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bette r s chools | S E PT EM B ER 2 0 2 1
STUDENT COUNTS
New Guidance for Identification of English Learners (EL) and Qualified Non-EL Bilingual Students By Kathy Dunn, Director of Professional Learning for State and Federal Programs, CCOSA, Daniel Ruhl, Executive Director of English Language Proficiency, OSDE, and Taylor Tribble, President, Eduskills
Did you know that English Learners and Non-EL Bilingual Students receive the .25 Bilingual Weight in the State Aid formula, which adds approximately $880 per qualified student? In addition to the Bilingual Weight in the State Aid formula, English Learners also generate a Title III allocation of approximately $100 per pupil, and Immigrant students may generate an additional approximately $200 per pupil*. EL and Non-EL Student Counts That Count Students
Bilingual Count in the State Aid Formula approximately $880 per student
Title III, Part A (Project Code 572) English Learner Federal Count approximately $100 per student
Title III, Part A (Project Code 571) Immigrant Federal Count approximately $200 per student
Non-EL Bilingual
✔
X
X
English Learner
✔
✔
X
Immigrant
✔
✔
✔
(Possibly if also qualified as Bilingual)
(Possibly if also qualified as EL)
(To receive an immigrant allocation a district must have a 2% increase in immigrant students over the previous two years’ average)
Who are My English Learners, Non-EL Bilinguals, and Immigrants? ■■ English
Leaner: A student who did not demonstrate English language proficiency when administered a WIDA or state screening tool and has yet to demonstrate English language proficiency via the annually administered English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA).
■■ Non-EL
Bilingual: A student determined to be initially English language proficient through participation in the WIDA K Screener or Screener, or subsequently through participation in the ACCESS or Alternate ACCESS assessments, but who meets the criteria necessary (explained below) to generate Bilingual funding through the State Aid equalization formula.
■■ Immigrants: ■■ The
immigrant student is between the ages of 3 and 21;
■■ The
immigrant student was not born in any of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico;
■■ The
immigrant student has not been enrolled in a US school for more than three years.
Identifying Both English Learners and Non-EL Bilinguals in the Student Information System to generate the .25 Bilingual Weight in the State Aid formula. A student’s status as an English Learner or a Non-EL Bilingual Student must be coded within your district’s Student Information System. The WAVE pulls the EL/ Bilingual status from your district’s Student Information System to be used in the State Aid funding formula. ■■ Students
enrolling within the first thirty calendar days of the start of school must have their English Proficiency Code determined within those thirty days. Students enrolling after the first thirty calendar days of school must have their English Proficiency Code determined within fourteen calendar days of their enrollment.
■■ The
best resource to review a student’s EL-specific assessment and identification history is the Accountability Reporting application housed in Single Sign On.
■■ All
students must be assigned one of the English Proficiency Codes in the chart at right.
