THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2006
Big Changes For Some In Dist. 214?
By CRAIG ADAMS
Journal Reporter
More than 100 students could change schools in High School District 214 if the school board approves a redesign of the English Language Learners (ELL) program.
Dr. Jocelyn Booth, associate superintendent for educational services and Sonja Williams, director of ELL, proposed the change during the meeting of the board on Jan. 26. High School District 214 includes Des Plaines west of Mt. Prospect road as well as most of Mt. Prospect, Arlington Heights, and Elk Grove Village.
"We're creating the number of students we need so we'll be able to offer the quality program at each school," Booth explained.
Currently, all six of the district's schools offer the ELL program for students who speak English as a second language. The plan would eliminate the program from Hersey and Prospect high schools and move those students to the Buffalo Grove and Elk Grove schools.
Using current enrollments in the program for examples, the proposal would move the 32 children from Hersey into Buffalo Grove. Of the 71 students at Prospect, 47 would go to Buffalo Grove while 24 who are closer to Elk Grove would transfer to that school. That would create ELL populations of 156 at Elk Grove, 174 at Buffalo Grove, 206 at Rolling Meadows, and 247 at Wheeling.
"We need 100 to 150 students minimum to offer the depth and breadth of the curriculum we need," Booth explained. "You have to have a balance for the students," she continued. "With 32 students you're not able to do it." In the current configuration, some classes may not be offered every year due to lack of students.
Booth explained that the state of Illinois is adopting WIDA standards for ELL programs. WIDA is a consortium of states that created a five level standard for English Language Learning. The initial states were Wisconsin, Illinois, Delaware, and Arkansas, or WIDA for short. It includes standards for teaching and measurements for both levels of language acquisition and proficiency in course content.
Williams explained that the schools should make changes to their curriculum to match the new standards. "Assessments are tied to those standards. It makes sense to tie our curriculum and assessments together."
Williams further explained the measurement levels. "There are four domains, five academic categories, and five levels," she said. The assessment includes listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It measures the students' skills in instruction, language arts, math, social studies, and science. The levels are entering, beginning, developing, expanding, and bridging, she explained.
"There are 800 performance indicators that show that students are making progress," Williams said.
The district currently recognizes 26 different languages other than English that are student's first language. Some of the students have not yet learned to read in their first language, a skill that must be taught before beginning to learn to read in English. As this can take five to 10 years, Williams added, "We need to find ways for that student to continue to develop after they age out." Those programs could include adult high school or programs at community colleges.
Booth outlines some of the steps to reach their goal. "We need to align our curriculum and assessments with the WIDA standards," she said. Teachers are already being instructed and the WIDA ACCESS test is being given in the schools in February. That test measures language acquisition. The ACCESS Achievement test will replace the current IMAGE test to assess curriculum progress. That test is in development, Booth said.
"We are working to get our curriculum all in alignment so our students will acquire the language quicker and the skills they need to be successful," Booth said.
Booth explained the length of time students stay in the program varies. She intends to give students a choice when they move into only mainstream classes. They can either remain at their new school or return to their geographically assigned school.
She also presented a transportation plan, indicating that the bus time for the students involved will increase by only 5 or 10 minutes. Activity busses are also included for extra-curricular activities. "We'll encourage them to participate at the school where they're getting ELL," Booth said. Although the initial estimate for the buses is $104,000, Booth believes the result will be "cost-neutral" due to the ability to re-route other buses and savings from the combination of the programs.
She admits there may be resistance from families who are already seeing their children adjust to new situations. "We will be meeting with parents. We know we're creating the best possible program for students."
Board member William Blaine questioned if teachers would be reassigned along with students. Booth agreed that could happen and asked the board to start looking at that possibility in order to implement the program for the next school year.
Board member Leslie Pinney worried that Hersey and Prospect are the least diverse of the district schools. "We're making them less diverse," she said.
Williams explained that there are many other students at the schools who speak other languages. "Only 20% of the language diversity at Hersey is in ELL," she said.
Sue Arnoux, the ELL coordinator at Hersey, addressed that point in a statement to the board. She suggested combining the programs at Prospect and Hersey. "I'm deeply concerned about taking away what little diversity we have at Prospect and Hersey," she said. "We need an ELL site in the central part of our district," she added.
Karen Cheatham, the division head of social science ELL at Buffalo Grove, welcomed the change. "Prospect students mirror the Buffalo Grove population," she said. She was also excited about being able to offer a full ELL curriculum every year. "We will take good care of them at Buffalo Grove High School," she said. "We will make them part of our community. I hope that you strongly consider letting me help these kids."