ESOL in MCPS ( Elementary level)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the ES. And the principal.

We are at a Focus school and the principal likes to maximize the ESOL numbers. So we have quite a few kids who speak perfectly fine English, but get put in ESOL for a few years so they get some extra attention.

For a few years!?! To boost numbers and fed aid?!? And get extra teacher attn?!?

Must be nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an ESOL teacher and our principal always wants our input on students who would benefit from GT classes. Apparently they are underrepresented in GT.

eSOL grads are needed in GT or current ESOL kids are wanted in GT?

[Anonymous]

I (non-native English speaker) & DH (native English speaker) only speak English to DC in English, but we do speak to each other in other languages. DC is exposed to other languages indirectly, and the main reason that we decide not to teach her other languages because she has speech disorder. She has been going to weekly speech therapies since she was 18 months old, and she is currently 4 year old. She has difficulty in pronouncing some sounds because she can't, and intensive therapies help over time.

In her case, would elementary school put her in ESOL class or not? Good or bad for her if she is placed in ESOL class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the ES. And the principal.

We are at a Focus school and the principal likes to maximize the ESOL numbers. So we have quite a few kids who speak perfectly fine English, but get put in ESOL for a few years so they get some extra attention.

For a few years!?! To boost numbers and fed aid?!? And get extra teacher attn?!?

Must be nice.

Go look at the other esol teachers in this thread, op was either lying or the principal is super shady

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I (non-native English speaker) & DH (native English speaker) only speak English to DC in English, but we do speak to each other in other languages. DC is exposed to other languages indirectly, and the main reason that we decide not to teach her other languages because she has speech disorder. She has been going to weekly speech therapies since she was 18 months old, and she is currently 4 year old. She has difficulty in pronouncing some sounds because she can't, and intensive therapies help over time.

In her case, would elementary school put her in ESOL class or not? Good or bad for her if she is placed in ESOL class?

I think the home language survey doesn't trigger unless you say name a non English language twice.

If she has a speech disorder she can get an IEP so I'd talk to her case manager about whether she'd receive the esol assessment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I (non-native English speaker) & DH (native English speaker) only speak English to DC in English, but we do speak to each other in other languages. DC is exposed to other languages indirectly, and the main reason that we decide not to teach her other languages because she has speech disorder. She has been going to weekly speech therapies since she was 18 months old, and she is currently 4 year old. She has difficulty in pronouncing some sounds because she can't, and intensive therapies help over time.

In her case, would elementary school put her in ESOL class or not? Good or bad for her if she is placed in ESOL class?

It might depend what you write in the form, but it seems to me that an IEP for speech/language services would be more appropriate than ESOL. ESOL in elementary is not a separate class. It is a teacher who does pull-outs or who comes into the main teacher’s class to help the ESOL students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an ESOL teacher and our principal always wants our input on students who would benefit from GT classes. Apparently they are underrepresented in GT.

eSOL grads are needed in GT or current ESOL kids are wanted in GT?

The assumption on dekum is frequently that ESOL kids are dumb or low performing but the reality is that being bilingual or in some cases by literate does not make you less intelligent it often makes you more intelligent ( which is why many of the language immersion programs have waiting lists). It can be very normal for kids to lag behind their peers due to language Gap and then succeed and exceed them once they have the language skills necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an ESOL teacher and our principal always wants our input on students who would benefit from GT classes. Apparently they are underrepresented in GT.

eSOL grads are needed in GT or current ESOL kids are wanted in GT?

Both. I have 2 current ESOL students who qualified for our GT program as well as some former students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an ESOL teacher and our principal always wants our input on students who would benefit from GT classes. Apparently they are underrepresented in GT.

eSOL grads are needed in GT or current ESOL kids are wanted in GT?

Both. I have 2 current ESOL students who qualified for our GT program as well as some former students.

Active, involved parents instilling work ethic and the value of education, regardless of ESOL status, help with Gt. That said MCPS Gt programs are so small in number of students I wouldn’t count on them being there but for a fraction of the students they should serve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I (non-native English speaker) & DH (native English speaker) only speak English to DC in English, but we do speak to each other in other languages. DC is exposed to other languages indirectly, and the main reason that we decide not to teach her other languages because she has speech disorder. She has been going to weekly speech therapies since she was 18 months old, and she is currently 4 year old. She has difficulty in pronouncing some sounds because she can't, and intensive therapies help over time.

In her case, would elementary school put her in ESOL class or not? Good or bad for her if she is placed in ESOL class?

It might depend what you write in the form, but it seems to me that an IEP for speech/language services would be more appropriate than ESOL. ESOL in elementary is not a separate class. It is a teacher who does pull-outs or who comes into the main teacher’s class to help the ESOL students.

In MCPS, on the enrollment form, you would answer the home language questions posted earlier. If you only speak to your DD in English and she only responds in English, she would not be tested for ESOL, nor should she if she does not communicate in another language. I will say, as an ESOL teacher, there is some profiling that I've seen (NOT in my school, because I would put a stop to it) where students who have "foreign" names are assumed to be potential ESOL students and tested without checking the survey first. When you bring her for kindergarten, you may want to point out that she only speaks English and should not be in ESOL. Given what you've said, speech therapy, which would be provided at school with an IEP, is the more appropriate support.

[Anonymous]

ESOL teacher in another district in MD. There is no way I would test a student who doesn't appear on my To Be Tested. When any other language other than English is inputted by the secretary from the home language survey, that student's name appears on the list. If they didn't put any other language other than English, I would never see their name on the list. My own child has a Hispanic last name but his name would never appear on our district's To Be Tested list because I only marked English on the home language survey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ESOL teacher in another district in MD. There is no way I would test a student who doesn't appear on my To Be Tested. When any other language other than English is inputted by the secretary from the home language survey, that student's name appears on the list. If they didn't put any other language other than English, I would never see their name on the list. My own child has a Hispanic last name but his name would never appear on our district's To Be Tested list because I only marked English on the home language survey.

Unfortunately, at least at some MCPS schools, there is no safeguard like that. I have received ESOL students who transferred to my school and spoken with parents who didn't know why they were getting ESOL. When we backtracked through paperwork, we found that even with English listed, the student was still tested, and some other issue (even just shyness) caused them to "qualify" based on the assessment. It's been a very rare occurrence, but it has happened, which is why I brought it up to OP. Like I said, it would never happen in my school, or most others so long as teachers are ethical, but it does happen. People make assumptions and think they're just saving time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ESOL teacher in another district in MD. There is no way I would test a student who doesn't appear on my To Be Tested. When any other language other than English is inputted by the secretary from the home language survey, that student's name appears on the list. If they didn't put any other language other than English, I would never see their name on the list. My own child has a Hispanic last name but his name would never appear on our district's To Be Tested list because I only marked English on the home language survey.

Unfortunately, at least at some MCPS schools, there is no safeguard like that. I have received ESOL students who transferred to my school and spoken with parents who didn't know why they were getting ESOL. When we backtracked through paperwork, we found that even with English listed, the student was still tested, and some other issue (even just shyness) caused them to "qualify" based on the assessment. It's been a very rare occurrence, but it has happened, which is why I brought it up to OP. Like I said, it would never happen in my school, or most others so long as teachers are ethical, but it does happen. People make assumptions and think they're just saving time.

I’m an MCPS ESOL teacher and have never experienced this. We go through files very carefully and make copies of the home language survey (it used to be a separate document and now it’s included on the student information sheet every family fills out for enrollment). Then we print out class lists and mark each student who needs to be entry tested based solely on the HLS responses. We check and recheck. I can’t imagine what other corners are being cut in schools that “test first and apologize later”. They should be penalized for doing so.

We always have the document signed by the parent to back up why we tested their child. We have had some parents who get mad when they receive the Parent Notification Letter (PNL) and raise hell and cry profiling but their tune changes when we produce the document that they completed with languages other than English written and signed by the parent. It states directly on the Home Language Survey that two or more responses with languages other than English means that their child will be assessed to see if they qualify for ESOL services. Unfortunately a lot of people don’t actually read documents that they sign. I can’t even imagine testing a child based on anything other than the responses on the HLS.