Framework for Rural Schools

This KnowledgeBase archive includes content and external links that were accurate and relevant as of September 30, 2019.

A non-English speaking family moves into town one day and enrolls their children in the local school district. Up to now, there was no need for the school to have an English language learner (ELL) program. But, now, they have to do something, since there are new students who do not speak and/or understand English.

Rural school districts often face unique needs in setting up programs to serve the linguistic and cultural needs of ELL students. First of all, they may not have previous experience with ELL students in their schools. In addition, there may not be certified English as a Second Language (ESL) or bilingual teachers. There may be difficulties in locating translators who have sufficient language abilities in speaking, reading and/or writing the students' home language. Finally, they generally lack the curriculum materials to assist the students in learning English in a systematic fashion.

Starting an ELL program in rural school districts can be overwhelming. This framework defines issues associated with starting a program. The topics are grouped into two general areas—those relating to district and school and those addressing the home front. The framework is by no means being presented as an all-inclusive list, but as one that offers "top of the mind" ideas or suggestions helpful to school administrators.

District and School

Taking a structured approach to serving newly registered ELL students is critical. "Firing then aiming" will not get the job done. The essential first steps include setting a direction, marshalling resources, assessing students and ensuring a supportive environment. The practical tips offered lay the groundwork for doing so.

Overall Direction

When the first non-English speaking students enroll in the district, administrators may feel overwhelmed and be wondering what to do. The superintendent's initial steps involve recognizing the challenge, understanding the legal requirements and developing support.

Recognizing the Challenge

• Recognize that the new non-English speaking students are not a problem, but can be a great asset to a school.
• The appropriate attitude to take is, "How can we help the students?"
• Have school staff visit neighboring school districts that have experience working with ELL students. While there, talk to ESL/bilingual teachers to see the methods they use. Observe and talk to content teachers for strategies in working with ELL students in the classroom. Discuss a variety of issues such as communicating with parents, assessment strategies and other helpful hints they have about working with this student population.

Understanding the Legal Requirements

• Understanding involves an awareness of the equal education opportunity requirements as promulgated by the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education.
• Ignoring the needs of the non-English speaking students is not a viable or legal option.
• Additional information on the legal requirements can be found at Element 1 Understand the Law.

Developing Support

A superintendent's effort to build support should address the local school board, building principals and teachers.

• Board members need to understand the district's legal responsibility to ensure equal educational opportunities for all students. This involves adhering to a district-wide commitment to do what it takes to educate all children.
• Building principals need district level support including resources and flexibility to get the job done.
• Teachers, as well, need resources available to them, flexibility to do the job and staff development on working with non-English speaking students.

Resources

If financial resources are limited, allocating sufficient dollars for teaching ELL students will be difficult. When starting, the first step would be to determine your available resources and how can you best use them. Besides funding decisions, resources also include staffing, scheduling, focus of instruction and curriculum materials.

Financial Resources

• The state department of education is a source for information pertaining to financial assistance. Such assistance may be available through state funding for ELL students and federal grants. Some states have special funds or state aid available to schools with ELL students. Federal funds to consider may include Title I, Part C, Migrant Education and Title III, English Language Acquisition.
• Cost sharing may be possible with neighboring districts. Larger districts with specialists may be able to support testing services for a fee or loan curriculum materials.

Staffing and Scheduling

Staffing

• At the high school level, foreign language teachers may be helpful with assisting the non-English speaking students with homework and teaching about the U.S. culture and customs.
• Hire multi-lingual paraprofessionals to assist with ELL students. In the hiring process, be sure the candidates can understand the students and vice a versa. As part of the interview process, have a session where the candidate and the students interact and speak with each other in the native language. Paraprofessional duties should be consistent with state laws.
• Ultimately grow your own staff. Encourage graduating ELL students to get education degrees and come back to your school. Work with local universities and colleges, as there may be special programs that will assist these students in obtaining their teaching certificates, as well as other degrees.
• The ELL teacher may quickly end up functioning as a social support/problem solver for the students' families. Additionally, other teachers in the school may use the ELL teacher as a liaison between school and home.

Staff Development

• Programming for teachers should address cultural awareness, student needs and curriculum adaptation.
• Additional assistance may be available from local universities/colleges, migrant service organizations and Educational Service Units.
• Additional information on staff development can be found at Element 6 Provide Professional Development.

Scheduling

• When starting with limited funds, a useful approach is to set aside at least one class session per day for teaching English to the ELL students. In doing so, it is important to have a teacher with the appropriate skills and a willingness to teach the English language class.
• When allocating time for ELL classes, the dilemma becomes deciding when to pull the students from class. The impact will be different at the grade school and the high school levels. Keep in mind that with new ELL students the priority is for them to gain some basic understanding of English to facilitate an understanding of the core curriculum.
• At the middle level and high school, schedule students for content classes that are more contextual (e.g., Family Consumer Science, Vocational Education, Physical Education, Art, Music, Science and Mathematics) at the appropriate levels. Social Studies and English are more difficult for ELL students and may be the best time to schedule ESL or bilingual classes.

Instruction and Curriculum Materials

Instruction

• Grade placement will be an issue that arises. It is advisable to place the ELL students as close to age-mate peers as possible.
• Keep in mind that English acquisition is the critical first step to content learning.
• Initially, teaching English might center on life and school survival issues and needs.
• Interpreting school transcripts from other countries is difficult, particularly in regard to determining comparability between the courses taken and the receiving school's curriculum. Work with a person who can translate transcripts and compare the courses to ones offered by your own district. At the high school level, grant as many credits as possible based on the transcript from the home country. For elementary and middle level students, transcripts provide valuable information on previous school experiences, including literacy in the home language.
• A useful strategy while the ELL students are gaining their English proficiency is to enable the teachers to use pass/fail as an option with grading.
• Teachers with ELL students based in their classroom will need translator support for a variety of reasons, including communicating with parents, explaining key concepts and assisting with field trips.

Curriculum Materials

• In terms of curriculum resources, using reproducible materials serves as a good starting point. Neighboring school districts that have experience in serving ELL students may have materials that you can preview or borrow.
• Attending a specialized conference for teachers is helpful in gaining materials as well. State or regional TESOL / NABE chapters usually sponsor an annual conference. For more information visit the TESOL and NABE websites.
• Contact publishers of ESL/bilingual materials. Many are willing to send sample materials for you to use and/or preview.

Assessment

• Though informal assessment processes may be useful in getting to know each student, a formal language assessment is required.
• Additional information on Assessment can be found at Element 4 Implement the English Language Learner Program.

Environment for Students

• Administrators and teachers need to understand the students' situation and help them to feel welcome. Keep in mind that the children are often scared/fearful in their new environment. They may be dealing with many new experiences—different climate, different social practices and different language.
• Create opportunities for the English-speaking students to get to know the ELL students and promote cross-cultural understanding. It is important to integrate new ELL students into the school and provide them help with learning English.
• Give the students as many opportunities to be successful in the classroom as possible.
• Generally, ELL students want to be like the other students.

Connecting With Home

Connecting with the home is an essential part of every ELL program. The arrival of non-English speaking families impacts the whole community. School staff need to anticipate going beyond the traditional school-to-parent interactions. The practical tips offered lay the groundwork for doing so.

Communications

• Initial communications with the parents may be difficult.

• The school's staff needs to acknowledge the existence of language and cultural barriers.

• When sending notices/materials home, produce them in the family's native language and English, when possible.

• Have translators present for parent-teacher conferences.

Additional information on translators and interpreters

Hiring Translators and Interpreters and Working with Translators and Interpreters

Families from other countries may have different perspectives about matters involving school, including regular school attendance. It is essential to talk with the parents about attendance requirements and general school expectations.

Community Support Services

• Gain an understanding of the community needs of immigrant families.
• Non-English speaking families in a new community need community support mechanisms. It is helpful to find someone within the community to mentor the new families. By default, this may fall on the school's ELL teacher. Initial support will involve basic living and survival tips.
• Community support involves being aware of health services, shopping, basic living tips, migrant services and translator services. Besides identifying service providers, school staff can help the families get to know them, as well.
• Schools can reciprocate with other local agencies in regard to sharing translators.

Parent Involvement

• Ways to increase parent involvement:
  • At the start of school, hold an in-school session to have parents complete forms. Translators should be available. This is a good opportunity to share information on school supplies and other expectations and enlist parents and guardians as school/classroom volunteers.
  • Arrange for parent teacher conferences at times that are convenient for parents. Many parents of ELL students may work evening shifts. Make sure you send home conference notices in the home language and tell them translators will be on-hand.
  • Schedule the parent teacher conferences, so parents can make one trip to the school covering all their children's conferences.
• One way to build rapport between the parents and teachers is to ask the parents if they would be willing to give the teachers cooking lessons on popular ethnic recipes.

Cultural Awareness

• Generally, students from other countries, including Mexico, may have varied educational experiences. Some may have gone to school regularly. Others may have limited attendance. This may be due to migrant/seasonal employment, war in their home countries, lack of available attendance centers or teachers and other factors. Initially, their attendance pattern may reflect their prior educational experiences. Regular attendance may be an issue that should be addressed with ELL student families.
• For some families, due to economic reasons, the children may be expected to get a job and help support their family. This may prohibit them from participating in extracurricular activities.
• In some cultures, the notion of parents going to school for parent/teacher conferences is not a common occurrence. As such, there may be a natural hesitancy on the parents' part to attend conferences with the teacher or positively receive telephone calls from school personnel.
• For some cultures, there is a general reluctance to use mental health services. While American school officials may not hesitate to use mental health providers or school counselors to assist with behavioral or abusive situations, parents of ELL students may not feel comfortable allowing their children to receive such care.

This is not an exhaustive list of cultural considerations. Be sure to check with various community members to give you more information about the culture and linguistic backgrounds of your students and families.

Source:
This framework was compiled through interviews with program administrators who have started English language learner programs in rural school districts. The content and thoughts for this document were derived from interviews with staff of Harvard Public Schools, Harvard, Nebraska; Sutton Public Schools, Sutton, Nebraska; and Hastings Public Schools, Hastings, Nebraska. March 2001

Harvard Public Schools, Harvard, Nebraska: Larry Turnquist-Superintendent, Karen Christensen-ESL Teacher, Pat Bohart-Foreign Language Teacher, Rosa Flores-Para Professional, Rosa Morales-Para Professional, Alicia Kuykendall-Para Professional

Sutton Public Schools, Sutton, Nebraska: Brad Cabrera-Superintendent, Mary Sedersten-ESL Teacher

Hastings Public Schools, Hastings, Nebraska: Donna Moss-Director of Special Services, Mary Lamken-ESL Teacher

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