What's MLP?
Lancaster County School District’s Multilingual Learner Program (MLP) is designed to provide equal educational opportunities to students who have a primary or home language other than English and who are classified as Multilingual Learners (MLs). This program identifies and serves the linguistic and academic needs of students who enter our schools with limited English proficiency. These students are identified as Limited English Proficient (LEP). They are protected by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (and other subsequent legislation and court decisions) from being discriminated against in their education. LEP students are entitled to an equal education regardless of their national origin, English proficiency, or immigration status.
Lancaster County School District strives to create a learning environment that encourages students' pride in their cultural heritage and provides the cognitive and affective support to help students become contributing members of society. This program, beginning in kindergarten and continuing through high school, will provide each non-English or LEP student the opportunity to develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing proficiency in order to be successful academically as a mainstream student.
The following District objectives guide the program implementation:
To identify and assess the language proficiency of all students whose native or home language is not English.
To provide English language instruction to all students who do not understand, speak, read, or write English.
To assess and monitor the academic progress of language minority students with an ongoing evaluation process.
To support the development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills through ESOL instruction.
To provide an opportunity for ELLs to function comparably with their English-speaking classmates after the appropriate level of assistance.
To create a learning environment that will meet cognitive and affective needs.
To exit students from the program when their academic language abilities are educationally appropriate for the mainstream classroom.
To support the curriculum and instruction of the regular classroom teacher as appropriate to the developmental language stage of the student.
To provide professional development and appropriate instructional and assessment strategies for principals, guidance counselors, teachers, and other school personnel, as needed, on The Language and Cultural needs of multilingual students.
To communicate instructional goals and expectations to parents and encourage them to support their children's progress.
Common acronyms:
MLP - Multilingual Learner Program (Formerly known as ESOL – English for Speakers of Other Languages)
ML - Multilingual Learner
MLPS - Multilingual Learner Specialist (School Level)
MLPC - Multilingual Learner Program Coordinator (District Level) - in LCSD = ML Program District Lead
ACCESS - Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English language learners
ELL – English Language Learner
ELP – English Language Proficiency
Home Language - the language(s) spoken in the home by significant others (e.g. family members, caregivers, etc).
Home Language Survey (HLS) - the instrument used to identify language learners at the time of enrollment.
LEP – Limited English Proficient
Newcomer: any non-English speaking student who has never attended American schools and is new to the country.
Primary Language (L1) - first or native language spoken by an individual
WIDA – World-class Instructional Design and Assessment. A consortium of states dedicated to the design and implementation of high standards and equitable educational opportunities for English language Learners. It supports the development of academic language and achievement for linguistically diverse students
Multilingual Learners
Language learners come from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. They are diverse and they enter our classrooms with a variety of different experiences including:
First language
Educational background
Literacy levels
Entrance age in U.S. schools
Living situations
Culture
Socioeconomic status
Expectations for schooling
Life experiences
Schools, teachers, and community members may wonder about the definition of a language learner, with a tendency to think that it only pertains to students who are newcomers and who have very low proficiency in the English language.
SCDE Title III Terminology.pdf26901_Multilingual Learner Program Terminology.pdfTitle III is responsible for the oversight of the language instruction of MLs and immigrant children and youth. This is accomplished by:
administering grant programs that help children develop proficiency in English and achieve grade-level content standards.
recommending policies and promoting best practices for meeting the needs of MLs.
strengthening collaboration and coordination among federal, state, and local programs serving MLs, monitoring funded programs, and providing technical assistance that addresses outcomes and accountability.
District's Responsibility Toward MLs
2-OELA_2017_language_assist_508C.pdfchap9.pdfTitle III Multilingual Learner and Immigrant Student Program Guiding Principles.pdf