Identification and Programming:
Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states must identify students whose primary or home language is other than English, annually assess their English language proficiency, and provide reasonable accommodations on state assessments.
Ohio's public school districts are required to identify and serve students who are English learners following the state's Guidelines for Identifying English Learners, the Ohio English Language Proficiency Screeners (OELPS). The OELPS is aligned with the Ohio English Language Proficiency Standards and designed to identify Ohio students in grades K-12 as English Learners.
The OELPS is administered to students after the enrollment process if the student's language usage survey and student records indicate the student is a potential English learner. The OELPS assesses a student's skill in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, and an overall performance level of Emerging, Progressing, or Proficient will be assigned based on the student's scores in the four skill areas.
After a student is identified as an English Learner (EL),a variety of services will be provided based on the needs of the EL student. These services include small group instruction and inclusion support.
Annual Assessment and Exiting:
English Learners are required by law to take the Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA). The OELPA is an annual assessment of English language proficiency that shows the English learner’s progress towards English proficiency. A student’s OELPA results will determine whether the student is eligible to continue as an English Learner or is proficient and ready to exit the program.
Students who achieve an overall performance level of Proficient on the OELPA exit from the English learner status. The overall performance level of proficiency is defined as domain scores of 4s and 5s in any combination across the domains of listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Students who exit the program will be monitored for two (2) years.
Parent Resources:
Recommended Adult ESOL Programs:
Aspire program through the Upper Valley Career Center