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 Multilingual Learners (MLLs) are provided instructional services through structured English immersion programming and sheltered instruction designed to meet individual needs where students may receive support both in and out of the classroom.

The MLL (Multilingual Learner) program at Kenowa Hills Public Schools provides a variety of supplemental supports to our MLL 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 Multilingual Learners have the support they need to be successful in school. Students in the MLL program at Kenowa Hills Public Schools will improve their academic language skills in Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. MLL 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 Administration/Staff will:

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

• Evaluate the needs of each MLL 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.

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

KHPS MLL Program Goal: All Multilingual learners will improve their English language acquisition annually.

KHPS MLL Program Objectives:

1. EL's scoring in the Entering Proficiency Level (0-1.9) on WIDA ACCESS 2019 in the domain of listening and speaking in grades K-12 will increase their speaking and listening domain scores by at least one proficiency level on WIDA ACCESS 2022.

2. EL's scoring in the Emerging Proficiency Level (2-2.9) on WIDA ACCESS 2019 in the domain of listening and speaking in grades K-12 will increase their speaking, listening and reading domain scores by at least one proficiency level on WIDA ACCESS 2022.

3. EL's in grades K-8, will meet their target RIT score to demonstrate growth in the area of reading on the 2023 spring administration of the NWEA MAP assessment.

Identification and Assessment of MLL 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.

KHPS MLL Program’s Language Acquisition Plan

We encourage parents and community members to read the information contained on our district website to learn more about our MLL program. If parents or community members have any questions or concerns regarding the support provided to our MLL 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 MLL program administrative assistant, Heather Woy. She can be reached at 616-784-0884 or via email at hwoy@khps.org.