ESL DEPARTMENT

Email: tstaples@mcssk12.org

Website: https://www.mcssk12.org/department/federal-programs/english-learners

Phone: 256-852-2557 ext. 62245

Happy New Year!

I hope you all enjoyed some time with loved ones over break as well as a time of rest and rejuvenation! The beginning of a new year brings a renewed focus on personal and professional goals as well as a blank slate and a fresh start.

As we step into the second semester, our ESL specialists and ELLs will be making the last big push before beginning this year's WIDA ACCESS testing. Please check out the information and reminders about testing included in the newsletter below. Our ESL Specialists spent a morning before break analyzing data and identifying 1 or 2 additional instructional strategies/areas they can focus on in these next couple of weeks to help our ELs meet and exceed their growth with a goal of helping as many as possible to cross the finish line and exit the program. You can all help our ELs by continuing to provide them with solid Tier I Instruction, supporting our ESL Specialists as they continue to work with students individually or in small groups to bolster English language skills, and by creating a testing environment within your schools that will allow our students to focus and do their very best. Please give our ELs a word of encouragement when you see them and let them know you are cheering them on too!

As always, please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you need assistance. I am always here to help!

Tanya

Two of our ESL students were honored during the MCSS Board of Education meeting held in December. Both Eduarda Luck, 10th grade student at Buckhorn High School, and Anabella Oliveros, 5th grade student at Madison Cross Roads Elementary School, were recognized for achieving a perfect 6.0 composite score on the 2025 WIDA ACCESS for ELLs assessment.

Last school year, Madison County Schools tested 668 students. Out of those students, 51 achieved a scored of 4.8 or greater allowing them to be exited from the program. Both Eduarda and Annabella stood out above them all by achieving a 6.0 composite score! The percentage of ESL students who achieve a perfect 6.0 score nationwide is less than 3 percent, which makes this an even more amazing accomplishment for our students.

We are very proud of these two students and the hard work, practice, determination, and perseverance that helped them achieve this remarkable milestone. Congratulations Eduarda and Annabella!

In the state of Alabama, all identified K -12 ESL students are required to take the WIDA ACCESS test each year to gauge their growth towards proficiency in the English language. Each student takes four different tests in the following domains: Reading, Listening, Writing, and Speaking. The goal for all students is that they meet or exceed their annual growth targets, with the ultimate goal of achieving a 4.8 composite score so they can exit the program.

This year's WIDA ACCESS Testing window is open from January 12th through March 13th. Our ESL specialists have created testing schedules within that window for students at their assigned schools to ensure each student is able to complete all four tests within the allotted time. It is extremely important that our student's arrive to their designated testing locations on time and ready to do their best work. Please also assist with maintaining a quiet testing environment in the halls and common areas during transitions when testing is taking place. We also ask that you give a word of encouragement to our EL students! This test is a very important measure of their learning and is the tool we use to monitor their growth and continuous need for EL services.

If you would like to learn more about the WIDA ACCESS test, please visit the WIDA website using the following link: https://wida.wisc.edu/assess/access.

January's ESL Rockstar of the Month is Laura White, a Spanish teacher at Buckhorn High School. Laura was nominated by Buckhorn's ESL Specialist, Heather Ray, for her exceptional support of EL students. Compassionate and hard-working, Laura designs activities tailored to each EL student's needs and collaborates closely with Buckhorn's ESL Specialist to prepare learners for both academic success and everyday school life. Her classroom is a welcoming safe haven where Laura's passion, dependability, and unwavering support empower every student to take risks and grow.

Laura is also culturally responsive, integrating students' backgrounds into lessons and using creative, real-world activities that make learning relevant. Her world travels give her a unique perspective that helps her connect with EL students and strengthen classroom relationships. She differentiates instruction to meet varying language proficiency levels, sets high expectations, and uses assessment data to guide her instructional goals and classroom activities.

Thank you, Laura, for making Buckhorn an empowering place for EL learners!

Reading is so much more than being able to answer comprehension questions. It is an active, ongoing process where learners make sense of text. When students are provided with opportunities to talk about texts, it allows them to process the information and make meaning from what they are reading.

• Watch co-teachers Carmen and April set up a paired discussion for their third-graders to discuss a text in the video below.
• Use the Reading Observation Tool to collect information on student engagement.

In this month's Ellevation Strategy of the Month, students evaluate how much they agree or disagree with a statement and discuss their reasoning with peers. Checkout the strategy, along with examples for various content areas, by clicking on the pictures below. For more content area/grade span examples and a wide variety of instructional strategies, visit https://ellevationeducation.com/, click on Strategies and choose Browse Catalog from the drop down menu. If you need assistance with accessing Ellevation, please email Tanya Staples at tstaples@mcssk12.org.

Are you looking for a translated document for your parents or students? Click on the picture below to access multiple documents that have been translated into several different languages in our shared MCSS Translated Documents folder. If you don't see what you need, please reach out to Tanya Staples at tstaples@mcssk12.org with your request.