Overview of EL student population
Waipahu High School has one of the largest EL student populations of any school in Hawaii. Approximately 18% of our student population are considered English Learners, and about 23% of our students have "tested out" of an EL program in an earlier grade. This means that over 40% of our students are or were English Learners.
Our students and their families use over 25 languages. The five most common, in descending order, are Ilokano, Tagalog, Marshallese, Chuukese, and Samoan. Our students and families also use several languages of the Philippines (Visayan, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan, among others) and the Pacific (including Kosraean, Pohnpeian, Tongan, and Yapese). Other languages used by our students and families include Hawaiian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Thai, and Vietnamese.
Our EL students have a range of proficiency in English and their other languages. Their strengths and needs vary.
At one end of the EL spectrum, there are long-term ELs (LTELs) whose basic interpersonal communication skills are on par with their monolingual peers, but need support with academic language- the specialized language read in textbooks or used during a lecture or academic discussion. Just over half of our ELs are LTELs and have been in an EL program for five years or longer.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are students who have arrived recently and are learning survival language, possibly going through a silent period where they are absorbing the new language and adjusting to their new surroundings.
In between, there are students at the emerging and developing levels of English proficiency who are working on the twin challenges of learning content area knowledge in a new language.
Across the EL spectrum, many students are constantly translating back and forth between their languages, processing the English input they receive into their first language and doing the reverse before they speak, something for teachers to keep in mind. It’s helpful for teachers to chunk information, simplify their sentence structure, allow processing time, and provide visual supports.
Entering and Exiting the EL program
When a student first enrolls, they are asked three questions about language- What language did the student learn first? What language does he/she use most often? What language is used most often at home? If the answer to any of these questions is a language other than English, the student is flagged as a potential EL student. Soon after enrolling, the student takes a screener test for English proficiency. Some students are considered Initial Fully English Proficient (IFEP) and do not receive EL services. Most potential EL students are identifed as Non English Proficient (NEP) or Limited English Proficient (LEP) and placed in the school's EL program.
Once in an EL program, students' progress towards proficiency is tracked by the annual ACCESS test in January-February of each school year. When a student reaches the Bridging proficiency level, they are "exited" from the EL program and the school's EL coordinator monitors their academic progress for two school years.
Overview of Waipahu High School’s EL program
Every school’s EL program is different. Here at WHS, our EL students are in one of four instructional settings:
a) Self-contained: classes with exclusively EL students. Also called “J Sections” or Content-based ESL. Students are placed in self-contained classes based on their scores on the annual ACCESS English language proficiency test, or for new students, a screener test. Most of these students are newly-arrived or have been in US schools for only a few years. Ninth- and tenth-grade self-contained students are in the N2N Blue and Gold houses and have self-contained classes for English, math, science, social studies, and health/guidance (10th grade). Eleventh- and twelfth-grade self-contained students have self-contained English, math, science, and social studies classes. These students need the most English language support and some are also in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and English lab classes. There are about 150 students in the self-contained setting.
b) Inclusion: Also called “sheltered instruction”, mainstream, or the general education setting. These students do not need as much English language support as the self-contained students. They are placed in mainstream classes based on their ACCESS scores, grades, and teacher recommendations. Most of these students are long-term ELs who have yet to test out of the EL program and have been in mainstream classes for several years. The ACCESS test assesses academic language, which research shows can take 5-7 years to develop. These students will benefit from sentence frames, direct vocabulary instruction, and opportunities to practice academic language, especially writing and speaking. There are about 260 students in the inclusion setting.
c) SPED inclusion: Students with dual SPED/EL classifications in inclusion or resource classes. Most of these students have been in US schools for some time (long enough to have an individualized education plan) and while they may have issues with second language acquisition, they also have diagnosed learning disabilities. There are about 25 students in this setting.
d) Community Based Instruction - These students are in fully self-contained community-based instruction classrooms. There are about 25 students in this setting.
EL students are supported by a team of sixteen paraprofessionals who work closely with teachers to promote our students' academic growth.
EL Coordinator and Counselor
EL students are supported by two full-time faculty members, EL coordinator Jeremiah Brown and EL counselor Christina Tagal.
Mr. Brown's responsibilities include serving as a resource teacher for WHS faculty, training and coordinating a team of sixteen EL paraprofessionals, determining students' instructional settings, parent and community outreach, conducting annual English proficiency testing, department purchasing and budgeting, compiling various annual federally-mandated reports, and advocating for students and their families.
Mrs. Tagal provides counseling services and support for EL students including social-emotional learning, class scheduling, graduation counseling, college and career counseling, credit recovery, parent and community outreach, and advocating for students and their families.
Assessment and ELs
EL students should be offered accommodations and modifications on assessments much the same way accommodations and modifications are offered to IEP students.
English proficiency testing
Potential ELs are tested for English language proficiency. This placement test is used to determine if a student is eligible for EL services. Some students score high enough that they are placed in mainstream classes, but most enter the EL program.
Each year, EL students take the ACCESS English language proficiency test in January/February. This test includes reading, writing, listening, and speaking sections. Students are rated on a proficiency level from 1-6 and given an overall proficiency level, weighted as follows- 35% reading, 35% writing, 15% listening, 15% speaking.
When a student earns an overall proficiency level of 5.0 or higher, they are exited from the EL program and their academic progress is monitored for two school years.