-
Supervisor: Mr. Michael R. Jones
Phone: 856-939-4500 ext. 2302
Email: mjones@bhprsd.org
Multilingual Learner (MLL) Program
formerly
English Language Learner (ELL) Program
Dear Parents and/or Guardians,
The New Jersey Department of Education sets proficiency benchmarks for English Language Learners (ELL) enrolled in public school districts throughout the state. Therefore, the NJDOE requires that all MLL students, including parents and/or guardians who have refused MLL services, sit for the WIDA ACCESS. This test measures growth in fluency and proficiency in the four domains of language: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Please understand that if you have refused services, the NJDOE still recognizes him or her as a classified English Language Learner. This status remains until your student scores a 4.5 composite score on the WIDA ACCESS. The 4.5 score allows an MLL student to exit and will never again be asked to sit for the ACCESS. Otherwise, districts are mandated to monitor your child’s English acquisition via the ACCESS test until this benchmark is met.
We thank you in advance for your cooperation. Please feel free to contact the ELL Department Supervisor, Mr. Jones at mjones@bhprsd.org , or testing coordinators, Mr. Castelan, at mcastelan@bhprsd.org and Mrs. Roberts lroberts@bhprsd.org with any questions or concerns.
Who?
In the Black Horse Pike Regional School District, we educate MLs from 17 countries and 1 U.S. territory who speak 11 different languages.
Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines,
Puerto Rico, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, and Vietnam
(Arabic, Chinese, Gujarati, Haitian, Mandingo, Portuguese, Spanish,
Tagalog, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese)
Where?
The district's MLs all attend school at Triton Regional High School.
Why?
“There is no equality of treatment merely by providing students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers, and curriculum; for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education.” (Lau v. Nichols, 1974)
*US Supreme Court case - unanimously decided that the lack of supplemental language instruction
in public school for students with limited English proficiency violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. )
How?
-
Sheltered English Instruction (SEI) is a planning process that helps teachers provide MLs with grade-level content instruction by adapting lesson activities to the English proficiency level of individual students.
-
SEI promotes the use of clear, direct, and easy-to-understand language and a wide range of scaffolding strategies to communicate an understanding of content in mathematics, social studies, science, and language arts to students.
-
SEI activities require that teachers analyze the subject matter content to determine the academic language that must be taught to make content accessible for ELLs.
-
SEI teachers are skilled at:
• building background knowledge and connecting new content to students' prior knowledge;
• providing interaction and collaboration among students;
• integrating explicit language structure and vocabulary instruction; and
• emphasizing the use of many types of instructional strategies.
* For more information on Entering and Exiting the ML Program, program goals, opportunities beyond the classroom, program description, and Sheltered English Instruction in our classes, please click on "Brochure" on the left-hand side of this webpage.
-