FRANKLIN NORTHEAST SUPERVISORY UNION 8.2

                        MONTGOMERY TOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT

Tentative Approval: May 11, 2009

Final Approval: June 8, 2009

                                                            POLICY

8.2                               English Language Learners

It is the intent of the Board to ensure the national origin minority students who are English Language Learners (ELL) have meaningful access to school programs. The Superintendent or his or her designee shall be responsible for implementing procedures to comply with federal and state laws which define standards for serving ELL students. Procedures will be established to:

1.         Identify and screen all students whose primary language is other than English, and who therefore have or may have difficulty performing ordinary class work in English, and assess those who cannot learn or achieve on parity with pupils whose primary language is English.

2.         Design or adopt ELL instructional programs recognized as sound in the field. Instructional programs should be aimed at helping ELL students develop English language skills of comprehension, speaking, reading and writing necessary for learning and achieving in English-only instruction at a level substantially equivalent to pupils whose primary language is English.

3.         Maintain adequate records of the educational level and progress of each child identified as in need of English Language Learner programs, and make those records available to appropriate staff members and parents or legal guardians.

4.         Objectively assess the progress of ELL students in order to determine when reclassification or transfer to fully English proficient programs is appropriate. Standards for exit from ELL programs should be objectively based, and should be designed to determine whether ELL students are able to read, write and comprehend English well enough to participate meaningfully in the school district's programs.

5.         Monitor reclassified students' academic achievement to determine whether reclassified students are able to academically compete with English language peers in all-English instruction. Monitoring of newly reclassified students should take place periodically to insure that the ongoing needs of non-English language background students are addressed.

6.         Utilize staffing requirements for ELL programs which require that only qualified educational personnel will be employed to teach ELL students.

7.         Evaluate ELL programs periodically and make modifications when necessary.