Language Policy

Standards: Culture Through Policy Implementation (0301)

Schools develop, implement, communicate and review effective policies that help to create a school culture in which IB philosophy to thrive.

The students at Sand Creek International School come from a variety of linguistic backgrounds and languages, which are considered their “mother tongue”.

Language Backgrounds

 Total enrolled 571 students.

At Sand Creek International we differentiate instruction based on the communication needs of all students to foster the development of American English through the use of curricular resources and classroom structures to support the four language domains of listening, speaking, reading, and writing in all content areas:

Curricular Resources

• Wilson Fundations: K-3 Research-based phonics instruction
• Interventions Programs to support individual student language needs: Heggerty Phonological Awareness, Road to the Code, Susan Barton, Reading Mastery, SIPPS, Read Naturally, Sound Partners, Wilson Fundations, Voyager Passports, Focus, Write Tools, Rewards, Vocabulary Through Morphemes, Junior Great Books
• 7 Steps to a Language Rich Environment
• 38 Academic Language Builders
• Talk Read Talk Write
• StudySync (Middle School Grades)
• Novel sets to support units of inquiry
• Discovery Education (Science/Social Studies)

Classroom Structures

• Structured Literacy: Whole group, small group, and independent reading
• Socratic Seminars
• Before and After School Tutoring and Enrichment Programs
• Inquiry-based learning
• Making Thinking Visible Routines
• Sentence stems for questions and answers
• Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)
• Paraprofessional language support in small group setting
• Frequent student reflection
• Use of formal and informal assessment to drive instruction
• Academic, collaborative conversations (peer-to-peer and student-to-teacher)
• Habits of Discussion
• Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures
   

Additional Language: Spanish

Students in kindergarten through 5th grade receive Spanish instruction 1 hour per week. Students in 6th - 8th will have a minimum of 50 hours of Spanish instruction which occurs in a semester-long course that meets four days a week. The only students not receiving Spanish instruction are those enrolled in a center-based Special Education program who are primarily nonverbal. The percent of students not receiving Spanish instruction is less than 5% of our school population each year.

At Sand Creek, when a child enters kindergarten or moves into the district, we have parents complete a Home Language Survey. This is how we determine a student’s home language. If a language other than English is spoken in the home, a child is eligible for English Language Development (ELD) support and services.

In communicating with parents about the first language, we emphasize the importance of maintaining their child’s first language at home.

Sand Creek International School students are encouraged to celebrate their cultural identity through the use of their mother tongue (native language) at home and school. Students are encouraged to share their culture and language through informative presentations related to inquiry units, celebrations and other opportunities. The learning commons houses a collection of books in multiple languages and Spanish books are available at our annual book fair.

District, school and state-mandated language assessments (CMAS, iReady, ACCESS WIDA, Acadience Reading- see Assessment Policy for details) are used by teachers, parents, and students to assess individual and school-wide progress related to language learning. Teachers also utilize a variety of informal language assessments and progress monitoring in their own classrooms on a weekly basis. These assessment tools are used to inform language teaching and learning practices within the school.

The school looks at individual student growth compared to state reading and writing standards. The school’s unified improvement plan, required by the state of Colorado, contains goals and strategies teachers use to address the language learning needs of students. This plan is revised annually based on the most current data from state and district.

Feedback on students’ language development is given to students and parents through a variety of means, including but not limited to: quarterly progress reports, CMAS reports mailed by the state, iReady results, ACCESS results, English Language Learner plans, verbal communication between teachers, students, and parents, the contents of student portfolios, and through student-led conferences.

The school principal and leadership team work together to find professional development opportunities for staff to further their knowledge of best practices for guiding students’ language learning, including district and IB workshops, collaboration with other schools, book studies, language-specific graduate level courses, and sharing of best practices through professional learning communities.

Building funds and grants are allocated for purchase of language teaching materials for classrooms, the school’s resource library, and for library books in the learning commons. Per the state of Colorado, all certified staff will take an approved English Learner Professional Development Pathway through a certified CLDE 45hr PD Program by the educator’s next recertification.

Sand Creek’s language policy is stored in an electronic format on the school’s Microsoft Teams where all staff can access it. The language policy is also posted on the school’s website for parents to view. All staff is knowledgeable about the policy and can communicate this knowledge to all stakeholders.

The district provides schools with language learning standards (adapted from the Colorado State Standards), curriculum, materials, and required assessments. The coordinators provide staff with the PYP Standards and Practices related to teaching and learning. The coordinators receive information about updates to program standards and practices via MyIB in Curriculum Resource Center and through IB ARMS, and promotes the use of MyIB among staff so they can directly access PYP documentation related to language practices.

The school CLDE teachers participate in staff meetings, weekly team PLC meetings, and collaborative work days. These teachers collaborate with classroom teachers to best support ELD students. They also help to develop the school language policy and language learning practices.

Our language policy is a living document that is formally reviewed annually by the IB vertical team members and coordinators.