English Language Development

Beliefs

The Duluth Public School District believes that all bilingual and multilingual students are assets to our school and community, and all English Learners (ELs) should be supported to reach their highest potential. Here we work to ensure equity and access to high quality instruction for ELs which includes research-based language instruction that is aligned to state academic standards and allows students to participate meaningfully in educational programs that capitalize on ELs’ cultural and linguistic assets to acquire and achieve academic excellence.

Purpose

Our English Language Development (ELD) program provides instruction in English language arts for students whose first language is not English.  The purpose of the ELD program is to bring students’ English language skills to a level where they can access the same rigorous academic content with same grade level peers in the general education classrooms.  

Goals

The goals for ELs in Duluth Public Schools are as follows:

• To achieve English proficiency in both interpersonal and academic language
• To obtain success in content areas alongside native speakers of English
• To maintain cultural and linguistic identity
• To become accustomed to U.S. culture and school system

Federal and state laws guide the educational services rendered to ELs

English Learners are addressed in both state and federal legislation.  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 determined that students limited in English language proficiency have a right to receive appropriate education services.  Court decisions and guidance from the Office of Civil Rights with the United States Department of Education have described in more detail the responsibilities of school districts.  The Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorized under the No Child Left Behind Act delineated more specifically the responsibilities of school districts to ensure that ELs become proficient in English and meet the same challenging State academic content and achievement standards as expected of the English-only peers.  Minnesota school districts have the responsibility to identify students and provide services through a plan of instructions. (MDE, English Learners Education in Minnesota, 2012)

Duluth Public Schools Program Model

• Most commonly pull-out, small group instruction (Elementary)
• Dedicated English Language Development and Academic Resource class (Secondary)
• Occasional push-in instruction within general education classroom

* The amount of weekly instruction with an ELD teacher is determined based on English proficiency levels and a Minnesota Department of Education service model. 

Services for multilingual students are provided at all buildings. Services for students are determined based on initial screening assessment from WIDA, administered by the ELD teacher at the student’s building after enrollment. 

Elementary Model

Beginning in the 2017-2018 school year, all EL elementary students received direct instruction from a licensed ESL teacher at their neighborhood elementary site.  Currently, Duluth Public Schools offers ELD at each home elementary site where direct EL instruction is provided. 

Secondary Model

English language learners at the secondary level either receive direct instruction in a specific ELD class daily, or support in a content class using a co-teaching model by a ELL licensed teacher. Duluth Public Schools has two middle schools; Lincoln Park, and Ordean East Middle School, and two high schools; Duluth East High School, and Denfeld High School.

ACCESS Testing takes place yearly in February or March. Students will take the test with their ELD teacher at their building. Families and students receive score reports annually in September. These scores and reports are used to make decisions about services provided to students.