Definition of SIFE
Students with Inconsistent/Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE) are MLL/ELs enrolling after grade two,
and have at least two fewer years of age appropriate schooling than peers or have disenrolled from U.S. schools to enroll in schools in other countries (including Puerto Rico) more than two times in the past four years,
and have limited encoding/decoding skills in native language and/or two or more years below grade level in math due to inconsistent or interrupted schooling prior to arrival in the US (as indicated by family interview and/or native language measures and/or review of academic records)---RIDE, 2020 (p.10).
Characteristics of SIFE*
SIFE are defined as Multilingual Language Learners (MLLs)/English Learners (ELs) who come from a home in which a language other than English is spoken and:
*The definition and characteristics were developed using definitions of SIFE by DeCapua, Smathers, & Tang, 2009; RIDE, 2020; U.S. Dept. of Education Newcomer Toolkit (2016); WIDA SIFE Focus (2015).
Factors Affecting SIFE
