HOPKINS SCHOOL DISTRICT 270
ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER PROGRAM 2008-09
OVERVIEW
The English Language Learner (ELL) Program has completed the fourth year of the comprehensive ELL program
review and is in full implementation of the recommendations. Many areas will continue to require further study
and modification in response to the changing ELL student population. These areas include program model,
curriculum, instruction and assessment, and parent/family involvement.
PROGRAM MODEL
After exploring a variety of ELL program models for school districts with a range of size and ELL demographics,
the service model recommendation from the Program Model Team and the Curriculum, Instruction and
Assessment Team was the CALLA (Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach—Anna Uhl Chamot)
model, an ELL instructional model that emphasizes learning language through content. In building a foundation
of content knowledge, academic problem-solving skills, and language proficiency, English Language Learners are
better able to access academic content in their grade-level and mainstream classes. CALLA-based text series
have been adopted at all grade levels K-12. Several other models were considered as well, including pull-in (team
teaching between mainstream and ELL teachers) and language immersion programs. Although there is research
to support the success of these programs when implemented effectively, they generally require larger clusters of
ELL students in classes or schools than we currently have in Hopkins. Further consideration of these models will
take place in the future as our District’s demographics change.
The effectiveness of an ELL service model is dependent on the amount of ELL service time that students receive.
The Program Model Team has established minimum times of ELL service for all grade levels. Less proficient
students receive more hours of instruction than those who are more proficient. Also, older students generally
require additional instruction because they tend to be more academically discrepant than their native Englishspeaking peers. As is noted in the charts below, the actual time of service that ELLs receive falls far short of the
optimal time of service recommendations due to staffing limitations. Given the fact that the ELL population
continues to grow, these staffing limitations require serious future consideration.
Time of Service Recommendations
Grade
Kindergarten
1&2
3&4
5&6
7-9
10 - 12
Beginning/Emerging (Lev. 1/2)
120-150 minutes per week
175-200 minutes per week
200-225 minutes per week
300-375 minutes per week
600 minutes per week (450 direct
instruction + 150 with para)
750 minutes per week (450 direct
instruction + 300 with para)
Intermediate/Advanced (Lev. 3/4)
90-120 minutes per week
150-175 minutes per week
175-200 minutes per week
150-175 minutes per week
300 minutes per week (225 direct
instruction + 75 para)
450 minutes per week (direct
instruction only)
Actual Time of Service Minimums
Grade
Kindergarten
1&2
3&4
5&6
7-9
10 - 12
Beginning/Emerging (Lev. 1/2)
Intermediate/Advanced (Lev. 3/4)
90 minutes per week
180 minutes per week
180 minutes per week
180 minutes per week
300 minutes per week (225 direct instruction + 75 with para)
750 minutes per week (450 direct
450 minutes per week (direct
instruction + 300 with para)
instruction only)
The ELL Program Model Team has also developed descriptions for ELL instructional services, monitoring
services, transitions, and collaborations with mainstream teachers. Exploration of these areas is ongoing. A
comprehensive K-12 ELL Identification System continues with assessments from all areas of language (reading,
writing, listening and speaking). With the district’s adoption of the MAP computer assessment, the ELL program
has modified its assessment battery to include the district-supported MAP Reading Test. Each ELL is assigned a
composite score based on test results and number of academic years studying English. These composite scores
help ELL staff determine students’ language proficiency, place students in classes, and monitor student progress
throughout the year. Students are assessed twice annually.
ELLs with Limited Formal Schooling (LFS)∗ continue to be a significant subpopulation within the secondary ELL
program. The High School LFS Academy for Newcomer ELLs with LFS was established several years ago in
order to meet the unique needs of this subpopulation. This academy consists of LFS Math, Literacy and Content
Classes. The yearlong program meets three blocks per day. North Junior High LFS students also receive daily
supplemental instruction from an LFS specialist. Such intensive programming is possible through Title III and
District funding support. Funding for and consequent continuation of these supplemental classes is not assured
for the upcoming years. It is the hope that a funding source can be determined in order to provide appropriate,
accessible instruction for these unique students.
The ELL Tutorial program continues this year only at North Junior High. The two Junior High ELL programs
were consolidated into a single building in 2007-08 as a result of enrollment decline (see further developments
below). This program, which is available to all Junior High ELL students, meets every other day opposite ELL
class. Intended to provide direct content vocabulary and language instruction to support ELL students in their
mainstream content coursework, it has become greatly evident that steps must be taken to make mainstream
content and instruction more accessible to ELLs. The ELL Program hopes to collaborate with staff in mainstream
curricular areas at the building and District levels to achieve this goal and to eliminate the achievement gap.
CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT
Establishing narrowed foci for curriculum, instruction and assessment is challenging, and coordination between
the Program Model and CIA Teams has been essential in developing a service model recommendation. In recent
years, the State of Minnesota has developed the MN English Language Proficiency Standards based on the
National TESOL Standards. After close review of all available standards, the CIA Team has adopted the MN
∗
LFS students are a subgroup within the ELL population that require non-traditional English instruction as a result of their life experiences, which typically
include little or no literacy skills in their native language, two or more years’ gap in education from mainstream peers, and two or more years below gradelevel assessments in math and reading. Students with limited formal schooling require additional instructional support because they lack basic academic
readiness, basic content knowledge in many of the curricular areas, as well as basic literacy skills in English and their native language.
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English Language Proficiency Standards as a basis for selection of texts and assessments for the Hopkins Public
School’s ELL program.
The CIA Team made recommendations to adopt Avenues (Hampton-Brown), Visions (Heinle and Heinle), and
Shining Star (Longman). These core-texts were purchased and are currently being used in ELL classes
throughout the District. The adoption of core-texts has been critical to the maturation of our program as it affords
ELL staff an opportunity to develop and exchange materials based on common units. We have created
elementary and secondary MOODLE sites to provide ELL staff with a medium through which to share ideas
related to the lessons they teach. The ELL Department continues to examine several technology-based language
learning programs as we strive to regularly incorporate technology into the curriculum.
Additionally, we have examined and identified K-12 ELL assessments in the areas of speaking, listening, reading
and writing. Common assessments help ELL staff to: 1) categorize students by language-proficiency levels, 2)
cluster and place students, 3) gauge student progress, and 4) determine entrance and exit status for ELLs. The
ELL Program Specialists designed an ELL Student Data System within Infinite Campus in order to store this data.
ELL teachers and paraprofessionals have been trained on regular use of the system including data entry, viewing,
export and analysis.
Lastly, the CIA team developed and implemented an Elementary ELL Progress Report that is compatible with
Infinite Campus. The final product is both meaningful to elementary ELL students and sensitive to the
communicative needs of our ELL families; this instrument is consistent with the grading system that is currently
being used by the mainstream teachers.
PARENT/FAMILY INVOLVEMENT
The program review process provided our staff an opportunity to reflect on the work we do with ELL students and
their families. In creating program review teams, the ELL teachers clearly identified “family outreach” and
“parental involvement” as critical factors leading to student success in school. As a result, a team of elementary
and secondary staff was formed to examine the interaction between the District and ELL families. More
specifically, the committee sought ways to facilitate and stimulate greater and more meaningful involvement of
ELL families in their children’s academic progress, in school and District events, and in school and District
decision-making processes.
The ELL Department has made a deliberate shift from hosting District-wide ELL social events to establishing
site-based outreach activities in order to increase parental involvement. Many of these events have been planned
in conjunction with the District Spanish, Somali and Hmong Communication Specialists. The partnership
between the ELL staff and Communication Specialists has generated positive results, and schools have
experienced an increase in attendance of ELL families at school events and at parent-teacher conferences.
The ELL Department continues to collaborate with the District Communication Specialists to create and initiate
use of an on-line calendar system for scheduling interpreters for parent-teacher conferences at the secondary level.
Although the focus has been on ELL-serviced students, the intention is to expand this system to conferences for
mainstream students and families of second language backgrounds (who are not identified for ELL service).
The ELL staff recommends continued support from the District in the form of translating and interpreting
services. These tools are essential for basic communication with ELL families. Interpreting services such as
Telelanguage empowers teachers and administrators to directly contact families with Limited English Proficiency.
In addition, discussion and exploration of language-specific parent/family involvement groups is currently taking
place between the ELL program, District Communication Specialists and some family members of ELLs. The
hope is that this will lead to more formal planning for these groups with the goal of increasing involvement,
investment and empowerment of ELL families within our Hopkins school community.
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Our primary recommendation in the area of parent/family involvement continues to be a systematized approach to
outreach efforts across the District with respect to ELL families. Currently, parents of ELL students have
extremely limited input in the District’s decision-making processes. We recommend focused discussion and
development of effective outreach strategies to ELL families. Exploring ways to help parents communicate their
needs to the school, beyond mere unilateral communication from school to home, continues to be a need. A more
consistent and meaningful two-way communication approach must be implemented.
In brief, our hope is that the District will consider: 1) establishing clearly defined goals leading to increased
parental involvement at the District level and at each school, 2) giving staff time to plan and implement strategies,
and 3) generating funds for outreach efforts. Hopefully, these initiatives will lead to positive academic results for
ELL students and will strengthen our relationships with ELL families.
ELL DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION AND TRENDS
The English Language Learner (ELL) population of Hopkins Public Schools has continued to be very dynamic
during the past school year. The population has changed in traditional demographic information such as country
of origin, home language, and length of time in the U.S., as well as in other important demographic areas.
The number of students who receive ELL services has continued to increase this year, following the trend that
began in 2006. There are currently 519 identified English language learners in grades K-12, a much higher
number than the 437 in November 2007. The number of ELL serviced students (ELL students receiving direct
service) has risen to 421. This represents greater than a 10% increase over the 381 and 340 students serviced in
November, 2007 and October, 2006 respectively.
Hopkins continues to be a district of great diversity, both in language and country of origin of its students. Fortyfive countries of origin are represented in the current school year. The U.S. continues to be the home country of
the greatest number of English Language Learners (44%), followed by Mexico (13%), Thailand (9%) and
Somalia (5%). The U.S.-born ELL population continues a pattern of growth over past years. The U.S.-born
population is 44% this year, up from 40% last year, 39% in fall 2006, 30% in 2005, and 23% in 2004. The most
common home languages of this year’s U.S.-born students continue to be Spanish (45%) and Somali (33%), with
smaller numbers of nineteen other home languages.
English language learners currently represent 37 languages of origin. The two most common languages continue
to be Spanish (39%) and Somali (25%), followed by a population speaking Hmong (9%) coming to Hopkins from
Minneapolis, and Russian (3%). There are more countries than languages because multiple countries have the
same native language.
Proportions of elementary and secondary students within the ELL population in our district remain roughly
equivalent to last year, comprised of 75% in elementary and 25% in secondary. First, High School ELL student
numbers have gradually decreased over the last few years. Second, after several years of declining numbers of
junior high ELL students leading to the consolidation of junior high ELL programming to Hopkins North Junior
High School last year, there has been a sharp increase where currently there are 45 serviced students in grades 79, as compared to 33 students in October 2007. Finally, at the elementary level, there have been increases at most
buildings. Sharp increases have occurred at Alice Smith, Gatewood and Tanglen Elementary Schools. The rising
ELL enrollment at Tanglen (and North Junior High) is largely due to the large numbers of Hmong students from
Minneapolis. ELL staffing has been shifted and supplemented to account for the changes in student numbers.
Many demographic factors of the current population continue to present significant challenges to the ELL
Program, as well as the school district in general. Mobility has increased greatly over the past year and continues
to be a large factor in the ELL population. One hundred forty-six students are new to the Hopkins School District
this year (28% of ELL population). Of last year’s 381 ELL students, 95 (25%) were new to the district. The
cumulative effect of this pattern of high mobility has resulted in 241 of the 519 ELL students in the current
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population being new to the district since the beginning of last school year. This amounts to more than a 46%
turnover in ELL students in fifteen months.
The ELL staff continues to explore ways to improve program services and effectiveness in responding to the everchanging needs of our student population. The department continues to work on ELL Program Model,
Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction and Parent/Family Involvement.
CURRENT AND FUTURE ELL PROGRAM CONSIDERATIONS
In addition to the implemented work addressed above, there are some additional developments to report.
Junior High ELL Program
Due to a continuing decline in ELL enrollments in grades 7-9, the Junior High ELL program was consolidated for
the 2007-08 school year to Hopkins North Junior High and eliminated at Hopkins West Junior High. This
decision was made in consultation with Junior High Principals, District administration, District transportation, and
ELL staff. With the unexpected rise in numbers, future re-establishment of ELL programming at West Junior
High may be reconsidered.
Choice is Yours English Language Learners
In the spring of 2007, a large number of ELL students applied to attend Hopkins through the Choice is Yours
open enrollment program. With little background information on these students or of the Hmong language,
Hopkins ELL teachers along with guidance and registration staff and building principals from Tanglen, North
Junior High and Hopkins High School, organized a parent welcome/informational session and student
registration/testing event in late spring. Thirty-one students registered, the majority of whom qualified for ELL
services at a beginning proficiency level. Registering and testing students in the spring prior to the school year
enabled the ELL Department and buildings to better prepare for appropriate programming and service, as well as
corresponding funding and staffing. Positive results and feedback from these families and students about their
experiences in Hopkins has led to great interest from the Hmong community in the CIY program. Over seventyfie new Hmong students requested to attend Hopkins in 2008-09. Approximately fifty of these students were
accepted.
Clustering
The ELL Department clusters ELLs by language proficiency, ethnicity and proximal age to promote strong
academic and social support systems within the classroom. Clustering enables more time-effective scheduling of
ELL students and allows teachers to meet the minimum time-of-service standards at the elementary and junior
high levels. Clustering is a common practice in ELL programming nation-wide. Common objections to
clustering include concerns about segregating ELLs in fewer classrooms, consolidating students who are a
“challenging population” for teachers, and depriving non-ELL students in non-clustered classes of the diversity
that ELLs bring to the classroom. However, providing adequate ELL services, which will help lead to elimination
of the achievement gap for ELLs, can only be achieved within schedules that allow for increased time-of-service.
Research demonstrates that clustering is an effective strategy for accelerating language acquisition for ELLs. In
addition, clustering enables the mainstream grade-level and content teachers to build capacity to teach ELLs more
effectively. ELL staff continues to attempt to implement clustering practices in all schools and at all grade levels.
This requires collaboration between ELL staff and mainstream/content teachers and their respective departments.
Support from school principals is a critical factor in establishing systemic and effective clustering practices
throughout the District.
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Mainstream Staff Development
With growing numbers of students at the junior high level, and larger proportions of newcomers at all grade
levels, there is an increasing need for staff development for mainstream teachers with respect to the best
instructional practices for ELLs. Efforts continue to be made to offer staff development at both secondary and
elementary levels. Last February, the ELL program held a Best Practices Fair session for secondary mainstream
content teachers. Unfortunately, this effort was met with limited response. At the elementary level, ELL staff has
also provided building-level training to mainstream teachers regarding ELL instructional methods and foreign
cultures.
CONCLUSION
This report is presented to the Hopkins School Board and ESAC for the purpose of providing information on the
implementation of recommendations resulting from the ELL program review, generating discussion, and
soliciting reaction and further feedback.
For further information, please contact Carlos Connell-Torres, Elementary ELL Program Specialist, Rebecca
Dunn, Secondary ELL Program Specialist, or Diane Schimelpfenig Ed. D., Director of Teaching and Learning.
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