Center for Language Assessment Overview

ESOL Mission Statement
In a nurturing and challenging environment where diversity is celebrated, our students will experience academic success while acquiring English in order to become capable and productive members of society.

The Center for Language Assessment is a facility which provides the following:

• At registration, every student who enters the Bethlehem Area School District is given a home language survey to determine student’s home language. If a language other than English is noted, then the student registers at the Center for Language Assessment (CLA).

• If a student is not proficient in English, he/she receives support services from the English Acquisition Program. Elementary school age students all remain in their home schools. Preproduction and beginner level students in the middle schools attend Broughal; intermediate and advanced students attend Broughal, Northeast, or East Hills. All preproduction and beginner high school students attend Liberty High School. Intermediate and advanced high school students attend their home schools.

• Monitoring of students throughout the year for appropriateness of placement.

• Referrals for testing of students experiencing difficulties in learning English.

• Evaluations are administered in English and, if Spanish is the home language, in Spanish, to determine oral language, reading, and writing proficiency.

Center for Language Assessment Registration Procedures:

• Initial registration by appointment includes student data, family information, and prior schooling,

• Affidavits are completed and forwarded only to the Child Accounting Office,

• Signing of Release of Records form,

• Bus passes are given to the family, if the Transportation Grid so indicates,

• Lunch application is completed and submitted to Dining Services,

• Immunizations records are reviewed and sent directly to the school nurse. If there are missing immunizations, the CLA Office will make appointments for parents to assure entrance into school.

ESOL Program

The CLA evaluation results include: oral proficiency scores, reading and comprehension levels, math score, writing sample, and additional comments.

Students are placed into pre-production, beginner, intermediate, or advanced levels based on oral proficiency, reading and writing skills. Exit is determined by successful performance in school and other multiple assessment measures.

Teachers of English acquisition report twice a year on each student’s stages of oral language, reading and writing.

Staff at each school decides when the student is ready to move up to the Intermediate, Advanced, or to Exit from the English Acquisition Program. The CLA Office monitors and records student progress in a database that is maintained internally.

Center for Language Assesment Staff