Multilingual and Multitalented

Program Duration

2-3 semesters based on academic performance

Grade Level Content Classes (Credits earned for High School students)

English as a Second Language Class

Meet our Staff

High School Daily Schedule

High School Bus Routes

Accommodations and Modifications

SLIFE

Students who completed classes in the grade levels 9-12 in their home country can request a foreign transcript evaluation with the ESL Office to know how many credits can be transferred into their U.S. High School transcript and which grade level is the best fit. The ESL Office will notify the zone school about any transcript evaluation request and make a recommendation for grade-level placement based on the information received. 

Students with limited or interrupted formal education will receive individualized intervention to close the gap while advancing their grade-level academic courses. Empower Academy will analyze each multilingual learner's profile based on the information provided during registration and the data collected from an initial English proficiency screener and/or scores from content grade-level standardized assessments that will serve as benchmarks. This will allow teachers to identify areas of need and decide the next steps for RTI.

All our students in grades 9-12 are recommended to attend the ESL Summer program to participate in the Credit Advancement or Credit Recovery opportunities with language accommodations. 

Integration of Technology

Empower Academy will foster a culture of technology integration in all aspects of the students' academic life by utilizing a variety of technology in the classroom to enhance the students' academic achievement. Multilingual learners will have access to a personal device to login into the different apps to complete academic course work. Students are expected to demonstrate ethical digital citizenship, following recommendations and procedures to access the network while using a device in the school building.

All students in the Empower Academy High School program will receive a BCS email address and login information to access CLEVER. The students are expected to login on CLEVER daily to complete assignments on Schoology and Edgenuity. Students must complete their online assignments to obtain a passing grade.

Career Readiness

Empower Academy strives to prepare multilingual learners with the necessary competencies to be successful in college and in the workplace by following the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards, which are a state-led effort to establish a single set of clear educational standards for all content areas. At Empower Academy, multilingual learners will be part of career-ready practices that will provide them with a framework for developmental lifelong-term experiences necessary using different approaches in a variety of settings, while enhancing their English proficiency.

Assessment and Benchmarks

At Empower Academy, all multilingual learners will participate in continuous formative and summative assessments, as well as in state-mandated standardized testing and benchmarks. 

Students will receive two grades per course every week, a progress report every four weeks, and a report card every nine weeks (see calendar below). The data collected from every assessment will serve to track and monitor progress to decide if a student has mastered a standard or if further intervention is needed.

All Empower Academy students will take their annual WIDA ACCESS test at their program location (Putnam Middle School or Carver High School). For all other state assessments, students will remain in their zone school to take those tests with their grade-level peers in a less restrictive environment and to ensure that a building test coordinator supervises all test security protocols.

All multilingual learners will participate in the annual WIDA ACCESS test as a benchmark to demonstrate progress in their English proficiency. The data obtained by the WIDA ACCESS test will let the teachers know when a student is ready to move into the mainstream classroom at the end of a grading period. Multilingual learners are expected to achieve the target growth as shown in the ALSDE EL Resource Guide Section 10. 

All K-12 Multilingual Learners must participate in the ACAP for accountability purposes. However, ESSA allows the following flexibility for English Learners who have been enrolled in a U.S. school for less than 12 months:

• Exempt a recently-arrived EL from one administration of the Reading/Language Arts assessment (these students must take the math and, if applicable, the science assessments).  

• Exclude their results on the math and science assessments for the purpose of accountability (achievement). Participation in ACCESS for ELLs or Alternate ACCESS for ELLs will count towards participation.  

• Include their achievement results for all content tests in years two and beyond.

If an EL student in their first twelve months of enrollment in a U.S. school chooses to participate in the ACAP Summative or ACAP Alternate reading test, the score for that reading test will not be included for the purpose of accountability. These students will be counted as participants toward meeting the 95% participation requirement for accountability purposes.

There is no flexibility for participation in ACT assessments. All ACT assessments must be taken.

See the chart below to clarify the participation of English Learners in their first 12 months of enrollment in U.S. schools on state assessments. The EL Committee must include decisions regarding the criteria outlined below in the Individual English Language Plan (I-ELP). These decisions must be made on an individual basis.