ESL Laws and Regulations

What are the State Laws and Regulations for ELLs in Kentucky ?
ESL Law, Regulation, and Policy Links
Kentucky Department of Education

What are the Federal Laws and Regulations for ELLs?
Free Downloadable Publication of ELL Laws, Policies, and Regulations
Federal Law & ESL

Title III: No Child Left Behind

♦ Section 3115 (g) [Supplement not supplant]

• Title III can only be used as a supplement, not as the main budget to fund a program.
• It should not be used to hire FTEs or run programs that have no other funding source.

 ♦ Section 3122 (a)(3)(A) [AMAOs]

• We need to show that: our ELL students are learning English better each year, an increasing percentage of them are becoming fluent each year, and that they are making AYP each year.

 ♦ Section 3211 (b)[Improvement plan]

• If a school fails to meet AYP for 2 consecutive years, it must develop an improvement plan to show how they will overcome said failure.

 ♦ Section 3215 [Capacity building]

• The district and schools cannot count on continued financial support for ESL programs. We should plan how to fund ESL programs with existing funds or find funding through the ICSD Board of Education.

♦ Section 3302 (a) [Parental notification]

• The parent must be notified before the child is inducted into the ESL program. Most of what is mandated in this section is covered by sending the parent notification form provided by the district. The only thing it doesn’t cover is expected rate of transition as this will be different for each school and graduation rates for secondary education as that will be determined on a school site basis.

♦ Section 3302 (b) [Notification of failure to meet AMAOs]

• Each school must inform the parents of ELL students when they have failed to meet the Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives each year.

 ♦ Section 3302 (c) [Understandable parent notices]

• Schools must do their best to make parent notices understandable to the parent. Spanish translation should become a priority.

 ♦ Section 3302 (d) [ELL latecomers]

• The school has to notify the parents of their student’s participation in the ESL program within 2 weeks if they did not enroll at the beginning of the year.

 ♦ Section 3302 (e) [Parent participation]

• Schools should proactively reach out to the parents of ELL students to try to involve them in the academic process of their children. Schools should send notices and hold regular meetings to allow these parents a venue to have a say in their child’s education.

 ♦ Section 3302 (f) [Surname admission or exclusion]

• The practice of placing a student in the ESL program based on their surname is against the law. Neither should they be excluded from programs based solely on their surname.

Title III: Funding From the Governement Under NCLB

The Kentucky Title III Program provides support to districts as they work with their English Learners and Immigrant students to:

• Choose an educational approach
• Identify and assess the students
• Provide a research-based program of services
• Provide staffing and resources
• Implement state criteria for transitioning students from services
• Maintain accurate data and reporting in order to:
  • Monitor transitioned students
  • Periodically evaluate and revise their program
  • Receive funding allocations

Souce: KDE website

Title VI: Civil Rights Code
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to provide any alternative language programs necessary to ensure that national origin minority students with limited-English proficiency (LEP students) have meaningful access to the schools’ programs.

A. Adequacy of Program
1. Soundness of educational approach

Castaneda requires districts to use educational theories that are recognized as sound by some experts in the field, or at least theories that are recognized as legitimate educational strategies. 648 F. 2d at 1009. Some approaches that fall under this category include transitional bilingual education, bilingual/bicultural education, structured immersion, developmental bilingual education, and English as a Second Language (ESL).

2. Proper Implementation

Castaneda requires that “the programs and practices actually used by a school system [be] reasonably calculated to implement effectively the educational theory adopted by the school.”

a) Staffing
Districts have an obligation to provide the staff necessary to implement their chosen program properly within a reasonable period of time.
If a recipient has shown that it has unsuccessfully tried to hire qualified teachers, it must provide adequate training to teachers already on staff to comply with the Title VI regulation.
b) Exit Criteria for Language Minority LEP Students
Once students have been placed in an alternative language program, they must be provided with services until they are proficient enough in English to participate meaningfully in the regular educational program. Some factors to examine in determining whether formerly LEP students are able to participate meaningfully in the regular educational program include: (1) whether they are able to keep up with their non-LEP peers in the regular educational program; (2) whether they are able to participate successfully in essentially all aspects of the school’s curriculum without the use of simplified English materials; and (3) whether their retention in-grade and dropout rates are similar to those of their non-LEP peers.
3. Program Evaluation
In return for allowing schools flexibility in choosing and implementing an alternative language program, Castaneda requires recipients to modify their programs if they prove to be unsuccessful after a legitimate trial. As a practical matter, recipients cannot comply with this requirement without periodically evaluating their programs.
Souce: Ed.gov

What data be kept by teachers and used for monitoring progress?
 
Specific data elements must be collected to ensure that accurate information is available for federal reporting, state reporting and other data sharing. Data Standards document requirements for data entry in the Kentucky Student Information System (KSIS).

Data Standardization is the process of making all data of the same type or class conform to an established convention or procedure to ensure consistency and comparability across different databases

KDE ELL Data Standards Regulations

Summary of Data Standards:
1. Attendance
2. Behavior
3. Census (Student Contact Information)
Attendance Behavior Census
4. Census (Teacher Information)
5. Course Codes
6. Course Census (Teacher Information)
7. Enrollment
8. Extended School Services (ESS)
9. Free/Reduced Application Management (FRAM)
10. FRYSC (Individual Intervention Detail)
11. Gifted and Talented
12. Gifted and Talented (Records Transfer)
13. Grades (term, final, and EOC grades)
14. Graduation
15. Health
16. Homeless Identification
17. Immigrant Identification
18. Limited English Proficiency (LEP)
19. LEP (New Conversion)
20. Preschool
21. Special Education Identification
22. System Administration
23. Teacher of Record
24. Technical Education Database System (TEDS)
25. Title I
26. Transportation Records

KDE approved instructional accommodations for Limited English Proficient (LEP) students include:

Read text in English
Scribe responses
Bilingual or English dictionary
Promoting/cueing
Provide visuals/organizers
Use spell-check
Provide content objectives
Engage in academic conversations
Teach and model mega-cognitive
Oral native language support
Read test in primary language
Extended time
Small group/single test form admin.
Provide adapted materials/tech
Link instruction to prior learning
Build background knowledge
Scaffold responses (oral/written)
Bilingual or English glossary
Simplified language
Assistive technology
Adapt pace of instruction
Use computer/software
Provide language objectives
Model language/task completion
Provide interaction opportunities

**Note that the LEP accommodations are almost the exactly the same as accommodations for students in special education.