Pioneer English Language Learner (ELL) Program
Our district services students from a variety of cultures and language backgrounds. It is our goal to provide all students, including English Language Learners, with high quality educational services.
Mission Statement:
The mission of Pioneer Central School Districts program for English Language Learners is to enable students of Limited English Proficiency to develop their linguistic skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking, and understanding) in the English language as well as to improve their cognitive and cultural understanding and abilities. By creating a positive classroom environment and a collaborative relationship with students and mainstream classroom teachers we are able to support students to meet the rigorous standards established by the State.
Educational Philosophy:
Maintain support, cooperation, and sensitivity in the classroom to lower student’s affective filter and encourage the best quality language production.
Value student’s cultural backgrounds and foster and encourage student’s speaking their native language. Bilingualism is an asset and should be fostered.
Hold high expectations for students and give them the scaffolds to be successful.
Develop learning strategies to help students participate and succeed in the mainstream classroom.
Teachers will help students adjust to cultural and language differences that they may experience.
Testing:
All incoming student’s families will fill out a Home Language Questionnaire.
If the questionnaire indicates a language other than English is spoken in the household an informal interview will be conducted in that language.
Effective February 1, 2014, a new State test, The New York State Identification Test for English Language Learners (NYSITELL)will take the place of the Language Assessment Battery-Revised (LAB-R)currently used for the statewide identification of English language learners(ELLs). NYSITELL Memo
After identification as an ELL, each year in May the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT)will be administered to monitor progress in proficiency level.
Parent Orientation Videos
The following video, which runs approximately twelve minutes, describes the English Language Learner identification and assessment process and outlines in detail various available program options. It also describes the differences between English as a New Language and the various Bilingual Education program models. You may have seen this video at the orientation at your child's school.