Purpose: The purpose of this guide is to inform school office staff, secretaries, principals, teachers, and specialist of procedures and expectations for EB, Emergent Bilingual, students and families. Introduction: An EB student is any student whose family speaks a language other than English in the home or who speaks a language other than English and is determined to be limited English proficient based on results found using the WIDA Screener.

Registration Procedures:

1. All students who register in Springfield Public Schools are required to complete at Home Language Survey at the time of registration. If the parent or guardian is a non-English speaker, the Home Language Survey must be provided in the native language of that person.

2. All Home Language Surveys that indicate that a potential student speaks a language other than English OR that a language other than English is spoken in the home should be sent immediately to Diane Hess, ESL coordinator, at Student Support Services immediately.

ESL Identification and Scheduling:

1. The ESL teacher will assess the student within a two week period to identify the student as EB or Emergent Bilingual. If the student scores below a 5.0 on the WIDA Screener, he or she qualifies for services. A summary of the findings of this assessment will be sent home to parent or guardian in the native language and will be filed in the student’s cum folder.

2. The ESL teacher will determine amount of services based on student need. If a student qualifies for services, a consent to provide services will be given to the parent or guardian in their home language and English and filed in the student’s cum folder.

3. The ESL teacher will create a schedule for the student. The teacher will make every attempt not to pull the student out of common core content, but it is not always possible. Classroom teachers need to remember that EB students are dispersed throughout the district, and that ESL teachers are not always able to work around classroom teacher schedules and requests.

Assessment:

1. All EB students are required to take the WIDA screener upon entering Springfield Public Schools.

2. All EB students are required to take the ACCESS test annually.

3. All EB students are required to take the MAP, (high school tests) dependent upon grade level. All EB students are eligible for ESL accommodations for these tests as identified by the ISBE.