Instructional Strategy 

For direct support with instruction/academics for Newcomers/RAELs please submit a support ticket by clicking here.

There are EL Coaches from the district who can directly support teachers/schools with high yield instructional strategies with ELs and Newcomers/RAELs. 

Below you will find helpful downloadable resources for supporting Newcomers/RAELs* academically

Refugee Student Assessments

Upon arrival of a refugee student, our office conducts the following:

1. Education Background Interview: Done in the student's native language, we interview the student and/or the parents to learn about the student's education background. This helps to identify student strengths, growth areas, interests, and identify formal education gaps. Through this interview we may identify a student as SLIFE (Student with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education).

2. Native Language Literacy Assessment (NLLA): This is a quick 10 question assessment. The student must read the questions and write their answers in their native language or whatever language they feel most comfortable in. This assessment helps us to understand, very basic information about whether or not the student has functional literacy in their native language or not. 

BOTH of these documents are uploaded into the student's Electronic Cumulative Documents folder in Synergy which should be accessible to teachers, counselors and administrators. If you have trouble accessing them, please email us at newcomerprogram@aps.edu. 

*Please note that these resources are ONLY available for refugee students upon arrival. If the student came to APS through any other means, you will not see these documents.