English Language Development (ELD) instruction occurs daily and it is taught by an ELD specialist to ensure students have both the academic and social language needed to be successful in school. This can be through a pull-out service model and/or the ELD specialist supporting students in their general education classrooms.
Students are qualified for the ELD program based on the results of the Home Language Survey (HLS) completed upon enrollment. If a family marks "yes" to any of the questions on the HLS, an ELD specialist will complete a Family Interview and review of records. If needed, testing may occur utilizing the WIDA Screener. If a student is tested and receives less than a 5.0 overall composite score on the WIDA Screener, they are qualified into the program. Likewise, any student enrolling in the district who is an identified English learner (EL) in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or any other WIDA state is qualified into the program utilizing their prior year ACCESS scores. If a student qualifies for the ELD program in the Central York School District, the family will receive a notification of placement in the mail.
English learners are eligible for reclassification from the program when they receive an overall score of 4.5 or higher on the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs linguistic assessment and teacher language use inventory scores support reclassification. The test occurs yearly to assess their linguistic growth in the language domains of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Scores and student placement information within the program are provided to parents and guardians at the beginning of the following academic year.
Please see the Pennsylvania Department of Education website addressing Screening, Identification, and Placement of ELs for additional information.
