ESL Questions
1. Why don't all WCPSS elementary schools have ESL? Providing ESL in all schools will alleviate to a degree "balancing."
WCPSS has made strong progress in offering ESL in elementary schools. Over the past ten years the school district has moved from ESL programs in nine elementary schools to our current offering of ESL in 55 elementary schools. A critical mass of students in a school attendance area coupled with the resources to staff new ESL sites are the two major factors to be considered when opening new programs.
2. Are there charts of distribution of students who are F&R per node available on line or hard copy? Likewise, ESL?
These charts are not available on line at this time. New charts will be developed within the next month to show the current year's data.
3. What is your overall ESL strategy?
To the extent possible, based on resources and the approval of the Office of Growth Management, we will extend ESL services in base schools to service base LEP populations without having to transport students to other schools to receive these services.
4. How do we know that ESL is the best approach to teach students who speak foreign languages?
English, as a Second Language (ESL) is an array of methods and instructional strategies developed over the years in the United States and other English-speaking countries, time-tested and internationally acknowledged. The goal of ESL is to work with non-English speaking populations in the development of English-language skills. The under girding feature of English as a Second Language, regardless of the methods and strategies employed, is to move the student from simple to more complex English/from concrete to abstract English and from mechanical to real-life English. Without ESL, a student would generally be given no additional support to learn the language.