A significant number of English learners are considered long-term English learners (LTELs) because they’ve been in EL programs for more than 6 years. These students haven’t yet been able to demonstrate adequate proficiency in English to meet established English language proficiency criteria and to be considered fluent English proficient.
Why are there so many LTEL students and what can be done?
There is no single answer to this complex issue because there are any number of factors involved such as absenteeism and transiency, but there is a lot that schools can do to reduce the numbers of LTELs.
When discussing exiting EL services, it’s important to keep in mind that English learners are entitled to language support services until they are sufficiently proficient in English to be successful in general education without such supports. These necessary – and legally required – services provide equity of access to schooling for those students who are still in the process of learning English.
The solution to LTEL students languishing in EL programs is not lowering the bar for exiting but improving the quality of instruction these students receive. After all, EL services are a scaffold, or support, that is in place until the student has acquired the language and literacy skills to be successful academically after exiting the program.
The goal is acquisition of language and literacy skills, not simply exiting the program.
Improving the quality of instruction for LTELs (and other English learners) begins with using research-validated instruction such as the SIOP Model, an approach for making instruction comprehensible while at the same time advancing students’ English language proficiency. SIOP ensures that grade-level content is made meaningful and provides opportunities for students to use academic language. High quality content instruction coupled with a specific time of daily, focused English language development (ELD) is a combination that is sure to offer ELs the best support for gaining proficiency in English.
Even with SIOP teaching and English language development, there may be barriers to exiting EL programs. I’ll discuss several common barriers in the context of solutions for each one. These ideas build on an assumed foundation of high-quality instruction.
- School-wide effort. Everyone benefits when students make academic progress. However, too often school personnel view English learners as the responsibility of an EL coordinator or similar staff person. Especially in schools with large numbers of ELs a team effort will more likely increase the number of ELs who are ready to exit EL programs. School staff should:
- Meet with each English learner from 4thgrade on to discuss the areas they need to improve, i.e., speaking, listening, reading and/or writing. Be transparent about assessment results and set goals for improvement in the area(s) of need. These meetings should probably take place more than once a year to keep students and school personnel focused on their set goals.
- Design an efficient system for data collection and reporting. Ask a group of principals how many students exited their school’s EL program the previous year and likely few could answer accurately, probably because they depend on their EL coordinators to check on English learners’ progress. Every district has established criteria for exiting EL programs such as cut scores to define proficiency on state language proficiency assessments, demonstration of “basic skills,” teacher recommendation and so forth. School staff, led by the principal, should be proactive in analyzing each English learner’s progress toward meeting these criteria and a system should be in place for doing so: Who monitors progress toward exit criteria? What happens when some English learners are close to meeting exit criteria? (Hint: The students’ teachers should be informed and instruction focused on targeted areas) Who gathers the paperwork and submits it to the district? Lost paperwork or lax procedures are not valid excuses for keeping students in EL programs when they are ready to exit.
- Enlist teachers. Teachers need to be knowledgeable about their EL students’ levels of proficiency in each of the domains of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Assessment results should be used to create an instructional profile for each student; determine areas of need and focus on those areas. For example, many LTELs have solid listening and speaking skills but fall short in reading and writing. Rather than spending lots of time on “turn and talk” type activities, teachers should focus on literacy skills by providing lots of opportunities for ELs to read (independently, with a partner and with the teacher), talk about what they’ve read, write a response, reaction or summary, and so forth.
- Involve students. LTEL students have taken a language proficiency assessment every year since they entered U.S. schools. Some students become weary of taking the same test with the same results. Most have no idea how they performed on the assessment, only that they remain an EL student. There is value in getting buy-in from students and a good motivator is choice: secondary students in EL programs have limited electives because they take ELD for one or two periods. Be explicit with students that if they will double down on their effort in the classroom and during ELD they will likely perform better on the next assessment. Further, encourage students to:
- Give their best effort on the test. Let them know that every answer counts.
- Come prepared by getting a good night’s sleep the night before test day and eating breakfast on the day of the test. Most students (English learner or not) aren’t aware of the impact of sleep and nutrition on performance.
- Enlist parents’ help. This valuable resource is often overlooked, and research shows that when EL parents are asked to assist with school work, they do. Ask parents to:
- Help with the student’s target areas by supervising their work. For example, if reading goals are set, ask parents to make sure their student reads at home each day. Teachers may design an accountability system for reporting work done at home.
- Make sure their student attends school on testing day, is on time, and well rested.
- Encourage the student to do their best on the test and take it seriously.
When English learners aren’t making adequate progress academically, look at classroom instruction and determine if it is a barrier to attaining English proficiency. Are teachers using a research-validated approach for teaching English learners? Are teachers capitalizing on students’ home language, knowledge and cultural assets? Do teachers have high expectations for their English learners?
With growing numbers of LTELs nationwide, it’s important to be aware of and to reduce barriers for our English learners in reaching English proficiency.