The ELL Department exists to empower English Learners toward academic and social success
The ELL Department areas of focus are:
- Ensuring that all ELs are appropriately identified and have access to relevant and rigorous resources and instruction to develop their social and academic English language skills.
- Providing quality professional development on sheltered instruction and language acquisition to equip educators with effective skills and strategies for instructing ELs.
- Supporting schools in engaging and communicating with EL families.
Services
English Language Learner – ELL (Title III – federal), Transitional Bilingual Instructional Program - TBIP (state), Spanish Dual Immersion Program, Newcomer Program (ELEM) (MS)
The state TBIP and federal ELL grants address the unique needs of eligible students, who come from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds. Both programs share the same goal: develop language proficiency that enables meaningful access to grade level curricula and instruction.
The mission of the ELL Department is for English Language Learners to meet state standards and develop language proficiency in an environment where language and cultural assets are recognized as valuable resources to learning. We work toward this goal through a variety of the state recommended ELL support models.
Elementary ELL students have classroom teachers and ELL paraeducators, many of whom are bilingual, who are trained to provide sheltered instruction through strategies. In-class language support aligns with grade level content and includes listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Secondary ELL students receive "Content-Based/Sheltered instruction." At the middle schools, English Language Development (ELD) classes are provided with daily ELD instruction by ELL endorsed, certificated teachers. At the high schools, ELL endorsed, certificated teachers provide leveled English classes. At both middle and high school, additional support is provided by ELL paraeducators, many of whom are bilingual, in mainstream core classes.
The state TBIP also promotes a two-language system of instruction.
- Students learn language concepts and knowledge in their primary language at the same time they receive instruction in English
- Teachers build on growing language skills through the interplay of two languages
The Spanish Dual Immersion Program is based upon research showing that students are not only capable of learning in two languages at once, but actually excel under these conditions. In Evergreen Public Schools, we have adopted a 90/10 Two Way Immersion language model of instruction. We have Spanish Immersion programs at Pioneer Elementary and Marrion Elementary. Please visit our district's Spanish Dual Immersion web page for more information and check us out on Facebook.
The purpose of the Newcomer Program is to assist non-English speaking immigrant students as they adjust to school and culture in the USA and to provide a smooth transition into their neighborhood schools. Newcomer referrals are generated through the home school where the student is first enrolled. Enrollment in a Newcomer Program requires parent approval. There are currently two Newcomer classrooms at Fircrest Elementary and two classrooms at Covington Middle School. Students will transition back to their home schools when each student's progress is sufficient to be in a regular classroom or after the student has completed one school year in the Newcomer Program.
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Contacts:
Dr. Catherine Carrison
Manager ELL
360-604-4007
ELL Department Contacts - 2017/18
Resources:
Spanish Dual Immersion Program
Spanish Dual Immersion Parent Information
Newcomer Program: Elem, MS
Home Language Survey Forms:
English
Russian
Spanish
Other Languages
Information for Parents and the schools that communicate with them:
Cambodian, Chinese, English, Hmong, Korean, Laotian, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese
ELL and Native American students who qualify will take the ELPA21 (English Language Proficiency Assessment). The testing window is from February 2nd through March 30th. See brochure: Chinese, English, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese
Parent’s Rights regarding Interpretation and Translation Services:
All parents have the right to information about their child's education in a language they understand:
English, Amharic, Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese,
French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Marshallese,
Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Somali,
Spanish, Tagalog, Telugu, Tigrinya, Ukrainian,
Urdu, Vietnamese

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