Students with a similar degree of fluency shall be grouped together. The period of SEI instruction is temporary and not normally intended to exceed one year. Students will be expected to achieve at or above grade level in all academic areas.
Once ELL students have achieved English language fluency they shall be transferred to an English language mainstream classroom. Classroom materials appropriate for the students' level of English language proficiency. Colorado River Schools Hancock Rd. The court ruled that the district must take affirmative steps to overcome educational barriers faced by the non-English speaking Chinese students in the district.
The instruction builds upon the student's primary language skills and develops and expands the English language skills of each student to enable him or her to achieve proficiency in both languages, while providing access to the content areas. The May 25 Memorandum : To clarify a school district's responsibilities with respect to national-origin-minority children, the U.
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, on May 25, , issued a policy statement stating, in part, that "where inability to speak and understand the English language excludes national-origin-minority group children from effective participation in the educational program offered by a school district, the district must take affirmative steps to rectify the language deficiency in order to open the instructional program to the students.
Newcomer Program : Newcomer pro-grams are separate, relatively self-contained educational interventions designed to meet the academic and transitional needs of newly arrived immigrants. Typically, students attend these programs before they enter more traditional interventions e. In the sheltered classroom, teachers use physical activities, visual aids, and the environment to teach vocabulary for concept development in mathematics, science, social studies, and other subjects. Structured English Immersion Program : The goal of this program is acquisition of English language skills so that the ELL student can succeed in an English-only mainstream classroom.
All instruction in an immersion strategy program is in English. Submersion Program : A submersion program places ELL students in a regular English-only program with little or no support services on the theory that they will pick up English naturally. This program should not be confused with a structured English immersion program. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of : Title VI prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, color, or national origin by recipients of federal financial assistance.
The Title VI regulatory requirements have been interpreted to prohibit denial of equal access to education because of a language minority student's limited proficiency in English. Enacted in , the Bilingual Education Act established a federal policy to assist educational agencies to serve students with limited-English-proficiency by authorizing funding to support those efforts.
In addition to providing funds to support services to limited-English-proficient students, Title VII also supports professional development and research activities. Reauthorized in as part of the Improving America's Schools Act, Title VII was restructured to provide for an increased state role and give priority to applicants seeking to develop bilingual proficiency.
The Improving America's Schools Act also modified eligibility requirements for services under Title I so that limited-English-proficient students are eligible for services under that program on the same basis as other students. Federal law requires that students who have been reclassified be monitored for a two-year period. Each of these program elements in some way runs counter to the assumptions and beliefs that have guided ELL program development throughout the last 30 years.
As for the question of self-esteem, SEI advocates point out that ELLs are motivated by measurable success in learning the fundamentals of English, as well as by the improved reading comprehension, enhanced writing skills, and higher levels of achievement in core subjects that come from these enhanced language skills. On the legal front, ballot initiatives requiring SEI programs have been found to comport with federal law. Pickard , immersion programs are viewed as "sequential," in that their goal is to provide foundational English skills before students participate in a full range of academic content courses.
Located in the middle of a Spanish-dominant portion of a town in central California, the school was a magnet bilingual education site for decades—and unfortunately one of the lowest-achieving schools in the district.
The school missed state and federal academic performance targets for years, and fewer than 3 percent of ELLs annually were reclassified as fully English proficient. District data analyses showed that after the first full year of SEI program implementation, the school gained almost 30 points on state test metrics, and English language growth rates tripled in all grades, easily exceeding district and federal targets.
The reclassification rate last year quadrupled to 12 percent. Perhaps most significant, almost 50 percent of the school's intermediate students advanced to the next level of proficiency or met the criteria for being fully English proficient.
Before the SEI program, 70 percent of the school's ELL population regularly showed no English language growth—or even regressed—on the state's yearly English assessment. Pronunciation and listening skills, 20 minutes. Vocabulary, 30 minutes. Verb tense instruction, 20 minutes. Sentence structure, 20 minutes. Integrated grammar skills application, 20 minutes. English reading and writing, 60 minutes. Math specially designed academic instruction in English , 40 minutes.
Science, social science, P. The school offers three levels for each course; students take an assessment every six weeks that could qualify them to move to the next level. Some students move so quickly that they exit the SEI program in less than a year. After the first year of Yuba City's SEI program, the proportion of students reclassified as fully English proficient tripled to 15 percent, nearly twice the state average.
Not surprisingly, the decision to implement a structured English immersion program—whether by law or by choice—frequently brings about conflicts over ideology, pedagogy, and the very role of schooling for English language learners in a culturally and linguistically diverse society. Notwithstanding these challenges, an increasing number of schools, districts, and states across the country have seen that structured English immersion can help students gain the English language skills that are crucial for academic success and opportunities beyond school.
We understand that implementing an SEI program requires some new ways of thinking and teaching, but once teachers and administrators come to understand SEI, they see it as a positive and effective vehicle for helping ELLs learn English much faster than we thought.
Adams, M. Unmasking the myths of structured English immersion. Available: www. Tempe, AZ: Author. Research summary and bibliography for structured English immersion programs [Online].
Phoenix, AZ: Author Available: www. Baker, K. Structured English immersion breakthrough in teaching limited-English-proficient students. Phi Delta Kappan, 80 3 , — Bilingual education: A reappraisal of federal policy.
Lexington, MA: Lexington Books. Combs, C. Bilingualism for the children: Implementing a dual-language program in an English-only state. Educational Policy, 19 5 , — Judson, E. The effects of bilingual education programs and structured English immersion programs on student achievement. Phoenix: Arizona Department of Education. Krashen, S. Massachusetts Department of Education. Questions and answers regarding Chapter 71A: English language education in public schools [Online]. Malden, MA: Author.
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