Designing 21st Century Universal Classrooms

English as a Second Language (ESL)

CCSU is committed to ensuring that all educational programs meet the diverse needs of all students.  Students who are English Language Learners (ELL’s) in grades K-12 are provided with a comprehensive English as a Second Language (ESL) Program that is staffed by highly qualified ESL teachers. These teachers focus on meeting the needs of all students in the program in two areas: becoming proficient in the English language and adjusting to the school and community culture.

In order to develop language proficiency, students are provided with frequent, varied, and diverse opportunities to develop skills in four areas of communication: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. These opportunities are designed to promote greater success in the classroom in multiple academic areas. Cultural adjustment is also an important aspect of responsive ESL programming. Students are encouraged to share their cultural backgrounds as they explore similarities and differences with American and local culture. The richness of a multicultural society is warmly communicated to all our ESL students and their families through the ESL program.

Click here to view CCSU Policies related to the English as a Second Language program

Information for Parents and Guardians of English Language Learners

We are required by Title III, Section 3302(b), of the No Child Left Behind Act to inform you whether CHITTENDEN CENTRAL SUPERVISORY UNION met the Federal and state performance targets (Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAOs)) for English Language Learners during the school year(s) in which it received funding from the US Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition. The AMAOs are performance targets designed to measure progress in developing the academic language proficiency of students who are English Language Learners.  The Vermont Department of Education has recently notified us of our 2010 AMAO Determination (based on 2008-2009 AMAO results).

Targets are set for student performance. On the ACCESS Test that students in our schools took in the spring of 2009:

• We did not meet AMAO Target #1: percentage of students “making progress” in English proficiency;
• We met AMAO Target #2: percentage of students “attaining proficiency” in English;
• We met AMAO Target #3: Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for English Language Learners taking the state academic assessments was not an issue for this year because we had too few students taking the test to be measured in this area.

The Title III AMAOs Targets are another tool for our district to evaluate how well our English as a Second Language Programs are meeting the needs of English Language Learners in our schools.  At this time, no other specific action is required by the State.

Remember that these test results are for the whole group of students who took the ACCESS for ELLs® in spring 2009 in our consortium.  They do not describe individual student progress.

Last updated: Jul 7 at 8:41 am