The LOOK Act, which was passed in November 2017, and Broadly, the new law aims to provide districts with more flexibility as to the language acquisition programs they choose to meet the needs of English learners, while maintaining accountability for timely and effective English language acquisition. One of the components requires English Learner benchmarks, which requires the Department to establish: (i) benchmarks for English learners for attaining English proficiency; (ii) guidelines to support districts in identifying English learners who do not meet benchmarks; and (iii) an English learner success template for use by districts to assist English learners who are not meeting English proficiency benchmarks. It also requires districts to provide a copy of these materials from the Department to parents/guardians of English learners within specific timeframes and for districts to adopt procedures to identify English learners who do not meet the English proficiency benchmarks and establish various processes relating to them. In this session we will give an overview of Benchmarks process in BPS for SY2019-2020.
In this session the OEL Equity and Accountability team will review the ESL Scheduling memo for the 2019-2020 school year reviewing the basics and technical aspects. There will also be work time built-in to ensure LATFs have time to ensure their school's ESL minutes are updated on Aspen for the October 1 DOJ report.
In the United States, 26% of youth are immigrants or the children of immigrants. We recognize that migration is our shared history, our present, and our future. Too often there is a disconnect between the public conversations about immigration, what we teach in schools, and our students lives. This project seeks to address that gap by collaborating with teachers to encourage students to share their voices while developing strong civic and historical thinking skills. During the 2018-2019 school year, BPS Office of English Learners along with the History/Social Studies Department partnered with Re-Imagining Migration and I Learn America for the “Im/migration Stories” project for students and teachers in SLIFE classrooms and History/Social Studies classrooms in grades 6-12. Come learn about last year’s project where students participated in-class workshops writing and telling their stories of migration and immigration and then shared their stories as a form of civic engagement and how you can possibly bring the learning to your classroom or participate in a project for the upcoming year.
The Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement (MOIA) and Irish International Immigrant Center (IIIC) have partnered to create a professional development for teachers and school staff to better support immigrant students and families in BPS. This training will provide educators a more holistic understanding of federal immigration policies such as TPS, DACA and asylum, as well as city wide resources.
LATFs can receive additional support from OEL staff on pending items such as Aspen scheduling or creating a plan for implementing a system for DESE Benchmarks and ILPs.
Today, students with learning differences have increased rates of depression, "at-risk" behaviors, a higher likelihood of dropping out and, ultimately, higher poverty rates. Without the right support, many of these students will needlessly struggle in school and will be poorly positioned for future success.
At this breakout session, you will be lead through the mail-merge process in Microsoft Word & Excel in order to create an Annual ELD Notification form for each student at your school. *Please bring your laptop*
