How do we determine If a student is EL?

When students register to the school, the parent answers a home language survey with three questions: What is the first language the student learned to speak? , What language does the student speak most? What language is often spoken at home? If the response to any of the three questions is "other language", the student becomes a candidate for ESL services.

The candidate takes a test named WIDA Screener. This test measures the English Language Proficiency of the student in listening and speaking for Kindergarteners, and reading and writing is added for all higher grades.
Sometimes the student comes from another county in North Carolina, where he/she already took the screening test. If that is the case, the student cannot be reassessed and we have to wait for his/her last test scores from the previous county.