Wentzville Middle School Observation

Mrs. Alice McLoughlin-Doro is a Special Education teacher at Downers Grove South High School in Downers Grove, Illinois. The community is known for its excellent school districts. According to the 2010 census there were 47, 833 people living in Downers Grove with approximately 19,000 households and 13,000 families. The racial makeup of the school was reported to be 88% White, 3% African American, 5% Hispanic, 0.2% American Indian or Alaskan Native, 5% Asian, and 1.6% from two or more races. About 1.7% of families were below the poverty line. The school district report card reports the following racial/ethnic background for the school: 68.1% White, 10.3 African American, 11% Hispanic, 7.3% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, and 3.2% two or more races. The elementary schools, middle schools, and high school all perform very well academically receiving above state average scores on standardized tests. She has been working there for 10 years and is currently a Case Manager of 17 students, all with an IEP, all with different needs and goals in the LD department. She co-teaches two general education classes in English intervention, all freshman. Although she is a Special Education teacher, she works with all the students. She also teaches a READ 180, Tier 3 reading and english intervention. This is where we will be focusing on for this

In pursuing my ELL endorsement, I found it to be very beneficial to interview current ELL teachers. They shared their insight and expertise in this field. I interviewed the middle school ELL teacher at my school, an upper-elementary ELL teacher and early-elementary teacher in my district. I asked twelve questions that pertained to their experience teaching ELL. These responses are valuable to future ELL teachers and general education teachers who teach ELL in their classrooms.

I teach first grade at Lowe Elementary School; my class is made up of twenty-four very diverse seven year-olds; they come from all over the city of Louisville, from a variety of socio-economic situations. Each student brings a unique personality to our classroom community, and they all work hard to become “smarter and smarter” and to “go to college”. Thirteen students are boys and eleven are girls. Of these twenty-four students, three of them are English Language Learners. Additionally, eight students receive tier two interventions and two receive tier three interventions in reading. In math, five students are tier two and four are tier three. I also teach one student who receives ECE services for a developmental delay. Within my class there is a wide achievement gap.

If one is unfamiliar with the behaviors of ELL students, they might mistake the student’s actions for behavioral problems. It can be extremely difficult for a student to adjust to a new culture, language, and school. The emotional repercussions of all those changes can be extremely taxing on students and can affect their work. One cannot assume that these behaviors are a result of a bad and careless student; the teacher needs to get to the root of the problem and figure out what is causing the student to behavior in that manner.

In York, Pennsylvania, it is a well-known fact that the York City School District (YCSD) consistently ranks near the bottom of Pennsylvania’s 496 public school districts, claiming the 490th rank for 2015. The ranking was based on the state-mandated academic achievement test known as the Pennsylvania State Standard Assessment (PSSA) test scores in Reading, Writing, Math, and Science and on the three high-school level Keystone Exams: Literature, Algebra 1 and Biology 1. YCSD is a Title I school district, with 30% ELLs. As shown by PSSA test results, YCSD has a major achievement gap to close between English and non-English speakers. YCSD continues to be under state sanction, due to not having made adequate yearly progress for

Those who are currently teaching are required to take a course called Rethinking Equity and Teaching English Language Learners (RETELL) or Secondary English Language (SEI) course so they can be better prepared to teach the students of other primary languages. The data from the ELL students in the three districts are more dramatic than percentages of students with disabilities. Compared to Norwood and Brockton’s ELL student population, Monson only had 7 ELL students in their district in 2016. When comparing the ELA, math, and science scores for all three towns, Monson didn’t even have sufficient data to record. Norwood and Brockton however, had interesting data to compare. In ELA, Norwood scored higher than Brockton with a percentage of 41 and Brockton at 13 percent for students who performed with high proficiency. In math, Norwood had a 40 percent higher academic standing, whereas Brockton only had 15 percent. Both Monson and Brockton ELL students performed below the achievement gap goal with negative scores. Norwood, however, performed above the state level for all three subjects. There was no data found in the scoring of ELL students in Monson for MCAS scores. Out of the 5th grade ELL students in Norwood, who participated in the MCAS, 6 scored in above average, 31 percent scored in proficient, 50 percent scored needs improvement, and 13 percent scored as failing.

Schools have legal and ethical responsibilities to all of their students, and cannot exempt ELL students from that fundamental truth. Federal guidelines prohibit the use of Title VI funds by schools that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin (US Department of Education). These guidelines allow for the enforcement of fair treatment of all students. The importance of this treatment extends much further than funding. Even with the requirements for schools to provide services to these students, “51% of 8th grade ELL students are behind whites in reading and math” (Fry). The requirement of providing these services has a significant impact on this number; however the magnitude of this number suggests there may be room for improvement.

Currently, I am student teaching at Alfred E. Zampella PS #27 School in the district of Jersey City. The school is located in a busy city, next to John F. Kennedy St. which is especially busy in the morning and during rush hour. This results in several late students on a day to day basis. On the other hand, this school is also highly accessible and as a little over a thousand students. The school has grade levels from kindergarten to 8th grade, and has a mix of general, special, and inclusion education classrooms. Typically, families that enroll their students into this school are of lower-middle socio-economic class, and tend to be majority Hispanic, Indian, and African American, with few Caucasians and Asians. This school provides a variety of special programs for their ESL students and special need students. Students may be offered speech language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, ESL programs, reading recovery, and counseling.

If a student is both an English language learner and has a learning disability, their educational needs become inherently more complex. However, through research on the needs of English language learners with disabilities, on various case laws, and by participating in lectures on the topics of English language learners and students with learning disabilities, I have come to a clearer understanding of these unique needs as well as the processes necessary to identify, evaluate, and work with these students. Prior to the 1960s, both English language learners and students with disabilities were often segregated from their peers, given inadequate instruction, and inappropriately assessed (Ortiz, Woika, 2013). This began to change when, with the holding of Brown vs. board of Education (1954), a principle for equal educational opportunities for all students was brought to fruition (Yell, 1998). After this decision, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 prohibited the discrimination of people on the basis of race, color, or national origin in the operation of federally assisted programs. Further, to

These types of services might be of special interest to the LEALES members considering, that Latino students because of their racial and socio-economic background tend to come largely from under-resourced, understaffed, underperforming, and inadequately funded schools. (Saenz & Ponjuan, 2009) This often means that the teachers at the schools were underprepared and had a high turnover rate. This might be one of the reasons that 41% of Latino students require remediation courses and only 13% of Hispanics met the ACT readiness benchmark for all 4 subjects: English, reading, math, and science. (National Conference of State Legislators, n.d.) Therefore, the tutoring services might be very beneficial to some LEALES members. Additionally, as first-generation college students LEALES members are also more likely to lack study and time management skill (Engle, Bermeo, & O 'Brien, 2006), something which LARC could also help address.

The number of school-aged ELLs grows and this brings up the fundamental questions about assessment and instruction for ELLs with special needs. The first and the principal thing is to assess children’s behavior which can help to identify learning disabilities. This can be obtained by various sampling methods such as classroom observation, interviews with students and their parents.

Through my bibliographic search, I was able to learn the specifics of what scholars were discoursing on in regards to this topic. Current debates began with the teachers themselves. One article found that ELL teachers were generally “unwelcoming” (Reeves 2006). Reasons for this were the concern that there’s not enough time to address all the students’ needs, too much work for teachers when students are also enrolled in non-ELL classes, and feelings of unqualification to teacher ELL students (Reeves 2006). Another area of discussion is whether ELL programs should take an inclusion approach vs exclusion (from normal school curriculum) approach. Inclusion is when students are mainstreamed for most of the day, with some specific ELL classes. If only in ELL classes, students may not have access to the mainstream education needed to succeed (Reeves 2006). One article stressed the importance of education at home as well. If English is not also spoken at home, acquisition is slowed (Allen 2011). Pride also affects the rate of learning, students will often claim to understand, even though they d not, to avoid the perception of being ignorant (2011).

The ELL team within District 427 is a small but effective group of 5 individuals. The teachers and administrators that are involved with the ELs are extremely passionate and constantly working with the numbers that they have to better service their students. The team meets frequently and is in constant contact within one another to help each other overcome obstacles that are occurring within their classrooms with their EL students. Although the team is small, they are only servicing a small population, and always open to change. If the EL enrollment were to increase, the team would increase as well. Their goal is to ensure that all of the students are being serviced for all of their needs for success.

He did not like the way his school in Mexico lacked security and in his opinion, teachers did not care about individual students. The biographical background of an ELL student heavily impacts learning and directly affects the potential challenges related to academic learning for ELL students. Another factor that plays an important role in the challenges for ELL students are commonly linked to the resources that their school is able to provide. Depending on the level and year of the ELL student, additional training may be required to accommodate the learners with their use and instruction implementing technology. Direct instruction is required for first

Our Elementary School is an award-winning campus style public school located in a suburban town in Pennsylvania. The kindergarten through fifth grade elementary school serves approximately 1200 students with 24% receiving free or reduced lunch. Within the elementary building there are approximately 11 sections of each grade level with additional staff members serving as interventionists, specialists, and coaches. At the building level there is one principal for Kindergarten through fifth grade and three elementary assistant principals overseeing two grade levels each. The percentage of students that score proficient and advanced on the 2015 PSSA are 78.4 in English Language Arts, 64 in Mathematics and 86.3 in Science. In addition