English Learners

Mission
Madison County School System ELs will have equitable access to high-quality, rigorous instruction designed within a systematic framework built on values and respect for students' cultures and languages and a socially and emotionally supportive learning environment, empowering ELs to excel socially, academically, and linguistically and lead productive lives.

ESL PROGRAM
The Madison County Board of Education (MCBOE) offers an English language instruction program for English Learners (ELs).  The goals of the Madison County EL Program are:

• To advance student English language acquisition 
• For students to attain English language proficiency
• To successfully meet yearly AL state and Title III EL goals
• For students to achieve at high levels in core academic subjects
• To develop high-quality language instruction educational programs 
• To use the coaching/partnership model to provide EL professional development 
• To promote parental and community involvement
• To advocate for English learners
• To support English Learner students and families

The MCBOE EL Program Goals are connected to The Cornerstone of the WIDA Standards: Guiding Principles of Language Development:  

1. Students’ languages and cultures are valuable resources to be tapped and incorporated into schooling.
2. Students’ home, school, and community experiences influence their language development.
3. Students draw on their metacognitive, metalinguistic, and metacultural awareness to develop proficiency in additional languages.
4. Students' academic language development in their native language facilitates their academic language development in English. Conversely, students' academic language development in English informs their academic language development in their native language.
5. Students learn language and culture through meaningful use and interaction.
6. Students use language in functional and communicative ways that vary according to context.
7. Students develop language proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing interdependently, but at different rates and in different ways.
8. Students’ development of academic language and academic content knowledge are inter-related processes.
9. Students' development of social, instructional, and academic language, a complex and long-term process, is the foundation for their success in school.
10. Students’ access to instructional tasks requiring complex thinking is enhanced when linguistic complexity and instructional support match their levels of language proficiency.