GOSHEN COUNTY – Goshen County School District No. 1’s English Learners program represents a support system spanning from Kindergarten to senior year, providing students, families and the community with a “carefully sequenced and well-integrated” path to success.
“Educators and education programs must move away from making English language proficiency an end to itself and focus on supporting success for the whole child,” according to the district’s 2017-18 EL guidebook. EL students are defined as students who are not yet proficient in English and have a native or heritage language other than English.
The program’s focal point for students in lower elementary grades includes building a solid language and academic foundation, and beginning to develop the personal and interpersonal skills necessary to be successful in school. For upper elementary students, remaining language needs are addressed and almost all students exit the EL program, as well as score proficient on state assessments by the end of fifth grade. By middle school, remaining EL students exit the program, and the focus shifts to assisting students in content courses and developing the skills they will need to be successful in high school and post-secondary. The program’s goal is to graduate all former EL students as college- or career-ready individuals.
The amount of local students likely to benefit from the EL program is up this year, Superintendent Jean Chrostoski said, adding the district plans to post for a part-time EL teacher.
“We have a need for teachers with (ESL) certification – it provides really good teacher strategies with all students,” she said. “We’re working with the University of Wyoming now to develop a cohort in Goshen County to offer certification for teachers … we’d really like to grow our own if we can. It’d be great for multiple teachers to have those skills.”
Currently, the district has one ESL-certified staff member in its EL co-coordinator and Lincoln Elementary Principal Nyana Sims. Lingle-Fort Laramie Elementary reading teacher Sheila Bever is pursuing certification, with plans to finish the course in May 2019.
“The program is through the University of Wyoming and consists of five graduate-level classes,” she explained. The majority of which take place online, plus two intensive weekends on site per class.
“We’re trying to get the program to Eastern Wyoming College,” Bever said. “The classes are awesome – the skills you learn are universal.”
There are more than 3,000 EL students in Wyoming, and around 21 in the district, she said.
“I was looking to fill a need within the district,” Bever continued, later referring to the EL role as a “cultural broker”. “The cultural difference is hard. I act as a liason for the family as a whole unit.”
Sims previously served as EL coordinator in Lake Havasu, Ariz., where she was inspired to obtain certification after discovering a need – much like Bever – in the school district there.
“When I was in Arizona, I had a lot of Spanish-speaking students in my classroom, so I went back to school just to get strategies to help them to be successful – but a lot of the strategies you learn are great for all kids. That was compelling,” Sims said. She used her EL skills at seven different schools and the local community college in Arizona. “The great things you do for all kids are also great for your EL learners. They learn so fast – it’s just amazing. I tell them, ‘You are so lucky you have the opportunity to have two languages – never lose that.’”
In Goshen County, EL screening must take place within 45 days of the start of school. If a student qualifies for EL, and until the district is able to hire another individual, Sims shares the load with Bever, Torrington High School Spanish teacher Lisa Wille-Racine, and ESL-endorsed staff member Mandy White at Lincoln. Classes are expected to begin within the next few weeks. They are currently no EL students at Southeast or LaGrange.
“Groups will meet 30 minutes twice a week,” Sims said. “What I’m noticing from recent scores is writing is one of the last areas to develop. We’ll be spending a lot of time on that. I will pull (EL students) out of class when they are not in core instruction – we don’t want to build more holes … our goal is to give the teachers instructional strategies that are great for all students.
“I think it’s been fantastic,” she continued. “It’s fun to watch the kids when the light bulb goes off like, ‘Oh wow, I got that.’
“It’s a great opportunity for all individuals involved to learn from each other. Diversity is awesome, so when you can learn things from other people from their cultures and things they bring into a learning environment, the more unique the better.”
