Gateway Regional School District is what is called a 'low-incidence' district for English language learners (ELLs). In other words, we do not have many students for whom English is not their first language. Over the last few years, we have we have averaged around 10 students in the district who are officially listed as "Limited English Proficient" (LEP) but we currently have double that number. The majority of our LEP students have Russian or Ukrainian as their primary language. Other languages spoken by our LEP students' families in the last few years have been German, Japanese, Polish, Spanish, and Tagalog.
Students who arrive at Gateway Schools with a language other than English as their primary language may have been born in a non-English speaking country, or they may have been born here in the United States. (You may be surprised to hear that the majority of English language learner students in the USA were actually born in the USA!) Their families may speak little to no English, or they may speak very good English. Every family enrolling students in the district is asked to complete a home language survey. If the survey indicates that a language other than English is used in the home, the state of Massachusetts requires that we evaluate the student's English language proficiency and then offer English language support if the assessment suggests that it would be helpful. In some cases, a family may not speak another language at home or the child may only speak English, but the child may benefit from English language support anyway. Families are not obliged to accept the offered language support but it is, of course, highly recommended. If your child is offered English language support and you are unsure as to why, or what that means for your child, we strongly encourage you to contact the ELL teacher who is making the recommendation for support. We are always happy to explain the reasoning for our decisions in more detail with you!
Research shows that although children quickly become fluent enough in English to do well socially, it can take students anywhere from three to seven years, even with support, to reach a level of academic English on a par with their native-speaking peers. Gateway does not set a time limit on the English language support provided to students. It is available to them for as long as they need it, as evidenced in their work with an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, in the regular classroom and on assessments. Equally, once a student is deemed by his/her teachers and the ESL teacher to no longer need the extra support, the family is informed. Students' progress is monitored for 4 years after exiting the ELL program, and if during that time it proves that the English language support has been withdrawn too early, it can be reinstated.
All students who are listed as English language learners are required to take the state English proficiency test, the WIDA ACCESS test in January, even if the student's family has refused English as a second language support. The test assesses students' listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in English in the following areas:
- Social & Instructional Language
- Language of Language Arts
- Language of Mathematics
- Language of Science
- Language of Social Studies
Gateway uses the Sheltered English Immersion model of instruction for English language learners. This means that all classroom teachers who have ELLs in their classes have completed training for working with ELLs in the regular classroom. ELL students also spend some time working directly with an ESL teacher who has specific training and experience in working with students learning English as an additional language. Sometimes support is provided in the regular classroom, sometimes students leave the classroom to work with the ESL teacher in another classroom but ELL students spend most of their time in the English language mainstream classroom.
Research shows that our brains benefit in many ways from using more than one language. We strongly encourage families to continue using their first language at home