ELL students surpass state proficiency goals

English Language Learners, or ELL students, in the Corvallis School District, are exceeding state goals when it comes to learning English according to a state report released yesterday by the Oregon Department of Education.

The Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAO) report describes the progress that Oregon School districts are making in teaching English to students whose native language is not English. All English Language Learners (ELL students) are required to take the state’s English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA) each year in order to track students’ progress toward proficiency in English.

The state measures progress according to three federal targets:

	Did at least 53 percent of ELL students move up by one level of proficiency per year?
	Did at least 15.5 percent of ELL students reach proficiency and exit the program, and at least 24 percent of ELL students participating in ELL programs for five or more years reach proficiency and exit the program?
	Did the district's ELL students meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards for this subgroup?

ELL students in the Corvallis district surpassed all but the AYP goal: 63.8 percent of ELL students gained at least one proficiency level during the 2010-2011 school year; 20.8 percent of all ELL students became proficient and exited the program; and 37.9 percent of those receiving ELL services for at least five years exited the program in 2010-2011.

The one area where the district did not meet the state’s goal was meeting AYP targets for reading and math, standards which are the same for ELL students as they are for students whose first language is English. Only a third of the school districts in Oregon with ELL subgroups large enough to be rated according to this target met the AYP benchmarks.

AMAO Report -- 509J Results Compared to State Results

	State of Oregon		Corvallis School District
Criteria	Goals	Performance	Performance
% of ELL students who make progress in learning English	53%	50.2%	63.81%
% of total number of ELL students who become proficient in English	15.5%	16.6%	20.85%
% of students in ELL program for 5 or more years exiting the program	24%	32.2%	37.89%
ELL subgroup meets AYP targets	Math - 69% Reading - 70%	Not Met	Not Met

ELL coordinator Leigh Santy reported that the district’s English language development teachers are continually focused on identifying students’ language needs and designing instruction to meet those needs so students can be successful.

“We’ve developed a district-wide improvement plan to address the needs of ELL students when it comes to meeting AYP targets, and we’re optimistic that this district-wide focus will be the key to future success for these students,” Santy said.

Seven percent or about 440 students in Corvallis are enrolled in English language development programs.

Statewide, about 11.5 percent of students are non-native English speakers receiving English language development services. Enrollment in ELL programs has increased by 48 percent over the past 10 years, from about 44,000 in the 2001-2002 school year to more than 65,000 students last year.