Dublin City School District
Administrative Guidelines
 

2260F - LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY PROGRAM

The Board of Education believes in the importance of providing English language instruction to students in the District who are Limited English Proficient (LEP), including immigrant children and youth. The Board's Limited English Proficiency Program ("LEP Program") shall be provided to enable LEP students to become proficient in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, comprehension, and writing of the English language and effectively participate in the District's educational program. In order to ensure that LEP students are properly identified, regularly assessed, provided with high quality language and academic instruction, achieve English language proficiency, to comply with all related Federal, State, and local laws and regulations and meet the same challenging State academic content standards and student achievement standards as all students in the District are expected to meet, the Board will adhere to the procedures set forth in these guidelines.

The LEP Program shall be an essential component of the District's educational program and shall use language instruction curricula that is tied to scientifically based research and designed to effectively meet the special and diverse needs of LEP students. The overall instruction and curriculum content of the LEP Program shall be based on State instructional standards and benchmarks and proficiency and achievement standards.

Identification and Assessment

Each student enrolling in the District for the first time will be required to complete a Home Language Survey contained in the registration materials (see Form 5111 F1 and Form 5111 F1a) in order to identify whether the student's primary or home language is other than English. Each completed survey will be included as a part of the permanent record of each student in the District. Each student who identifies that his/her primary or home language is other than English will be assessed in order to determine whether s/he is LEP and needs special language assistance in order to effectively participate in the District's educational program. Such assessment will be administered in accordance with the age and educational level of the student. Based on the assessment results, the District will determine whether the student is eligible to participate in the LEP Program.

Parental Notification and Consent

If a student is identified and assessed as LEP and determined to be eligible for services, the District will send written notice to the student's parent. Such notice shall be provided within thirty (30) days of the start of the school year or within two (2) weeks of assessment (if the student is not identified prior to the beginning of the school year) and include information regarding:

 A.the LEP Program and the reasons for the student's identification and assessment;
 B.the student's level of English proficiency;
 C.the method of instruction to be used in the student's program;
 D.how the program will meet the educational strengths and needs of the student;
 E.how the program will help the child learn English and meet age appropriate academic achievement standards for grade promotion and graduation;
 F.the exit requirements for the program, expected rate of transition, and expected rate of graduation;
 G.parental rights;
 H.how the program meets the needs of the student's IEP, if applicable.

No student will be placed in the LEP Program without having received consent from the student's parents. Additionally, the student's parent(s) will be given the opportunity to participate and provide input into the student's program and will be regularly informed of the student's progress. If the student fails to make progress on measurable objectives, the Board shall provide the parent with notice of such failure within thirty (30) days after the failure occurs.

Placement and Services

Each student who is eligible to participate in the LEP Program will be placed in a setting that is appropriate for his/her age, grade level, and language and educational needs. The Board will ensure that each student is to be placed in a classroom with instructors who individually or in combination, are fluent/proficient in:

 A.English, with respect to written, as well as oral communication skills; and
 B.the home language of the majority of the students who the instructors teach, if instruction in the classroom is in both the home language and English; or
 C.any other home language of the students who the instructors teach.

In addition to placing a student in a setting that will help him/her learn English and attain State academic content and achievement standards for grade promotion and graduation, the Board will provide additional services (based on the needs of individuals students) including, but not limited to:

 A.a translator in the home language of the student;
 B.individual language instruction; and
 C.individual instruction in core academic subjects.

Annual Evaluation

Each student shall be tested on an annual basis and monitored to determine how well s/he is learning English and becoming more proficient in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, comprehension, and writing of the English language. Students will also be tested in the academic content areas of reading/language arts, math, and other core academic subjects. The District will provide each student's parent(s) with the results of the tests so that s/he will know how the student is progressing.

State-Mandated Assessments
 A.Testing of LEP Students
  Each student who is assessed as LEP must participate in all State assessments, including the Ohio Proficiency Tests, the English Language Developmental Assessment and Ohio Graduation Test. In particular, an LEP student must be assessed in one (1) of the following manners by:
  1.taking a State assessment in the same manner as it is administered to other students;
  2.taking a State assessment with minimal accommodations during testing (e.g., use of a dictionary, extended time to take the test) that are tailored to the student's special needs; or
  3.taking a State assessment with the use of an oral interpreter who speaks in the student's native language, a prerecorded oral translation of the test or an oral reading in English. This option is only currently available to students who have been enrolled in U.S. schools for less than three (3) consecutive years and are at the "beginning" or "intermediate" level in reading and writing. Furthermore, all LEP students, regardless of length of time in the U.S., are required to read parts of Language arts assessments (six (6) reading passages) in English.
   Once a student has attained English language proficiency, all proficiency and achievement tests must be taken in English.
 B.Exemptions
  A student who is assessed as LEP, and has been enrolled in U.S. schools for less than one (1) full school year shall not be required to take the State assessments in reading or writing administered to other students in their grade level. However, no LEP student will be prohibited from taking such State assessments, if the student chooses to do so. Despite this permissible exemption, each LEP student, shall be required to take all other State assessments in math, science, and social studies, with or without accommodations. In addition, each LEP student shall be required to pass all five (5) of the Ohio Graduation Tests in reading, writing, math, science and social studies in order to qualify for a high school diploma.
  For purposes of determining Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), the test scores for any LEP student who has been enrolled in U.S. schools for less than one (1) full school year shall be excluded from the calculations of the percentage of students who are proficient in reading and math, even if such student voluntarily chooses to take the State assessment in reading. In addition, any LEP student who does not take the State assessment in reading shall not be counted towards the ninety-five percent (95%) participation rate in reading and math proficiency if s/he did not complete an assessment in English language proficiency (ELDA) in the same school year. However, if an LEP student has completed an assessment in English language proficiency (ELDA), s/he shall be counted towards the ninety-five percent (95%) participation rate even if the student did not take the State assessment in reading in the same school year.

Criteria for Exiting Students with LEP Services

Students are considered to have attained full English proficiency when they are able to understand, speak, read, and write the English language at a level in which they can a) achieve successfully in classrooms where the language of instruction is in English, b) meaningfully participate in academic assessments in English, and c) participate fully in society in the United States. Demonstration of full proficiency in English by students in Ohio's elementary and secondary schools will be based on the following criteria:

 A.Achievement of the proficient level in Ohio's approved English language proficiency test in all language domains: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension; and
 B.Two (2) years of successful participation in classrooms where the language of instruction is in English; and
 C.Attainment of proficient or above for two (2) years in the State's Language Arts assessment.

Additionally, the overall retention in-grade and dropout rates of LEP students may be evaluated to determine whether such rates are similar to the student's non-LEP peers.

Data

The District shall maintain records on all LEP students indicating the annual increases in the number or percentage of students:

 A.making progress in learning English;
 B.attaining English proficiency by the end of the school year;
 C.making adequate yearly progress.

Also, the Board shall include in its annual report card, data that is sufficient to yield statistically reliable information, as determined by the State, and does not reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student.

Approved 5/04
Revised 10/05