Program Brochure
Need help with your limited English proficient students?
Help is available to assist EL students to learn English as quickly as possible so the students can benefit fully from the mainstream English-only classroom.
Call for information about how to refer the EL students in your classroom.
(586) 228-3481
Bilingual/English as a Second Language Education for English Language Learners.
The MISD Bilingual/EL Education Program provides bilingual instructional assistants who help limited English proficient (LEP/EL) students to learn English and to achieve competency in English language and reading skills. This ensures them to have equal access to education in a classroom where only English is spoken.
Who are the Limited English Proficient Students (LEP)/ English Learners (EL)?
LEP/EL students are those who either:
- Come from a home where a language other than English is spoken.
- Speaks a language other than English as their primary means of communicating.
- Or are learning English but have sufficient difficulty in understanding, speaking, reading, or writing English as to deny the students the opportunity to learn successfully in an English only classroom.
Who is Eligible?
- Students in grades PreK through 12, whose home language is other than English and whose parents want additional academic support.
- Students in grades PreK through 12, whose D WIDA -ACCESS Placement Test (W-APT) or World-Class Design and Assessment (WIDA) ACCESS score is below proficient.
How can a student be included in the MISD EL/Bilingual Education Program?
- When parents enroll students, they must fill out a Home Language Survey.
- If survey indicates that student or parents speak a language other than English at home, school personnel must administer the WIDA-ACCESS Placement Test (W-APT).
- Kindergarten through twelfth grade students identified by the Home Language Survey must be assessed using the W-APT. Students qualify for an alternative language program if they do not obtain an Adjusted Composite Proficiency on the W-APT, do not meet the minimum 5.0 Bridging level for each individual domain in WIDA ACCESS, or do not perform at or above grade level in reading or math as measured by the state-approved assessments.
- The program director will then assign a bilingual instructional assistance/bilingual tutor to work with the ELL student.
Funding Sources
- Participating Macomb County LEAs
- Title III
- MISD
Tutors & Interpreters
- The MISD Bilingual/EL Program has approximately 25 Bilingual Instructional Assistants and 15 Interpreters, who speak over thirty-four (34) of the different languages spoken in the homes of students in Macomb County.
- Educational background: BA, BS, MA. Some have their degrees from their native country. Some have degrees from both their native country and the United States. The rest have degrees only from the United States.
- Each tutor has approximately 20-45 students, who are non, limited and high intermediate English proficient.
- Each tutor travels to approximately 3-5 different schools and districts per week.
Languages
Languages: Albanian, Arabic/Chaldean/Syrian, Armanian, Assyrian, Bengali,Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Bulgarian, Cambodian, Cantonese/Mandarin, Farsi, Filipino/Tagalog, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Hmong,Hungarian/Kazak, Indonesian, Italian, Jamaican, Japanese, Korean, Lao, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Pashto, Pohnpeian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Slovak, Spanish, Swahili, Thai, Twi (African), Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese and Wolof. (Bolded languages are the 5 major languages in Macomb).
What Services Do We Offer?
- Direct service tutoring assistance to the LEP/EL students in basic English skills and help in reading comprehension of core content areas by a bilingual instructional assistant who comes to the local school and can work in the student's classroom.
- Pull-out, in-class or EL sheltered Resource Center services are provided options.
- Training of parents and staff of participating districts in the areas of bilingual/ESL and multicultural education.
- Assisting local school districts in implementation of alternative language programs designed to enhance academic achievement of ELs.
- Interpreting services for parents in parent teacher conferences, parent-child study meetings, and special education related matters for LEP/EL students.
- Sharing multicultural materials and activities.
- Translation of school documents.
- Interpreting legislative rules and regulations.
- Consultation and professional development