Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 19:52     Subject: is a language other than english spoken in your house?
Anonymous wrote:Some light, rather than heat ...

US federal law requires that children who require additional English language instruction in order to meet academic content standards receive those services. It is the responsibility of school districts to ensure that they identify those children and provide services.

DC (and most school districts nationwide) begin this process by screening kids via a Home Language Survey -- this is the form on which you indicate if you speak languages other than English at home. From the DCPS website:

"If the OSSE Home Language Survey indicates that a language other than English is spoken in the home to or by the student, the student must be screened for possible identification as an EL using the appropriate screener within 30 school days of the student’s first official school day"
https://osse.dc.gov/page/english-learners-els

Also worth knowing is that parents have the right to decline these services for their children.


The test is called ACCESS and has four parts--reading, writing, speaking, and listening. If you pass the test first time you are labeled "not an ELL". Scores are 1-6 and 6 is considered tested out. Say you first test and get a 3, then the next year test out, you have two years of "monitoring" to make sure you make progress. You can also get testing accommodations for this time. Eventually you "exit" monitoring and are done. In DCPS there is no curriculum or set model. I was an ELL teacher and it was basically "here's what they need to know, do something." In the suburbs of MD there was actually a curriculum and solid pull out services.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 19:07     Subject: is a language other than english spoken in your house?
Some light, rather than heat ...

US federal law requires that children who require additional English language instruction in order to meet academic content standards receive those services. It is the responsibility of school districts to ensure that they identify those children and provide services.

DC (and most school districts nationwide) begin this process by screening kids via a Home Language Survey -- this is the form on which you indicate if you speak languages other than English at home. From the DCPS website:

"If the OSSE Home Language Survey indicates that a language other than English is spoken in the home to or by the student, the student must be screened for possible identification as an EL using the appropriate screener within 30 school days of the student’s first official school day"
https://osse.dc.gov/page/english-learners-els

Also worth knowing is that parents have the right to decline these services for their children.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 15:04     Subject: is a language other than english spoken in your house?
I made the mistake in preschool to mention that we spoke diff languages at home (though kids primarily spoke English anyway), and there was unnecessary extra testing, because saying "yes" automatically triggers it, they don't bother finding out the context. Unless you are worried about your kids needing ESL help, don't do it.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 14:47     Subject: is a language other than english spoken in your house?
I work with a young kid who speaks perfect English and also Spanish, he actually translates for his parents who speak little English themselves. He gets ESOL services because he does not test well and did not test out. I figure at least he's learning techniques for working with his parents as he helps them learn English.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 14:33     Subject: is a language other than english spoken in your house?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am not in the DMV but I worked in that testing system. The tests are fairly advanced for K students. They may fail the test and will be stuck until next test 6 mo later unless someone agrees to listen to you and pull them out of the system. I have a mom friend who brings in au pairs from her home country who speak her native language with the kids. She honestly answered and her English speaking kid was tested and didn’t pass. He was missing on more advanced and more fun instruction like “presentation” as he was with ESOL kids. She pulled him out but it took a while for her to alert the district and for them to retest.
In short: don’t do it. There is no label but the kid will have extra testing and may miss out on fun activities. We were not supposed to pull kids out of PE but when we had to, we did.


^^ this, I am OP and this exactly what DH said will happen (them missing out on fun or more challenging stuff, ps he works in education testing).


We've hosted au pairs for many years precisely for the reason to bring fluency in a second language into our home (we speak the language fluently, but it is not our default), and I answered "yes" on the form and had none of the complications that were referenced above. YMMV.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 14:15     Subject: is a language other than english spoken in your house?
I confess I lie on the form. I am on Europe and my kids are fluent in my language in addition to English. at first I meant to tell the truth but then I realized that there would be testing to gauge the English proficiency of my kids. at the time one of them had tons of health issues and we were getting an IEP and we really did not have time to waste on something unnecessary. in a sense, we don't lie because our kids' English is perfect (better than how they speak my language, which my DH does not speak), so kids do not need testing. we also save time to DCPS that they do not need to waste resources testing my kids, who speak English perfectly, and can focus on kids who may need support. I am normally a very law and order person but this is the one instance where I basically lie
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 14:13     Subject: is a language other than english spoken in your house?
Anonymous wrote:I am not in the DMV but I worked in that testing system. The tests are fairly advanced for K students. They may fail the test and will be stuck until next test 6 mo later unless someone agrees to listen to you and pull them out of the system. I have a mom friend who brings in au pairs from her home country who speak her native language with the kids. She honestly answered and her English speaking kid was tested and didn’t pass. He was missing on more advanced and more fun instruction like “presentation” as he was with ESOL kids. She pulled him out but it took a while for her to alert the district and for them to retest.
In short: don’t do it. There is no label but the kid will have extra testing and may miss out on fun activities. We were not supposed to pull kids out of PE but when we had to, we did.


^^ this, I am OP and this exactly what DH said will happen (them missing out on fun or more challenging stuff, ps he works in education testing).
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 14:10     Subject: Re:is a language other than english spoken in your house?
Anonymous wrote:I didn't know about the labeling, testing etc- that's interesting. One parent speaks only German to the kids and one parent speaks only English. The German speaking parent is the SAHP so the kids (2 and 4) are much more fluent in German than English, although their English is fine for all basic purposes especially their comprehension (is that a thing? "more fluent"? or is fluency hard you are/you aren't type thing? whatever)

Put English and done. This is not for your child. Don't let them tell you otherwise. They asked me if my kid needed Esol services after hearing me speak when I was dropping off the paperwork for second year. Luckily his teacher just happened to walk by and said:" Nooo!". I got an impression that they really would like to do it to get money. I might be wrong though.
For our 2nd kid we wrote down "English" even though we speak several languages at home. He has been at school almost a year now and don't think it will come up at all.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 14:09     Subject: is a language other than english spoken in your house?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Answer honestly with what language is used most frequently and consistently at home.

Talk to the principal as soon as school starts and ask them to test your child's English fluency. Getting them assessed quickly and waived out of any ELL supports should not be a problem.



Do they test every year? or if the kids get the ELL support it is forever?


Different poster- they are tested every 6 mo where I live.
Yes kids can “graduate” or “be reclassified” and it happens very quickly for kids from educated households.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 14:06     Subject: is a language other than english spoken in your house?
I am not in the DMV but I worked in that testing system. The tests are fairly advanced for K students. They may fail the test and will be stuck until next test 6 mo later unless someone agrees to listen to you and pull them out of the system. I have a mom friend who brings in au pairs from her home country who speak her native language with the kids. She honestly answered and her English speaking kid was tested and didn’t pass. He was missing on more advanced and more fun instruction like “presentation” as he was with ESOL kids. She pulled him out but it took a while for her to alert the district and for them to retest.
In short: don’t do it. There is no label but the kid will have extra testing and may miss out on fun activities. We were not supposed to pull kids out of PE but when we had to, we did.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 14:03     Subject: is a language other than english spoken in your house?
Anonymous wrote:Answer honestly with what language is used most frequently and consistently at home.

Talk to the principal as soon as school starts and ask them to test your child's English fluency. Getting them assessed quickly and waived out of any ELL supports should not be a problem.



Do they test every year? or if the kids get the ELL support it is forever?
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 13:59     Subject: Re:is a language other than english spoken in your house?
I didn't know about the labeling, testing etc- that's interesting. One parent speaks only German to the kids and one parent speaks only English. The German speaking parent is the SAHP so the kids (2 and 4) are much more fluent in German than English, although their English is fine for all basic purposes especially their comprehension (is that a thing? "more fluent"? or is fluency hard you are/you aren't type thing? whatever)
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 13:55     Subject: is a language other than english spoken in your house?
This^^. They do a quick assessment but most kids won’t need the extra classes.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 13:40     Subject: is a language other than english spoken in your house?
Answer honestly with what language is used most frequently and consistently at home.

Talk to the principal as soon as school starts and ask them to test your child's English fluency. Getting them assessed quickly and waived out of any ELL supports should not be a problem.

Anonymous
Post 04/01/2019 13:36     Subject: is a language other than english spoken in your house?
How do you answer this question on your enrollment form for immigrant families with kids perfectly fluent in english? I have heard that answering yes trigger all kind of extra classes and labelling.

Thanks