Program’s approach supports language learners

Fifty students wander the halls, attend classes, and scribble away at homework like any other student. However, among them, they speak 17 different languages as most have moved from a foreign country and are acclimating to America and learning English.

Although English Learners (ELs) constitute a small portion of the student body, ARHS has a program to streamline the students’ transition into their new home and new language. The Massachusetts Department of Education outlines the English Language Learner program that the Northborough, Southborough, and Algonquin school districts follow with approximately 300 ELs and former ELs. These EL programs are headed by English Language Education District Coordinator, Rhoda Webb, who works with English Language Development (ELD) teacher Jen Cuker at Algonquin.

“[Most] of my students are immigrant students and I give them direct English instruction,” Cuker said. “We start from the beginning if they are coming with no English from letters, numbers, and colors…and advance really quickly. It’s important they acquire the language quickly so that they [can] access the curricula in other subject areas.”

In order to determine which English proficiency level an incoming student should be placed at, he or she takes an entrance exam known as the WIDA-ACCESS Placement Test (W-APT).

The EL population is divided into two major levels of English language proficiency: “Foundational” (which includes entering, emerging, low developing stages) and “transitional” (high developing, expanding, and bridging stages). Finally, an EL will progress onto the “reaching” level, which is the last and most advanced proficiency level.

Cuker is the only ELD teacher, so she sees different levels of ELs throughout her six periods of instruction, where she incorporates district guidelines with her own educational designs. According to Cuker, her classes follow a program called EDGE, which is aligned with the Common Core and provides materials for each level of English proficiency. In addition, she supplements these resources with outside readings to enhance learning.

In addition to English, Cuker introduces her students to American history to provide context for the culture of their new country. Cuker is also heavily involved with the transition of incoming students before they even step into a classroom. In this process, she works with Webb as well as the administration and guidance.

According to Director of Guidance Lisa Connery, a family new to the district initiates contact with her or Webb to commence the registration process.

Once a student is enrolled, their guidance counselor works with Cuker to ensure the EL is progressing in their classes and English skills. Guidance also searches for students who speak a shared second language to help a new EL better acclimate.

Even with the end of enrollment process, ELs must continue testing. Each year, these students take the Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State (ACCESS) test.

“The results of [ACCESS] give the English level proficiency the students make each year,” Webb said. “The students who speak another language are working double the amount in the sense that they are learning the English language as well as the content areas that [first language English students] are learning.”

According to Mead and Cuker, the primary challenges in the EL program are MCAS and meeting all the graduation requirements.

“A big hurdle is passing those three MCAS tests and graduating,” Cuker said. “When they come at 17 and they have had three years of high school in their own country, we can transfer a lot of credits which is great but there are some courses like U.S. History which they have not taken or different levels of math or different types or sciences or electives credits that they need.”

“I think we’re being effective now and I think we’ve become more sophisticated over the years with our approach to ELs,” Mead said.

Throughout the entire process, from enrollment to graduation, the ELs’ families remain involved in their students’ education.

“The families are great, [they] value education, value respect, and they fully support what’s going on with school,” Webb said. “The different languages they speak show the wonderful diversity [we have] and what we can all be learning from each other, because when you learn a foreign language it’s not just about speaking the language but understanding the culture.”

The EL program has helped many of these determined and dedicated students embrace the opportunities Algonquin offers.

“What I hear is that a lot of the students are grateful to be here at Algonquin,” Connery said. “It’s an outstanding high school and they’re getting an outstanding education… It’s very different here than in some of the other countries where you have students transitioning from. This is a great opportunity for them and they recognize that even though it’s challenging and there are a lot of cultural differences and language barriers.”

“I think we’ve had a lot of success stories in terms of helping our students become acculturated and acclimated and comfortable in this school and in this country,” Mead said.