Title III is a Federally funded program that provides monies to our school system designed to be used for English Language Learners. For additional information or questions concerning the Title III program for the Fort Payne City Schools please call Jessica Hayes (256) 845-0915.
It is the intent of the Fort Payne City Board of Education that every student in the city who has a primary home language other than English and who is identified as a Language Learner (EL) be provided with the opportunity to participate in an English as a second language (EL) program. English Learners (ELs) must be identified at the point of enrollment. All enrolling students are given the “Home Language Survey” which identifies students that have another language other than English as their major language. The student’s language proficiency is accessed using the WIDA Screener Online or WIDA Screener Kindergarten. The EL committee meets to determine the level of English proficiency and to facilitate appropriate instructional and program placement decisions. The goal of EL instruction shall not be to replace or to negate the students’ primary home language. Rather, the EL program strives to enable the EL student to become competent in listening, speaking, reading and writing in the English language. This instruction shall emphasize the acquisition and mastery of English to enable EL students to participate fully in the benefits of public education.
ACCESS 2.0 (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State) for ELs is administered annually to all English language learners in Alabama. It is a secure large-scale English language proficiency assessment administered to Kindergarten through 12th-grade students who have been identified as English language learners (ELLs). The ACCESS 2.0 assessment will assess the language students need to process or produce in various school contexts. Each assessment item and task will target at least one of the five WIDA ELD Standards:
- Social and Instructional Language
- Language of Language Arts
- Language of Mathematics
- Language of Science
- Language of Social Studies
EL student’s composite score on the ACCESS 2.0 must be a 4.8 or higher to exit the program.
For additional information, you can access the system EL plan on the school system’s website.
