Legal Responsibilities

Under civil rights law, schools are obligated to ensure that English learners (ELs) have equal access to education. However, the Office of Civil Rights does not explicitly require a school corporation to use a specific intervention or program in order to serve their LEP students. However, the OCR has outlined the following procedures that school corporations should follow in order to ensure that their programs are serving LEP students:
- Identify students who need assistance;
- Develop a program which, in the view of experts in the field, has a reasonable chance for success;
- Ensure that necessary staff, curricular materials, and facilities are in place and used properly;
- Develop appropriate evaluation standards, including program exit criteria, for measuring the progress of students; and
- Access the success of the program and modify it where needed
(Source: “The Provision of Equal Education Opportunity to Limited- English Proficient Students”, August 2000)

English Language Proficiency Testing
Published: 12/18/2012 1:43 PM

To meet No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Title III requirements, states are mandated to identify and annually administer a standards-based English language proficiency test to all English Language Learners (ELLs) in grades K-12.Main Content In order to comply with the NCLB requirement of an annual English Language Proficiency Assessment for ELLs, Kentucky joined the World-class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) Consortium in 2006. The WIDA Consortium’s goal is to provide research based assessments, standards and professional development to its member states. WIDA provides Kentucky with a placement test called the W-APT (WIDA ACCESS Placement Test) as well as the annual English Proficiency Assessment of ACCESS (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State) for ELLs.
ACCESS for ELLs
This is an English language assessment tied to the state’s language proficiency standards with varying stages of second language acquisition. It contains social and academic language contexts. For Title III accountability, ACCESS for ELLs measures annual gains in English language proficiency-Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAOs).

Alternate ACCESS for ELLS®
Alternate ACCESS for ELLs® is an individually administered paper and pencil test. It is available in four grade level clusters: Grades 1-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. There is not a Kindergarten form. The test allows students to demonstrate their English language proficiency in all four language domains (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and in four of the five ELP standards (social and instructional language, and the language of language arts, mathematics and science).
Alternate ACCESS for ELLs® is designed for ELLs with significant cognitive disabilities. A student with significant cognitive disabilities is identified as having one or more of the existing categories of disabilities under IDEA (e.g., intellectual disabilities, autism, traumatic brain injury, multiple disabilities, etc); and their cognitive impairments may prevent them from attaining grade level achievement standards, even with the best instruction. (adapted from U.S. Department of Education: Alternate Achievement Standards of Students with the Most Significant Cognitive Disabilities Non Regulatory Guidance, August 2005).
In order to receive meaningful information from the test, it is very important that only students who meet all 3 criteria below participate in the assessment. Other ELs should continue to take the existing ACCESS for ELLs® assessment, with appropriate accommodations as necessary. Participation has to be decided by the student's IEP team.
Participation Criteria:

• The student has been classified as EL.
• The student has a significant cognitive disability and is eligible for special education services under IDEA.
• The student is in an alternate curriculum aligned with their state's academic standards and is participating in the state's alternate accountability assessment

WIDA ACCESS Placement Test (W-APT)
W-APT is the screener that is based upon the ACCESS for ELLs. Its purposes are for the following:
1. To identify students who may be candidates for English as a Second Language (ESL) and/or bilingual services.
2. To determine the academic English language proficiency levels of students new to a school or to the U.S school system in order to determine appropriate levels and amount of instructional services.
3. To accurately assign students identified as ELLs to one of the tiers for ACCESS for ELLs.
The W-APT test forms and administration manuals are located on the WIDA website. Districts must enter their W-APT username and password to view and print the files.
The W-APT calculator is a tool that calculates speaking, reading, listening and writing proficiency scores along with composite proficiency levels (CPL) scores and grade-adjusted CPL scores.

(Taken from:http://education.ky.gov/AA/distsupp/Pages/EL-Testing.aspx)

WIDA Amplified Standards

When it comes to teacher, there are so many standards to follow. It is sometimes is hard to keep them straight. Below I have discussed why WIDA Amplified Standards are important in schools, and some practical applications for the classroom.


Relevance

The 2012 WIDA amplified standards are relevant to schools because it is cross curricular. There is a focus on a connection of communication in information, ideas and concepts in all academic areas (social, language arts, math, science, and social studies). There are 5 standards that were found in this book. The first one focuses on social and instructional language. This is to focus on an instructional setting and peer interaction. Standards 2-5 focus on academic areas. This could include academic discussion and use of textbooks. One major difference that is noted between the amplified standards and the Can Do is the amplified standards only go to level 5 instead of 6, because it is now considered proficient at a level 5.

 

Practical Applications:

When interacting with English learners, it is sometimes difficult to communicate to which they comprehend. The graph found on pages 8-9 help break down this barrier. For example, if you have a student on a Level 5, you are able to recognize that on a sentence level they are able to use a wide range of sentence structures. These standards are similar to the Can Do because it shows what the student is capable of at their level, and what is needed to push them to the next level. Applications that can help move English learning students can include “realia, manipulatives, pictures/photographs, illustrations, diagrams, drawings, charts, graphic organizers, videos, films, models and figures, tables, graphs, timelines, and numberlines.” (figure K pg 11). Students are also recommended “interactive supports” such as working in small groups, pairs, mentors.

WIDA Consortium. (2012). The English Language Development Standards.Board of Regent of the University of Wisconsin System.