Chelmsford ELL Department

1. Chelmsford ELL Department Regulations and Expectations Dr. Katie Novak ELL Director

2. Assessment • When students enroll in school, parents fill out a Home Language Survey. If any language other than English is spoken at home, students must be assessed by a ELL teacher with an ESL license. • This is true even when students are born in the US. • Students can also be assessed if teachers fill out the Teacher Referral Form (on intranet). • Students are given a variety of assessments which measure language proficiency in all language domains, in both social and academic contexts (reading, writing, speaking, and listening.)

3. Assessment Results After testing, students are identified as: • Level 1-Entering: Student does not understand or speak English with the exception of a few isolated words. • Level 2-Beginning: Studentis pre-emergent in reading and writing in English, significantly below grade level. • Level 3-Developing: Studentis developing reading comprehension and writing skills in English, with assistance. • Level 4-Expanding: The pupil understands and speaks conversational English without apparent difficulty, but understands and speaks academic English with hesitancy. • Level 5-Bridging: Student is near proficient in reading, writing, and content area skills needed to meet grade level expectations. • Level 6: Student is proficient and meets grade level expectations. No need for ELL services.

4. Legal Requirements after Identification • By law, ELE students in Levels 1-5 must receive instruction from ELL teachers using the English Language Proficiency Benchmarks and Outcomes (71A) using ELL curriculum (71A). • Students may not receive this instruction during non-academic or extracurricular time (603 CMR26.06). • The MA DESE recommends ELE students receive 5-10 hours of instruction a week. This must be from a teacher with an ESL license. (71.38G) • This is why ELL teachers must pull students from core classes.

5. ELL Curriculum • When students are receiving ELL instruction, they are working toward English Language Proficiency Benchmarks and Outcomes using an adopted curriculum that is both Common Core and WIDA aligned. • This curriculum is focused more on the use of language than conceptual knowledge. • Supporting students with language acquisition is the best way to help students succeed academically. • If ELL teachers and classroom teachers choose to co-teach, co-planning is also a requirement to incorporate English Language Proficiency Benchmarks and Outcomes.

6. What does ELL Curriculum look like? • ELL teachers design curriculum to help students learn about linguistic and metalinguistic verbalization. • Focus on phonemic, semantic, syntactic, morphemic, and pragmatic knowledge to help students read, write, listen, and speak in English. • Teach about vertical and horizontal register (language used in varying degrees or formality and slang/jargon/etc..) and its acceptable use in English.

7. How is ELL different from SEI? • An ELL teacher provides direct instruction in language acquisition, separate from learning specific content. ELL teachers must focus on the English Language Proficiency Benchmarks and Outcomes and the Common Core standards in ELA. • All classrooms teachers with ELL students are teaching in a Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) classroom. RETELL will instruct classroom teachers to design curriculum so rigorous content is accessible to English learners. Teachers focus on Common Core standards and state frameworks.

8. Any questions? Please contact Katie Novak, ELL Director. Phone: 978-251-5111 ext. 5520 Email: novakk@chelmsford.k12.ma.us