The CRICS ELL Program exists to support the diverse needs of international students who need further development in English language skills. Our program focuses on developing students’ reading and writing skills through daily practice with these skills. Practice often requires regular meetings with ELL teachers. ELL elementary services may include two support classes a week with an ELL teacher and a reading program. Services appropriate for the secondary students may include specialized reading or writing classes or tutoring support for core classes. The ELL teachers serve to advocate for ELL student needs, supporting core academic teachers as needed.
ELL teachers will give daily assignments to students to improve their reading and writing skills. The amount of homework will differ by their grade levels and needs. The ELL teachers confer with principals about the appropriate amount of assignments for these students.
ELL teachers will provide a one-on-one class, a small group class, or join the mainstream class to support the ELL students. A one-on-one class will be arranged for a student who 1) received a classroom teacher’s recommendation for one-on-one support, 2) is behind the other ELL students in his or her class, or 3) has behavioral needs that require one-on-one ELL support. ELL teachers will notify principals if they recognize the need for one-on-one support and cannot provide adequate support for this need due to full schedules or conflicts in schedule.
In some unusual cases, CRICS has found that a student was admitted to CRICS without recognizing the significant ELL needs during the admissions process. If a teacher is concerned about possible ELL needs for a student, he/she needs to inform their principal and the principal will ask for assistance from the ELL department. Teachers will follow this procedure if they have concerns about a student's ELL needs:
Students who exited the ELL program will be monitored by their classroom teachers and L.A. teachers for one year.
Any academic concerns about students in the monitored status will be reported to the principals. Generally, students are monitored by the ELL program for one year. After one year, students will likely graduate from monitor status. After this, the ELL program will no longer monitor these students for ELL concerns. If for some reason a student fails to progress in English as a monitored student, in special cases, a low progressing student may continue on as monitored status for an additional year or years.
An English proficiency assessment, WIDA, will be given yearly and the student must meet the minimum proficiency level set by CRICS. The annual language evaluation will use multiple measures including the WIDA assessment, teacher evaluation, and the MAP test.
The English proficiency assessment and the MAP test will be administered in the fourth quarter. The decision on whether the student will exit ELL or not will be made by the end of May.
Failure to reach acceptable English proficiency may require outside English tutoring. The progress of all ELL students will be carefully assessed through the annual language assessment, and CRICS will partner with parents in the continuing development of their children’s English language skills.
In summary, the criteria for exiting the ELL Program include:
| Elementary | Secondary |
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Reading: Reading Eggs Reading and Writing: McGraw Hill Vocabulary: McGraw Hill Spelling: Explode the Code |
Reading and writing: Smart Choice 4th edition by Oxford Reading speed : Smart Choice 4th ed. Vocabulary:Smart Choice 4th ed. Grammar :Smart Choice 4th ed. |
CRICS ELL students pay an ELL fee as a student classified upon admission to CRICS as an English Language Learner. This fee may provide for various extra support services and will be required until the student passes out of the ELL program. At that point, “monitor” status is assigned to the student, generally for one academic school year, and the student on monitor status is charged a fee as a monitored student.
ELL fees cover costs such as online subscriptions, WIDA Assessment, ELL curriculum textbooks, and additional support from the core classroom teachers.