English Language Learners

A Title III Program

Todd Nelson
Director of Student Assessment / Biography

It is Union's mission to provide Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Immigrant students a high quality program, designed to assist students in learning English and to meet challenging state academic content and student academic standards. This program is aimed at PreK-12th Grade students.

Limited English Proficient (LEP) = English Language Learners (ELL)

• Between the ages of 3 and 21
• Enrolled/preparing to enroll in elementary or secondary school
• Not born in U.S. or whose native language is not English
• From environment where language other than English significantly impacted English language proficiency
• Has difficulty speaking, reading, writing or understanding English sufficiently so that it denies the individual the:
  1. ability to meet the proficient level of achievement on state content assessments
  2. ability to successfully achieve in classrooms taught in English with no language support
  3. opportunity to participate fully in society

Federal Funds 

Title III of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act provides federal funds to implement supplemental instructional programs for ELLs.   These funds are used to provide high quality language instruction programs for our district LEP students in elementary and secondary grades.   

Federal funds are also used to provide support staff to assist teachers with instruction and professional development for teachers to effectively instruct and assess English Language Learners.

Title III Requires Annual Assessment of English Language Proficiency

Title III requires an annual assessment of the English language proficiency of all LEP students in grades K-12 in the domains of listening, speaking, reading and writing.   Limited English proficient students must be assessed on an annual basis to determine individual growth in each domain.   When a student reaches a level of Fluent English Proficient (FEP) the student no longer receives supplemental ELL services, but is monitored for two academic years to ensure continued academic progress.

Language Instruction Programs for English Language Learners

Union Public Schools offers English Language Learners a variety of language instruction educational programs. The programs are based on scientific research and designed to assist students in learning English and meet age appropriate academic achievement standards for grade promotion and graduation. Students are placed in one of the following programs according to their proficiency scores in speaking, reading, listening and writing on the ACCESS for ELLs® Testing.

Newcomer Program

The newcomer program is designed to serve students with little or no proficiency in English.  The newcomer program is an appropriate placement for such students during the first year of their educational experience in the United States.  Students are taught initial language skills that will prepare them for later placement in another ELL program or mainstream placement.  This type of program allows students to focus intensively on the necessary classroom language and typical school procedures without being exposed to the language demands of the regular curriculum.

ELL Pullout Program  

ELL pullout is a program that requires students to leave the mainstream classroom for varying periods of time per day or week. Pullout classes provide intensive English language acquisition instruction and are delivered in a classroom setting with a low student/teacher ratio.   This type of setting provides an opportunity for skill-focused English instruction that is individualized to meet student needs. The ELL teacher may travel to more than one school during the week to pull individual or small groups of students out of classes to work with them based on their needs.

ELL Inclusion Program

The inclusion model is used to teach content knowledge by a team of teachers, consisting of an ELL teacher and/or a highly qualified paraprofessional and a teacher certified in a specific subject or content area. Utilizing a team approach enables instruction to be modified to make it more comprehensible. ELL students continue to receive language support while learning academic content.  Students may be grouped with other ELL students or in a classroom with students that are non-ELL students.   

Mainstream Program

The mainstream program places students in the regular classroom because their English fluency level is sufficient to work with non-LEP students in acquiring academic content knowledge. The teacher in the mainstream program has received some degree of support and training in addressing the specific needs of LEP students.  Instructional accommodations are used to meet the needs of LEP students.