Jim Hook is the director of communications in North Palos School District 117. He also spent 22 years as a newspaper reporter with the Chicago Sun-Times News Group.
North Palos SD 117, five miles southwest of Chicago, is a district teeming with students from varying ethnic backgrounds. Within the district’s five schools, students come from homes where 33 languages and dialects are spoken. Arabic, Polish and Spanish are the three most frequently spoken, but other languages include Urdu, Czech, Chinese, Filipino, Greek and Russian.
In the past five years, the number of English Language Learners (ELL) — those children whose native language is something other than English and who are learning English as a second language — has exploded from 100 students to 500 students in North Palos, or nearly 20 percent of the district.
The district’s budget has skyrocketed to keep pace with hiring additional ELL teachers, bi-lingual aides and other resources to assist these language-developing students. Fortunately, District 117 has received grant money to help cover most of the costs.
Making certain that enough resources are available to serve these students has paid huge dividends for the district and its ELL students.
On last year’s Illinois Standardized Achievement Test (ISAT), for example, 96 percent of the district’s ELL students met or exceeded state standards in math, while 83.9 percent of those same students met or exceeded state standards in reading. The latter figure represented a 10 percent increase in reading scores from the previous year.
Those test scores allowed District 117 to enjoy the highest overall ISAT scores in Cook County for a Limited English Proficiency (LEP) subgroup.
And that’s in a school district where the annual per pupil spending of $10,417 is $2,300 less than the average Cook County elementary school district and $1,000 less than the average Illinois elementary school district.
Sharing a vision
Ani Baehl, ELL director, said the district’s success is all part of “our common vision of high academic standards.”
“Successful schools are organized around student learning,” she said, “and we are providing all our students with the resources they need to learn at high levels.”
Baehl said every student entering the district is given a home language survey that asks two questions: “Is a language other than English spoken in the home?” and “Does a child (in the home) speak a language other than English?”
If the answer to either question is “yes,” the child is screened to gauge just what level of service is needed. The largest groups of ELL students are in kindergarten (48 percent) and first grade (36 percent). By the time students reach fourth grade, that number usually has been cut to single digits.
In most cases, by the time students reach fourth grade, they have been in the ELL program for several years and have received the resources necessary to have a “pretty good” command of English.
“ELL students are expected to master grade-level content at their language level,” Baehl said. “We use differentiated content and literacy skills to meet student needs.”
In District 117, language development begins with 3- to 5-year-old students who are mainstreamed in regular classrooms and pulled out to receive English language services based on their individual needs.
“A lot of basic skills are built by first grade, and then the students work on academic content language,” she said.
Students initially are tested at the start of school and then re-tested in January so staff can assess their progress. On average, it takes about five to seven years for students to truly feel comfortable with the English language.
Baehl said students who enter the ELL program by age 3 are usually “pretty comfortable” with the language by the time they reach third grade and fourth grade.
Parents also key
Parental involvement also is critical to the success of all ELL students, she said, adding that parents should encourage their children to do their homework, read to their kids in their home language, discuss with their kids (in their home language) what they are reading and make a point to designate reading times at home.
Richard Diesca, parent of an ELL student, had nothing but praise for the district’s ELL program and the impact it has had on his son Lance. The Philippines-born fourth-grader has been in the ELL program since he entered kindergarten at Dorn School.
“The ELL program is handled by extremely competent teachers,” Diesca said. “Not only does the program provide a bridge for non-English speaking children, but also serves as an introduction to the new culture as a whole for the children to adapt to the new environment.”
The program has helped his son by introducing him to his new culture.
“Lance has adjusted to the language and, consequently, has made lots of friends,” his dad said. “District 117’s ELL program is great as it is. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
To help parents help their children, the district partnered with neighboring Moraine Valley Community College to provide free English language classes through a program called “Parents as Educational Partners.” This program provides an avenue to assist parents with specific ways they can help their child succeed in school, as well as with the culture of the American education system.
Additionally, translators attend parent conferences and quarterly parent meetings where information on current events is distributed and parents are encouraged to ask questions regarding their child’s education.
District 117 also sponsors a bilingual parent advisory committee where agendas are created with input from committee members that focus on goals for the program, roles and responsibilities of bilingual parent advisory councils, how parents can support their children outside of school, how schools and districts are organized, and developing partnerships among schools, parents and neighborhood organizations.
Parents who are part of the PAC are also invited to the Annual Statewide Summit for Bilingual Parents: “A Conference for Bilingual Parent Advisory Councils.”
Investing in teachers
District 117 also incorporates a great deal of professional development in helping teachers build a classroom environment that includes all levels of ELL students.
“It’s a total district effort,” ELL director Baehl said. “Teachers are invested in all students achieving. The district continually seeks new methods and strategies to help any learner not meeting expectations.”
Baehl meets with building principals and ELL teachers to discuss projected numbers, staffing needs as well as configurations for services for the following year. As each building presents a unique situation regarding numbers of students and services needed, careful plans are made to ensure each student receives the appropriate level of language services.
Currently, the district has ELL teachers at four of its five schools. Additionally, a bilingual Arabic program can be found at three schools and a bilingual Polish program at two.
While the fifth school does not have a formal ELL program, the district recognizes that more than 250 students there come from homes where a language other than English is spoken. Therefore, classroom structures were put in place this year to support students with low English proficiency.
To address the growing need for ELL staff, the district now partners with National Louis University to host a program that allows teachers to earn an endorsement or approval on their teaching certificates in the area of ELL instruction. So far, 26 teachers have signed on to participate in the program, which is held in the evening at the district administrative building.
Baehl said the district continually seeks ways to ensure that students who are culturally and linguistically diverse are made to feel welcome, that their cultures and languages are valued, and that they are as capable of learning and achieving as any other student.
“Our goal is to provide high-quality, research-based instruction that will accelerate students’ English language acquisition,” she said.