Culturally Diverse Populations

Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8’s Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education (CLDE) team supports the growth of every English language learner, so each student becomes academically and socially fluent. The CLDE program provides rigorous instruction to English language learners to develop their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, so they achieve grade-level proficiency and become successful in workforce and post-secondary environments. The Board of Education expects the entire district staff to take ownership in assuring our English language learners demonstrate language proficiency and ultimately improve in achievement. CLDE teachers and paraprofessionals empower each learner, through differentiated instruction, research-based instruction and assessments and 21st century skills. As a team committed to student success, the program uses compassion in order to create productive citizens in a global society. 

The goals of the ELD program focus on helping students with limited English skills to:

1. Attain high levels of cognitive academic language proficiency skills in English.
2. Meet the same state academic standards that all children are expected to meet.
3. Develop pride in their cultural background and respect for all members of our multicultural community. 

A five-step process is used to identify new students who may qualify for ELD services in FFC8. Any student who was previously identified as ELD in another district/state will also be included in this process.  

Step 1-Home Language Survey 

Within the first week of students being registered at school, a hard copy HLS (Home Language Survey) is sent home to all new students. Any Online Registrations (OLR) or hard copy HLS forms that indicate the possibility of another language will include a follow up interview with parents.  

Step 2-Initial Language Evaluation Interview

The English Language Development teacher will contact parents to conduct an Initial Language Evaluation interview in order to clarify HLS and OLR information.  

Step 3-W-APT administration

The ELD teacher will administer the W-APT (WIDA Access Placement Test) assessment. The W-APT must be administered within 30 days from the beginning of the school year for students that register prior to August 11, 2017 and within 2 weeks of registration for students that register after August 11, 2017.

Step 4-Body of evidence

The ELD teacher will gather a body of evidence (DIBELS scores, Scantron scores, teacher interview, etc.). The body of evidence MUST include: W-APT score, the parent interview, the teacher interview, and any other available assessment data.  

Step 5-Parent notification

After testing is completed and a body of evidence is collected, the ELD teacher will contact parents (via telephone) and send home the notification letter with test results, confirmation of program placement, and program components and exit requirements.

Current Professionally Licensed Educators

To help better support students in Colorado who are English language learners, the State Board of Education adopted new rules in June 2018 requiring educators with elementary, math, science, social studies and English language arts endorsements to complete Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Education training or professional development (PD). Educators holding these endorsements must meet the new licensing requirement:

• Within their next five-year license renewal period. (For example, teachers holding a professional license that expires in September 2018 would need to meet the requirements by September 2023. See below for more examples of the timeline for meeting this requirement.)
• Only once over the course of their professional licensure as a teacher in Colorado.

What is the English Learner PD requirement?

Educators must demonstrate completion of training or professional development activities equivalent to 45 clock/contact hours or three semester hours in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Education. Educators with previous CLD training or past experience can count it toward meeting their:

1.    new English Learner Professional Development requirement,
and

2.    their 90 clock hours of professional development requirement for renewing their educator license.

Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 creates and maintains relationships with families through a variety of venues, and elicits feedback to ensure all voices are heard. Outreach includes ELD, immigrant, migrant, and refugee families.  

Examples of family involvement include: 

• Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)
• School Accountability Committee (SAC)
• Back to School Night
• Parent Luncheons/Round Tables
• Parent/Teacher Conferences
• ELD Family Night Events
• ELD End of Year Celebration (held each May)
• Involvement in specific schools including attending school functions, activities, and volunteering in classrooms

The CLDE Department is committed to providing additional support throughout the district to ensure students acquire English and achieve success in the grade-level curriculum. We offer before and after school tutoring throughout the district that identified English language learners can access at no cost. Each teacher has different hours, so please contact them below for the times and days that tutoring is available. A student does not need to be a student of the teacher to receive tutoring, but permission and communication with the teacher's approval are required. 

• Colorin Colorado

A bilingual site for families and educators of English language learners. Includes many resources and strategies on a variety of ELL topics.

• U.S. Department of Education ELL Toolkit
  A ten chapter document on meeting the legal obligations of educating English Language Learners.
• CDE: Language, Culture and Equity Department
  The Colorado Department of Education Office of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education provides support to Colorado school districts, schools, and educational leaders in the academic, linguistic, and social-emotional challenges and opportunities of culturally and linguistically diverse students to ensure equitable access to grade-level standards and ensure a well-rounded education.

Students work with a highly qualified CLDE teacher through various models. Schools accelerate the acquisition of academic language by providing a comprehensive support system, where they receive specialized, comprehensive English language instruction captured in the student's annual English Language Plan. The acquisition of English requires a collaborative effort between parents, students, ELD teachers, paraeducators, and the general education teachers, as well as professional development for all staff on how to deliver rigorous, grade-level content and provide language-rich instruction for all students. 

Elementary school English language learners typically receive intensive English language development daily. Many CLDE teachers provide this service utilizing a “pull-out” model. This means the students are pulled out of the general education setting for this intensive English instruction. Pull-out never occurs during core instruction, and many teachers utilize supplementary curriculum supports to address the skills and content students are learning in their core instruction.

Some teachers and paraeducators offer a "push-in" and co-teaching model to facilitate English language acquisition within the general education classroom. By providing accommodations within the students' general education setting, students learn along with their peers and have access to the curriculum. 

The following skills are emphasized: social communication, academic vocabulary, grammar, reading strategies, writing skills, as well as the use of technology to better access curriculum. Teachers have access to the Colorado Department of Education approved programs Letrs, Wonders and Cengage (National Geographic) to master reading and speaking skills. 

Middle school- English language learners who qualify are offered CLDE or resource support. Teachers offer this in the form of an elective class, but there are also co-teaching models and push-in support provided in the core content classrooms. Teachers monitor the progress of students in their core instruction and provide resource support when deemed necessary. In the elective CLDE class, students receive differentiated instruction in reading, writing, speaking, and listening depending on their specific language goals as identified in the English language plan.

The following skills are emphasized: social communication, academic vocabulary, grammar, reading strategies, writing skills, as well as the use of technology to better access curriculum.  Teachers have access to the Colorado Department of Education approved programs Springboard and Cengage (National Geographic) to master reading and speaking skills on technology. 

High school
English language learners who qualify are offered CLDE and/or resource support. Teachers offer this in the form of an elective class, but there are also co-teaching models and push-in support provided in the core content classrooms. Teachers monitor the progress of students in their core instruction and provide resource support when deemed necessary. In the elective CLDE class, students receive differentiated instruction in reading, writing, speaking, and listening depending on their specific language goals as identified in the English language plan.
The following skills are emphasized: social communication, academic vocabulary, grammar, reading strategies, writing skills, as well as the use of technology to better access curriculum. Teachers have access to the Colorado Department of Education approved programs Springboard and Cengage (National Geographic) to master reading and speaking skills on technology. 

 

When acquiring a language there are five principles that apply:

1. Language is learned by using language
2. The focus in language learning is meaning and function (not form)
3. Language learning is non-anxious, personally important and concretely-based
4. Language is self-directed, not segmented or sequenced
5. The conditions necessary for language are essentially the same for all children

Stages of Second Language Acquisition:

Silent/Receptive Stage-NEP

At this stage, the student will need time to become comfortable in the classroom/school. The student will respond to communication non-verbally. They may recognize words but not verbalize them. The teacher should include the student in activities and games. The student may respond best with peers. As they move through this stage the student will begin to respond with one word answers.

Early Production Stage-NEP

At this stage, the student will move into two/three word responses and begin to use frequently heard words. In the Early Production Stage a student will continue to develop listening skills and build vocabulary. The teacher can continue to introduce new vocabulary while practicing previously taught vocabulary. Teachers could start a sentence with one or two words and have the child complete it.

Speech Emergence Stage-LEP

The student will begin to respond with simple sentences when comfortable in their environment. This is the time of the shift from language reception to language production. Students may mispronounce words -- this is OK. Everyone around the student should listen and praise any attempts at speech. It is important that no one discourages or makes fun of any attempts at speech. Teachers can ask how and why questions at this stage. Do not correct mispronunciations; rather model back the correct pronunciation in your own sentence.

Intermediate Fluency-LEP

At this stage, the student will begin to make the transition to more elaborate speech. The student will make grammatical errors as they attempt the new language. “The best strategies for the students in this stage are to give more comprehensible input, develop and extend recognition vocabulary, and to give them a chance to produce language in comfortable situations” (Colorado Department of Education, Handbook on Planning for LEP Students Success). At this time students should be engaged in speech production and not absolute correctness. Teachers should provide high interest topics for the students to discuss, for example feelings, likes, dislikes.

Advanced Fluency-FEP

The English language learner begins to make fewer grammatical errors. He or she will have basic interpersonal language proficiency, but may not have advanced enough for all academic languages. This is the time to focus on grammar instruction, idiomatic expressions and reading comprehension. Teachers will want to use a higher level cognitive, thinking and vocabulary skills.

 

Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8's CLDE Department is committed to ensuring parents and students know their rights. Below is information on a parent's rights, relevant laws pertaining to English language learners, and responsibilities of schools and districts to limited English proficient parents and students. 

Federal Laws Pertaining to Language Learners

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (1964)

• Prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin
• Students may not be excluded from any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance

Office of Civil Rights Memorandum (1970)

• Requires school districts to take affirmative steps to rectify language deficiencies
• Prohibits assignment to special education classes based on English language skills
• Requires parent notification of school activities
• Forbids specialized programs for English learners to operate as an educational dead-end or permanent track

Supreme Court Case Lau v Nichols (1974)

• Requires schools to make linguistically appropriate accommodations in order to provide students equal educational opportunities.

Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974

• Denial of equal educational opportunity prohibited
• Prohibits discrimination against faculty, staff and students, including racial segregation of students
• Requires school districts to take action to overcome academic and linguistic barriers to students' equal participation

Lau Remedies (1975)

• Districts and schools are required to
  • Determine instructional English language development programs
  • Decide when English learners no longer need English language development services
  • Determine the professional standards educators must meet to deliver the English language development program

Supreme Court Case Castañeda v. Pickard (1981)

• Established a three-prong approach to measure compliance with the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974 as it relates to English learner programs
  • Theory- the program must be based on sound educational theory
  • Practice- the program is implemented with fidelity and with appropriate fiscal and human resources to transform theory into practice
  • Evaluation- measures the effectiveness of the program

Supreme Court Case Plyer v. Doe

• Public schools may not deny admission to a student during initial enrollment or at any other time on the basis of undocumented status