Howard County Program Philosophy
All students are entitled to equity and excellence in their educational program. Based on national TESOL standards, the HCPSS ESOL program provides a balance between basic interpersonal communicative skills and cognitive academic language proficiency. In order to achieve academic competency in English, needs are best met in a content-based program of instruction. This approach provides a learning environment which emphasizes skills and strategies that support and supplement mainstream instruction. Combining language and content instruction is essential if ELLs are to close the educational gap and meet or exceed rigorous performance standards. For more information on the HCPSS Program Philosophy, please visit http://www.hcpss.org/academics/esol/philosophy.shtml.
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) is for students who come from a background where the dominant language is other than American English. Students will benefit from an ESOL program of instruction by improving their proficiency in understanding, speaking, reading, or writing the English language.
The ESOL middle school program is based on four major goals. Students will demonstrate the ability to:
WIDA
World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment: "With the WIDA ELD Standards as a guide and through collaboration of ESOL and content area teachers, ELLs will be provided with quality instruction that enables them to meet school expectations, perform well on mandated assessments, and become college and career ready." For more information, please visit the Maryland State Department of Education website: http://mdk12.org/instruction/curriculum/elp/index.html
Instruction in the ESOL program will focus on the 2012 Amplification of the English Language Development Standards (ELD). The ELD Standards includes a connection to the Common Core Curriculum and the Next Generation Science Standards. The standards are as follows: 1) Social and Instructional Language, 2) the language of Language Arts, 3) the language of Mathematics, 4) the language of Science, and 5) the language of Social Studies. For more information on WIDA and ACCESS, please visit WIDA's website: http://www.wida.us/index.aspx
State Assessment
All Howard County ESOL students take an English language proficiency assessment called ACCESS for ELLs (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English Language Learners) . This test is given annually to monitor students' progress in acquiring academic English.
ACCESS for ELLs test items are based on performance indicators of WIDA's five English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards:
ESOL Test 2014-2015
All students are entitled to equity and excellence in their educational program. Based on national TESOL standards, the HCPSS ESOL program provides a balance between basic interpersonal communicative skills and cognitive academic language proficiency. In order to achieve academic competency in English, needs are best met in a content-based program of instruction. This approach provides a learning environment which emphasizes skills and strategies that support and supplement mainstream instruction. Combining language and content instruction is essential if ELLs are to close the educational gap and meet or exceed rigorous performance standards. For more information on the HCPSS Program Philosophy, please visit http://www.hcpss.org/academics/esol/philosophy.shtml.
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) is for students who come from a background where the dominant language is other than American English. Students will benefit from an ESOL program of instruction by improving their proficiency in understanding, speaking, reading, or writing the English language.
The ESOL middle school program is based on four major goals. Students will demonstrate the ability to:
- Develop listening, speaking, and language skills when communicating for interpersonal and academic purposes.
- Acquire literacy skills through the development of strategic reading and listening behaviors, comprehension, and writing.
- Acquire and apply language learning strategies when communicating for both interpersonal and academic purposes
- Develop concepts and vocabulary that connect to the mainstream classroom.
WIDA
World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment: "With the WIDA ELD Standards as a guide and through collaboration of ESOL and content area teachers, ELLs will be provided with quality instruction that enables them to meet school expectations, perform well on mandated assessments, and become college and career ready." For more information, please visit the Maryland State Department of Education website: http://mdk12.org/instruction/curriculum/elp/index.html
Instruction in the ESOL program will focus on the 2012 Amplification of the English Language Development Standards (ELD). The ELD Standards includes a connection to the Common Core Curriculum and the Next Generation Science Standards. The standards are as follows: 1) Social and Instructional Language, 2) the language of Language Arts, 3) the language of Mathematics, 4) the language of Science, and 5) the language of Social Studies. For more information on WIDA and ACCESS, please visit WIDA's website: http://www.wida.us/index.aspx
State Assessment
All Howard County ESOL students take an English language proficiency assessment called ACCESS for ELLs (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English Language Learners) . This test is given annually to monitor students' progress in acquiring academic English.
ACCESS for ELLs test items are based on performance indicators of WIDA's five English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards:
- Social & Instructional Language
- Language of Language Arts
- Language of Mathematics
- Language of Science
- Language of Social Studies
ESOL Test 2014-2015
- Testing begins January 12th
- All ELL students will take the ESOL test
- The test consists of 4 sections- Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing