaching model to ensure academic success in the content areas. Many students are also assigned peer assistants, if needed, who serve as partners and helpers during homeroom, activity periods, related arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.

Advanced level students, also served in their home schools, receive only one period of ESOL daily, unless additional literacy support is determined. They receive instruction in a regular academic program of language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies, during which studies they are integrated into regular classes. All middle school students in the English acquisition program have access to an ESOL tutorial support program offered as an option at the end of the day from 3:00 - 3:45 PM. The ESOL specialist is required to staff this after-school center to provide peer tutoring, homework club, and after school activities. Students who have been in the English acquisition program may take advantage of this period as they move through the proficiency stages and even after they exit from the program. This after school program is an opportunity for students to get individual help and discuss concerns.

English Acquisition at the High School Level

The high school program has been an English language instructional program for many years. The program has a two-tier model. One meets the needs of students who need an academic program to provide marketable skills from business and vocational-technical classes. The other program for learners to fulfill the pre-requisites for postsecondary institution. Classes are designed so that ELLs can participate in mainstream classes 30-40% the first year, 55% in the second year, and 75-80% third year, and exit the program in the fourth year, if state-exiting criteria is met.

The School to Work program was established with St. Luke's Hospital in 1997. ELLs who did not have college as a career goal take a modified program in which their science and English classes are related to a twice a week shadowing experience with selected hospital mentors. The close coordination between students' hospital experiences and their English and science classes helps students to find purpose in their studies and gain understanding of the personal responsibility, hard work and knowledge needed by a health professional. Students are impressed by the teamwork they observe in all areas of the hospital. Hospital staff provides an atmosphere of respect and caring, and many worthy adult role models for these young people. Students who complete the school to work program may participate three afternoons a week in rotations organized by the Health Bureau, such as Emergency Medical Services, pediatric clinics, the HIV prevention programs, dental services, etc. The high school curriculum was revised for the block schedule now in place at Liberty High School and for Intermediates and Advanced students at Freedom High School. Each block period meets for 80 minutes daily. An increased number of classes to support students learning English as a second language are provided for first and second year Pre-production and Beginner level ELLs.

Click here to view English for Speakers of Other Language High School Course Descriptions

DOCUMENTING ENGLISH ACQUISITION

To capture the progress of the acquisition of English, “Stage Forms” for listening, speaking, reading, and writing will be completed by the ESOL specialists in the Fall and Spring. The WIDA: CAN DO DESCRIPTORS and classroom formative assessments will be utilized to determine proficiency levels. Circles on stage forms, stages 1 through 6 will identify acquired skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The ESOL specialists will change ELLs who achieve the majority of the descriptors for a particular stage by completing the “Change in Program” Form. ESOL specialists will photocopy cover sheet with student reading scores and provide a writing sample to support the change in ESOL level. The ESOL specialist will inform parents of the change. Copies of the forms and the documentation will be sent to the Center for Language Assessment for review by the coordinator.

EXITING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

ELLs exit the ESOL program when state mandated exit criteria are met. The exit criteria is as follows:

• a score a 5.0 on the annual WIDA: ACCESS for ELLs
• a score or Basic or above on the math and Reading PSSAs
• satisfactory grades in all content areas and/or other district assessments

ESOL specialists will review the student data, determine if ESOL instruction is necessary for academic success, and provide the necessary documentation to CLA to exit the ELL. The principal along with the student’s classroom teacher will confirm exit by signing the ESOL EXIT Documentation Form. Electronic summaries of the ELL’s scores are available on Performance Series and on the emetic for ELLs website. ESOL specialists may chose to photocopy the cover sheet with student scores and provide a writing sample to support exiting the ELL. A member of the team will be designated to inform parents of the change. Copies of the form and the documentation will be sent to the Center for Language Assessment for review by the coordinator.

SPECIAL EDUCATION ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS (SpELLs)

Students identified as having special educational needs and who are English Language Learners will have ESOL instruction provided to them as per their Individual Educational Plans (IEPs). The IEP team members including an ESOL specialist and parents/guardians, will examine test results, review students’ needs, and set appropriate goals to determine amount of ESOL instruction needed. Collaboration between the ESOL and Special Education departments is paramount in providing the quality instruction at the student’s appropriate English and academic levels.

MONITORING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Continued improvement and service to students and to schools are goals for our English Acquisition Program and the Center for Language Assessment. Student progress is continually monitored though reports from the English Acquisition teachers twice a year, and school documentation is reviewed as students move through the program from preproduction to beginner, to intermediate, to advanced level and to exit the program. Former ELLs are monitored for two years after their exit. Student scores on Performance Series and student grades are reviewed to ensure continued progress.