ML Placement
The Iredell-Statesville School system uses the WIDA English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards assessment system to determine Multilingual Learner (ML) classification. North Carolina is one of 42 states to adopt this model and use its foundation for ML instruction and assessment. https://wida.wisc.edu/
Students from Kindergarten through 12th grade whose Home Language Surveys warrant language assessment upon entering the I-SS system are tested by the Multilingual Learner (ML) teacher on the WIDA Screener test. This test aids in the identification and placement of an ML into the Multilingual Learner program. Upon placement into the program, the ML teacher determines whether the ML will receive direct ML instruction, be placed on transition or if the student does not quality for services. If direct instruction, the student is pulled out for ML classes in elementary school with the amount of services dependent upon the level of the student's English proficiency. In middle school, instruction is either pull-out or in an ML block. In high school, the ML receives a daily 90-minute block of ML instruction.
Students classified as ML are assigned levels of language ability according to results on the WIDA Screener in four areas, or domains, of instruction. These domains are Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing. The classroom and/or core teachers are informed of the level of each student they teach as measured by the screener test. These levels are Entering, Emerging, Developing, Expanding and Bridging. Knowing the language proficiency levels of their ML students guides each classroom teacher in using the appropriate modifications, skills, and best practice strategies beneficial to that student throughout the year.
Each ML will continue to be assessed annually in the spring using the K-12 ACCESS for MLs test until the student scores a composite of 4.8, demonstrating English proficiency.
When ML students qualify for the ML program, parents are notified of the services by several different options:
- The School-based ML teacher
- The I-SS Interpreter
- Written information with translations, as available