Who is responsible for educating english language learners

LEAs should proceed with the recommended placement in the absence of a response from the parent after they have provided the parent with all of the information outlined above. A detailed description of the parent refusal policy including all LEA obligations for students whose parents have refused services is contained in the " Parent Refusal of LIEP Programs and Services " guidance document.

The plan and evaluation results must be made available to all staff working with ELs as well as parents of ELs.

ELs must have equitable access to academic content for all courses in which they are enrolled. Regardless of the program model s employed, the LIEP must, at a minimum:. The foregoing minimum requirements must be incorporated into the entirety of the student's daily instructional time.

Regardless of how the LEA chooses to organize its program, the Department requires that it be identified by one of six categories:. ELD may not replace any other core content in a student's academic program unless it is for a limited time not to exceed one school year and the LEA has a plan for immediately mitigating any academic gaps that result e. A LEA is not taking appropriate action to remedy language barriers in accordance with federal and state laws and regulations if, despite the adoption of a promising or recognized LIEP, it fails to follow through with practices, resources and personnel necessary to implement the program or transform the theory into reality.

The LEA is not free to persist in an LIEP which, although it may have been "appropriate" when adopted, in the sense that there were sound expectations for success and bona fide efforts to make the program work, has, in practice, proved ineffective. To this end, LEAs must employ a method to evaluate their LIEPs for effectiveness and make any changes necessary based on the evaluation.

Determinations to make changes to an LIEP based on program evaluations may be made annually, although a LEA may allow more time for a program to produce positive results before taking action as long as that time is reasonable based on the program design and expected outcomes.

Evaluations must be based on student outcomes rather than program inputs. For example, a program evaluation may not be based on the number of hours that teachers collaborate each week, the amount of funds spent on resources, or the implementation of a particular intervention or support.

A program evaluation should include evidence of student growth toward proficiency in English and academic achievement. LEAs should have a section included in their local grading policy that specifically addresses grading procedures for ELs. LEAs must utilize the same grading system for ELs in content courses as they do for all students e. If a LEA chooses to include English language development information on the report card, then it must ensure that the information provided is understandable and useful to engage parents in the education of their children.

LEAs must provide evidence that all appropriate modifications and accommodations to instruction and assessment aligned to the student's English language proficiency to allow the EL meaningful access to the general curriculum as well as to promote second language learning were implemented and documented over time prior to considering grade retention.

ELs participating in vocational programs must receive ELD instruction appropriate to their level of proficiency and content-area instruction must be aligned to the student's English language proficiency level.

The results of the state ELP assessment are used to measure students' English language proficiency and progress in each of the four language domains i. The LEA must maintain these score results in the student's permanent record folder. ELs participate in all other annual state-required assessments e. PSSA, Keystone exams according to those testing guidelines.

The testing accommodations allowable for ELs on state academic achievement assessments are published annually by PDE. Visit the PDE Assessment and Accountability webpage for information on testing and testing accommodations. For detailed requirements and procedures, see the " Reclassification, Monitoring, and Re-designation of ELs " guidance document.

Any teacher who provides instruction and a grade for any non-ELD course or class must be appropriately certified in accordance with Department requirements. That teacher may, however, provide support or instruction in the language of another content area e. Sparks covers education research, data, and the science of learning for Education Week. Thank you for subscribing. Nov 12 Fri. This content is provided by our sponsor.

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Great public schools for every student The National Education Association NEA , the nation's largest professional employee organization, is committed to advancing the cause of public education. NEA's 3 million members work at every level of education—from pre-school to university graduate programs. For some additional ideas, take a look at the archive of our Facebook Live event on advocating for ELLs, featuring Dr.

Diane Staehr Fenner! One of the most important steps that ELL specialists can take to improve collaboration is to help colleagues and administrators better understand their expertise. These resources share a number of examples from educators on how to start that conversation. Leading Professional Development.