English Language Learners
English as a Second Language Program
In
compliance with the Civil Rights law, Pike Road Schools implements a
program that is the most appropriate for the EL’s level of English
proficiency. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits
discrimination on the grounds of race, color, or national origin by
recipients of federal financial assistance. The Title VI regulatory
requirements have been interpreted to prohibit denial of equal access to
education because of a language minority student's limited proficiency
in English. The May 25, 1970 Memorandum was a policy statement issued by
the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. It was issued to
clarify a school district’s responsibilities with respect to
national-origin-minority children. It stated, in part, that "where
inability to speak and understand the English language excludes
national-origin-minority group children from effective participation in
the educational program offered by a school district, the district must
take affirmative steps to rectify the language deficiency in order to
open the instructional program to the students." The Lau v. Nichols
occurred in 1974, where the Supreme Court ruled that identical education
does not constitute equal education under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Castañeda v. Pickard established a method to evaluate the adequacy
of a district's program for EL students. In summary, PRS: (1) does not
deny an EL student access to education because of a language barrier,
(2) takes affirmative steps to help EL students overcome a language
barrier in order to effectively participate in the educational program
offered by our district, (3) develops an EL program that has a
reasonable chance for success in the view of experts in the field, (4)
ensures that the necessary staff, materials, and facilities are in place
and used properly so that the program can be successfully implemented,
and (5) evaluates the program and modifies where needed to ensure
language barriers are overcome.
The Mission
Pike
Road Schools offers ongoing instructional support to English learners
in the English as a Second Language (ESL) program. Resources are
provided in order to support English learners (ELs) and their families.
In addition, support services are provided to all lead learners. Lead
learners will facilitate students’ acquisition of conversational (BICS)
and academic English (CALP) through individualized and/or group
instruction. Before enrolling/admission in the ESL program, learners are
identified using their performance on an English language proficiency
test, which focuses on four domains: listening, speaking, reading, and
writing. The assessment is to determine to what extent learners are
linguistically prepared for English work. The ESL services are provided
to meet specific needs of our learners. Additionally, the ESL program
strives to ensure that English learners, including immigrant learners
and youth, advance in academic language development and academic
achievement through high quality standards and assessments as all
learners are expected to meet.
ESL Focus
The
ESL program goals are to help our ELs develop fluency in speaking,
reading, and writing; to promote cross-cultural understanding and equal
opportunity for academic achievement; to assist ELs in acquiring fluency
in the English language skills of listening, speaking, reading,
comprehending and writing; to provide limited-English proficient
students with equal access to all school programs; to provide quality
professional development to lead learners, administrators, and other
school or community-based personnel.
ESL Purpose
The
ESL program objectives are to increase the English proficiency of
English learners by providing quality language instruction educational
programs; to increase the academic achievement of English learners in
the core academic subjects; to improve the instruction of English
learners by providing quality professional development to lead learners,
administrators, and other school or community-based personnel; and to
improve the coordination between elementary/secondary language
instruction education programs and other relevant programs and services.
Parents are encouraged to become involved partners with PRS. For additional information or if an interpreter is needed to help support conferences, please contact Michelle Azbell at 334-420-5310.