ESOL in MCPS ( Elementary level)

[Anonymous]

How widely is ESOL instruction is given in MCPS? - I know in some places they let the kids enroll in the program in they claim that they speak another language at home, while in some places, this program is only applied to students who " need help".

Also, will the "label" affect anything later on? like reading group, GT selection?

We are moving to Montgomery County this summer- my son is going to be in 2nd grader in September, we speak another language at home.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Does your son currently attend school in English?

Our MCPS elementary falls into the latter of your two categories. I can't speak to other schools.

No I don't think the "label" affects anything later on. ESOL is something that students "graduate from" all the time. Also, reading and spelling groups are re-assessed and shuffled many times each year.

[Anonymous]

If your child does not need help with English then I would not sign him up. They pull them out of class and they miss class time instruction. Our school needed the numbers and wanted my child to enroll in Esol simply because we are a no-lingual home.

[Anonymous]

Parents fill out to home language survey when they register their child and if they mark that another language other than English is spoken at home, the child will be tested to determine if he/she is eligible for services. ESOL students receive classroom and a few testing accommodations if the teachers think they are necessary for that particular student. Parents can refuse services but the student will still continue to be tested annually to determine if they are eligible for services the following year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents fill out to home language survey when they register their child and if they mark that another language other than English is spoken at home, the child will be tested to determine if he/she is eligible for services. ESOL students receive classroom and a few testing accommodations if the teachers think they are necessary for that particular student. Parents can refuse services but the student will still continue to be tested annually to determine if they are eligible for services the following year.

This is exactly how it goes. They are tested and get ESOL services if they qualify. I don’t know how hard it is to qualify, but my son, who had only been speaking Rnglish for about a year at the time he was tested, was found not eligible.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does your son currently attend school in English?

Our MCPS elementary falls into the latter of your two categories. I can't speak to other schools.

No I don't think the "label" affects anything later on. ESOL is something that students "graduate from" all the time. Also, reading and spelling groups are re-assessed and shuffled many times each year.

Thank you for your input.

I think I saw at a threat it says " whether the student is a recipient of services (i.e., special education, free and reduced-priced meals status, English speakers of other languages, and 504)" is one of the factors that will be considered during GT admission?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does your son currently attend school in English?

Our MCPS elementary falls into the latter of your two categories. I can't speak to other schools.

No I don't think the "label" affects anything later on. ESOL is something that students "graduate from" all the time. Also, reading and spelling groups are re-assessed and shuffled many times each year.

Thank you for your input.

I think I saw at a threat it says " whether the student is a recipient of services (i.e., special education, free and reduced-priced meals status, English speakers of other languages, and 504)" is one of the factors that will be considered during GT admission?

I would think it would be a plus for GT admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does your son currently attend school in English?

Our MCPS elementary falls into the latter of your two categories. I can't speak to other schools.

No I don't think the "label" affects anything later on. ESOL is something that students "graduate from" all the time. Also, reading and spelling groups are re-assessed and shuffled many times each year.

Thank you for your input.

I think I saw at a threat it says " whether the student is a recipient of services (i.e., special education, free and reduced-priced meals status, English speakers of other languages, and 504)" is one of the factors that will be considered during GT admission?

I would think it would be a plus for GT admissions.

Agree with this. MCPS has said that it does consider ESOL and 504s, etc when deciding on Magnet MS admissions.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents fill out to home language survey when they register their child and if they mark that another language other than English is spoken at home, the child will be tested to determine if he/she is eligible for services. ESOL students receive classroom and a few testing accommodations if the teachers think they are necessary for that particular student. Parents can refuse services but the student will still continue to be tested annually to determine if they are eligible for services the following year.

This is exactly how it goes. They are tested and get ESOL services if they qualify. I don’t know how hard it is to qualify, but my son, who had only been speaking Rnglish for about a year at the time he was tested, was found not eligible.

It depends on what grade level a student enters. If they enter in KG, the test is listening and speaking. If they enter later, reading and writing is also part of the test. I joke that plenty of native English speakers at my school would qualify for ESOL if we tested everyone.

[Anonymous]

DD was classified as needing ESOL help when she entered kindergarten, mostly because she refused to speak much during the evaluation they did of her English skills. We indicated she was a native speaker of German/Spanish/English when we enrolled her.

We refused the ESOL instruction because we knew her skills were fine, she knew all three languages equally and was already reading in English before kindergarten.

Fast forward to third grade, she tested as GT and got into a magnet program for 4th grade (she did not attend).

So in all, I think it did not hurt her at all. Being a speaker of other languages has been a plus for her at school in many ways.

[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.

Are you a teacher at the Focus school? You can't maximize your ESOL numbers--the students who are eligible to be tested, as designated by the home language survey, are tested and either qualify or not. As a test administrator, you should have no bearing on their score. If the principal is encouraging you to alter their scores, that is a serious testing violation, not to mention unethical.

Students are not "put in ESOL." They qualify, based on assessment, or they don't. The home language survey is filled out by parents, and it has 3 questions: what languages are spoken in your home, what language(s) does your child speak to you and others, and what language(s) do you speak to your child. If two out of three questions are answered with a language other than English, the student is tested. It is harder to qualify for ESOL in kindergarten, because the test only measures listening and speaking ability. In first grade and beyond, there are writing and reading components. It's not a perfect test, but it's also not some blanket to just randomly put kids in ESOL against their will. "Perfectly fine English" is often not enough. English, like any language, is very complex and students who can easily carry on a conversation or read a primary level textbook may still need ESOL to develop their vocabulary and grammar to be on par with English-only peers.

OP, if you are looking to avoid ESOL for your child, simply answer English for those questions on the enrollment form.

[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.

Uh, this is not how it works. I am an ESOL teacher at a focus school. The only way to “exit” ESOL is to achieve proficiency on the annual WIDA ACCESS test. It is not a school based decision to keep kids in ESOL or to exit them from ESOL. In addition, ESOL focuses on all 4 language domains (listening, speaking, reading & writing) so even if it appears that students “speak perfectly fine English” in terms of BICS (basic interpersonal language) there are often needs in the other domains—most often reading and writing.

In terms of service models it may differ by school. I only pull out my newcomers and plug in/co teach in the literacy block. I have lessons prepared aligned with the curriculum’s language obejectives and pull kids aside for those mini lessons. I also support what they’re working on in class. There’s often a long line of kids waiting for the teacher to check their work before they move on to the next step so it goes a lot faster when I’m able to do that as well for my students in the class. I also help the classroom teachers make the content more comprehensible for ELLs.

OP, let me know if you have any other questions. My school also has a CES and there are a lot of RELs accepted to the program so I don’t think it hurts chances for magnets but we don’t have any current ESOL students in the CES although some do exit at the end of 3rd grade and then go to the CES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How widely is ESOL instruction is given in MCPS? - I know in some places they let the kids enroll in the program in they claim that they speak another language at home, while in some places, this program is only applied to students who " need help".

Also, will the "label" affect anything later on? like reading group, GT selection?

We are moving to Montgomery County this summer- my son is going to be in 2nd grader in September, we speak another language at home.

Thank you!

It seems to follow two tracks: kids fluent in home language and had decent previous schooling stay in esol maybe 2-4 quarters in ES.
Or kids not truly fluent in any language nor went to school on a regular basis who stay in esol for 2+ years.