English
Learners

English Learners

Program Information

Kenowa Hills Public Schools seeks to provide every child, regardless of national origin or native language, quality, and meaningful educational instruction. At Kenowa Hills Public Schools, we value all students and work to serve the needs of students whose primary language is something other than English. Students who are English Learners (ELs) are provided instructional services through designated and integrated English Learner Development (ELD) instruction.  

• Designated ELD: Designated ELD is language acquisition instruction provided to students during identified times, separate from content instruction.  This type of instruction is delivered in small group instruction or an ELD course.  

• Integrated ELD: Integrated ELD is language acquisition that embeds the ELD standards into general education course content or subject areas.  

The EL program at Kenowa Hills Public Schools provides a variety of supplemental supports to our EL students using general fund dollars as well as funds provided from Title III, IC, Section 41, and 31a grants. The purpose of the EL program in Kenowa Hills Public Schools is to ensure that our English Learners have the support they need to be successful in school. Students in the EL program at Kenowa Hills Public Schools will improve their academic language skills in Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. EL teachers and support staff will work with students to improve these skills and ensure that students are making progress toward grade-level proficiency in language arts and math. Teachers will also empower students to become independent learners.

Kenowa Hills English Learner Programming will:

• Provide students with equal access to the curriculum and supports available to all students.

• Evaluate the needs of each EL student and provide students with additional support and resources to assist their learning (with an emphasis in ELA and Math). This includes connecting families to community resources.

• Monitor student progress toward meeting growth targets and work collaboratively with building teams to establish a plan to reach student goals. 

• Provide appropriate professional development to both EL staff and the general education teacher as needed so that they are able to better differentiate for our English Learners.

• Provide information to families on how to best support their child’s education as well as create an open line of communication between parents and school personnel.

Identification and Assessment of EL Students:

1. Parents are required to complete a home language survey when registering their child for the first time.

2. Home language surveys indicating a home language other than English are reviewed to assess student needs based on available data or to determine if further assessment is needed to identify student needs. EL services vary based on student language acquisition needs (see core services description/language assistance plan below).

3. All identified EL students are assessed annually per federal requirements. Students may not opt out of testing, however, parents can refuse service.

Here is the link to our updated Language Assistance Plan

We encourage parents and community members to read the information contained on our district website to learn more about our EL program. If parents or community members have any questions or concerns regarding the support provided to our EL students, please feel free to contact our district's EL program director, Jason Snyder, at 616-784-0884 or via email at jsnyder@khps.org. Another valuable resource is our district’s EL program administrative assistant, Heather Heinrich. She can be reached at 616-784-0884 or via email at hheinrich@khps.org.