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Documenting Accommodations by Proficiency Level

Every school district shall provide a program for each student whose dominant language is not English for the purpose of facilitating the student's achievement of English proficiency and the academic standards under § 4.12 (relating to academic standards). Programs include: 1) planned English language development instruction by a qualified ESL/Bilingual Education teacher, and 2) adaptations/modifications in the delivery of content instruction and assessments by all teachers based on students’ language proficiency levels and the Pennsylvania English Language Development Standards (PA ELDS) Framework for ELs as well as the Pennsylvania academic standards.

ELD delivered by non-ESL teachers: ELD must be incorporated into all classes taught by non-ESL licensed teachers in which ELs are enrolled. These teachers are responsible for deliberately planning for and incorporating language instruction as well as supports, modifications, and accommodations needed to allow ELs to access the standards to which the course is aligned. (Basic Education Circular, Educating English Learners, (State regulation, 22 Pa. Code § 4.26)

Elizabethtown Area School teachers are required to give examples of how they provided accommodations for each EL based on proficiency level (via Google forms) to align with the BEC. Below are accommodations required based on language proficiency level to assist you in your lesson planning, instruction, and differentiation.

Level 1 and 2: Student is beginning to learn conversational English

  • Reduce content to essentials and provide LOTS of visual support
  • Modify the content prioritizing only essential curriculum in assignments, tests, and other assessments
  • Scaffold written and verbal questions as yes/no and simple WH- questions with two choices; chunk matching by category in groups of five (no extra answers)
  • Allow student to respond with gestures, drawings, verbal sentences; ask basic questions to check for understanding rather than asking “if” they understand
  • Read words, phrase or questions aloud upon student request
  • Focus on high frequency content vocabulary with visual support (online flashcards/Quizlet)
  • Provide visual resources (pictures, videos, diagrams, realia, graphic organizers) and examples of tasks and projects
  • Provide support: native speaker buddy, small group, extended time, suggest use of first language translation tools, highlight key vocab and ideas in reading passages, leveled texts; use performance tasks as alternate assessments

Classroom Examples:

  • I made a set of Quizlet flashcards of essential vocabulary terms with pictures and used this as an alternate assessment.
  • I allowed the students to answer questions verbally for the written section of a science test.
  • I eliminated questions I thought might be too confusing linguistically and were not part of the essential curriculum

 

Level 3: Student knows conversational English, but is only beginning to learn academic English

  • Modify the content prioritizing key ideas in assignments, tests, and other assessments
  • Scaffold questions using simplified language, word banks, sentence starters; 2-3 choices for multiple choice; chunk matching by category in groups of five (no extra answers)
  • Provide visual resources (pictures, diagrams, realia, graphic organizers) and examples of tasks and projects
  • Read words, phrase, or questions aloud upon student request
  • Focus on high frequency content vocabulary with visual support (online flashcards)
  • Increase comprehension by pre teaching vocab and including pre reading activities
  • Provide support: complete tasks with a partner/small group; provide study guides and outlines prior to lessons; summarize learning, extended time, allow use of first language translation tools if requested, highlight key vocab and ideas in reading passages, simplify texts and wording

Classroom Examples:

  • I had the EL work with a partner to complete the unit study guide
  • I reduced the unit vocabulary in half and chunked the matching into groups of 5
  • I provided sentences starters and key vocabulary to scaffold written responses on my unit test

 

Level 4: Student understands social language and is learning technical and figurative academic language

  • Scaffold writing with graphic organizers
  • Increase comprehension by pre teaching vocab and including pre reading activities
  • 3 choices for multiple choice, chunk matching by category in groups of five (no extra answers)
  • Provide simplified definitions of idioms and Tier 3 Vocabulary (content-specific academic vocab) when speaking, assigning reading, or assessing
  • Provide support: complete tasks with a partner/small group; provide study guides, extended time, allow use of first language translation tools if requested
  • Observe student in multiple contexts and contact counselor and ELD teacher if learning difficulties exist that do not seem to be related to a language barrier

Classroom Examples:

  • I eliminated word bank choices that weren’t used
  • I checked in with the student on an essay and extended the due date over the weekend

 

Level 5: Student understands academic and social language approaching the level of peers / nearing consideration for Reclassification

  • Provide simplified definitions of idioms and Tier 3 Vocabulary (content-specific academic vocab) when speaking or assigning reading upon request
  • Extended time upon request or as needed
  • Observe student in multiple contexts and contact counselor and ELD teacher if learning difficulties exist that do not seem to be related to a language barrier

Classroom Examples

  • I checked in with the student to see if they needed any clarification or additional help for  class projects
  • I provided student-friendly definitions of idioms used in our novel