The vision for English Learners is to learn English and learn to a high degree of rigor the same content as the English-only students in the district. In order for EL students to accomplish this, they must become adept learners,; for not only are they to master rigorous college-preparatory content, but they must also learn and become literate in English. The program for English Learners must be robust. It must address the educational needs of the students as well as address their social, psychological and cultural needs as pertains to the school and as generally expected by the community of students in high school. Upon completion of the high school curriculum, the students need to be career-ready and/or ready to continue in an institution of higher education. In order to meet the challenges of the 21st century, all students need to be life-long learners. The underlying education must be multi-dimensional: It must address of myriad of needs of the learners, their families and the community.
Dimension 1: Daily Instructional Time
One of the goals of the program is to increase the amount of time students spend engaged in learning. The program will seek to expand the engaged learning time on a daily basis. English Learners should be engaged with learning beyond the school day. This includes independent practice and time after the last school bell of the day. Their engagement with the English-speaking world must be increased. To this end, the EL program will seek to increase the quality and quantity of students’ independent practice, the quality of their exposure to mass media, and will seek to involve the families in the positive aspects of the Internet.
Dimension 2: Yearly Instructional Time
The ELD program will seek to expand the learning time for English Learners to make learning a year-round activity. The current paradigm is for learners to attend school 180 days per year as funded by the state with over two months hiatus during the summer. The program will seek to extend the time spent engaged in learning English. The program will look for ways to continue learning throughout the year beyond the traditional school year. This includes intercessions and summer school.
Dimension 3: Quality of Instruction
The ELD program is already recognized by others in the region for many reasons, including its depth and outcomes, as well as its performance on the Title III accountability measures, the Annual Measure of Achievement Objectives. Being acknowledged and scoring well is not good enough. The program seeks to be recognized as the best in the state, both anecdotally and through measurable data. Instruction must be of the highest quality. The program will improve the quality of instruction. The specific means for achieving this will include the application of both Marzano’s strategies as well as the strategies of Achievement Via Individual Determination (AVID) strategies. We will also apply specific strategies and organizational frameworks of Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) and the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA). The program will continue to learn about other research-based approaches for organizing English Language Development.
Dimension 4: Depth of Learning
Learning must have depth. The English Learners must become more engaged in their learning both in the present and for the future. They must not only be able to master the standards and objectives of the program, but they must also develop the behaviors and attitudes of successful learning both in the present and for the future The students need to internalize their learning, the attitudes and habits that support learning as well as the reason(s) for learning. The students need to become life-long learners who will be conscious seekers and consumers of education. To this end, the program will adopt strategies and techniques that promote positive attitudes and behaviors of learning.
Dimension 5: Quality of Instructional Materials
Instructional materials in the 21st century should (a) be aligned to the state standards where applicable, (b) support the district’s goals, (c) align with district initiatives in professional development, (d) support English Learners, and (e) exhibit current learning theory as informed by research. All materials must be adopted by the School Board. The instructional materials need to be consistent with the other goals of the program. The program will provide quality instructional materials in all appropriate media, including print, physical and electronic. To this end, the program will seek and provide training in selecting quality instructional materials and will apply the training to the selection and to the implementation of instructional materials. The program will develop instruments to assist in measuring the quality of instructional materials. Furthermore, instructional materials will be sought that apply the research-informed learning practices, such as the Marzano strategies, AVID strategies, SIOP and CALLA. All materials purchased for the program will be assessed for consistency with these practices, for English learners coming from all home language groups
Dimension 6: Administrative and Managerial Support
Quality of instruction must be supported by quality management. The student is the focus of the program. The teachers, support personnel and instructional materials that come in contact with the students are the first and most important tier of the program. Thus, the goal of providing a quality education must start with the learner and the learner’s instructional contacts. Administration should be oriented towards providing support for the teachers and learners within the constraints of economics and regulations. Leadership’s role is to provide support and direction for the program. The program will seek to inform leadership of developments in EL oriented educational research and theory. The program will also seek to implement business management practices that promote economically efficient management with best practices for the delivery of quality product and services to our clientele. As a service-oriented program, we will set our standards for highest quality as exemplified by the product, service and timeliness
Dimension 7: Family
Families should be offered education and training in supporting student learning at home. The learner’s family is recognized as the student’s first and most important teacher. It is also recognized as the most important component of the child’s support. As such, the program will (a) involve the parents in decision-making processes including English Learner Advisory Committees (ELACs) and District-wide English Learner Advisory Committees (DELACS) and School Site Councils (SSCs). The program will seek other avenues for family input into decision-making. The program will seek to implement all six key aspects of family involvement as defined by Epstein’s research into family-school connections.