Limited English Proficient (LEP) Students

Limited English Proficient (LEP) Students

The LEP Program Service Codes for identifying the type of services received are 5709 (English as a Second Language), 5676 (Bilingual Program), 5687 (Two-way Bilingual Education Program), 5698 (LEP Other Program), or 8239 (LEP Eligible but not in a LEP Program.) Students can be in only one LEP program (i.e., Program Service Codes 5709, 5676, 5687, 5698, or 8239) at a time but may participate in more than one during the school year. One record must be provided for each LEP program in which a student participated. The record must indicate the dates of participation.

The data element Years Enrolled in a Bilingual or ESL Program must be populated for all LEP students. This data element indicates the number of cumulative years the student has received services in a bilingual or English as a Second Language (ESL) program in New York State (NYS) schools. (The years in which a student is reported with a Program Service code 8239 are not counted.) Districts should report, to the best of their knowledge, whether the student is in the first, second, third, or later year of bilingual or ESL instruction in NYS schools. Some students may leave NYS schools for various periods of time after their first enrollment. If the student's enrollment has not been continuous, the district should provide its best estimate of the student's cumulative years of enrollment in bilingual or ESL programs in NYS. Report one year for students with up to one year of bilingual or ESL instruction; two years for students with up to two years; etc. Zero should only be used if the student has never received services. If a student received instruction for the majority of a school year (seven months or more), count that year as a full year of instruction. To determine years of cumulative enrollment for students with discontinuous enrollment, count the months of instruction received in past years. Each ten months of instruction should be considered equivalent to one year. For example, if the student received six months of bilingual or ESL instruction in 2012–13 and four months in 2013–14, those months should be counted as the first year of instruction. The 2014–15 school year would be year 2 of instruction. Only LEP eligible students should have this data element completed.

All LEP students (including those from Puerto Rico) who on April 1, 2015, will have been attending school in the United States for less than one year must also be reported with a Program Service Code 0242 — Eligible to take the NYSESLAT for grades 3-8 ELA Accountability. See “NYSESLAT and Accountability” below for more information.

All LEP students who participate in a program supported by Title III of NCLB must also have a Program Service Code associated with NCLB Title III: 5720 — Title III: Services to Non-Immigrant LEP Students, 5731 — Title III: Language Instruction Immigrant LEP Students, or 5742 — Title III: Part B, subpart 4: Emergency Immigration Education Program.

All LEP students who have achieved proficiency in all four modalities of the NYSESLAT — Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing — must be reported with a Reason for Ending Program Service Code 849 — Student Achieved English Proficiency, and a June 30 ending program service date for Program Service Code 0231 — LEP Eligible.

NCLB requires that the English proficiency of all LEP students (as defined in Education Law § 3204[2-a][3]) be determined annually. New York State provides the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT) as the assessment of English language proficiency for LEP students. All grades kindergarten through 12 LEP students (including ungraded age-equivalent students with disabilities) must take the NYSESLAT. (There is no valid NYSESLAT assessment for a GED student.) LEP students must take this assessment to evaluate English proficiency even if they take a grades 3–8 ELA assessment, an RCT in Reading or Writing, a Regents examination in English or, for certain LEP students with disabilities, an RCT in reading or writing or the NYSAA in ELA in the current academic year. Once identified as LEP, a student must score at the proficient level in all four modalities of the NYSESLAT (Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing) to be considered English proficient.

Example 2: A LEP student enrolls for the first time in a United States school in grade 3 in October 2012 and ends enrollment by leaving the United States in December 2012 (three-month enrollment). The student re-enrolls in a United States school in December 2013 as a grade 4 student and ends enrollment by leaving the United States in January 2014 (two-month enrollment). The student re-enrolls in a United States school in March 2015 as a grade 5 student and remains enrolled through the end of the 2014–15 NYSTP ELA test administration window (one-month enrollment, test is given in April and the month of April is not counted). The first year in which this student is enrolled during the NYSTP ELA test administration period and has been enrolled in a United States school for less than 12 months is 2014–15. As such, the student may be exempt from taking the grade 5 NYSTP in ELA in 2014–15. If the one-time exemption occurs in the 2014–15 school year, the student may not be exempt in future years from taking the NYSTP in ELA.

Example 3: A LEP student enrolls for the first time in a United States school in grade 3 on May 1, 2014 and does not end enrollment. The student may be exempt from taking the NYSTP in ELA in 2014–15, as the student has only been enrolled in a school in the United States for 11 months, May 1, 2014 – March 31, 2015. (Note that the month of April 2015 is not counted in determining if the student has been enrolled for 12 months in a school in the United States.)

Example 4: A LEP student enrolls for the first time in a United States school in grade 3 on April 1, 2014 and does not end enrollment. The student may not be exempt from taking the NYSTP in ELA in 2014–15 (test is given in April), as the student has been enrolled in a school in the United States for 12 months, April 1, 2014 – March 31, 2015.

Example 5: A LEP student enrolls for the first time in a United States school in grade 1 in October 2012 and ends enrollment by leaving the United States in February 2013 (five-month enrollment). The student re-enrolls in a United States school in September 2014 as a grade 3 student and remains enrolled through the end of the 2014–15 NYSTP ELA test administration window (seven-month enrollment, test is given in April and the month of April is not counted). The student may not be exempt from taking the grade 3 NYSTP in ELA in 2014–15, as the student has been enrolled in a school in the United States for 12 months.
Students who are eligible to take the NYSESLAT for grades 3–8 accountability must be recorded in the SIRS with a Program Service Record code of 0242 — Eligible to Take the NYSESLAT for Grades 3-8 ELA Accountability. They will be counted in the participation calculation for accountability purposes as participating in an ELA assessment if they have valid scores on all four modalities of the NYSESLAT: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing.

Scores for students who are eligible to take the NYSESLAT for grades 3–8 accountability will not be counted in the performance calculation for accountability. However, if the district/school chooses to give the NYSTP ELA assessment to a student who is eligible for the ELA exemption, NYSED will count the student’s NYSTP ELA scores when computing the school’s and district’s accountability PI.

For more information regarding testing and accountability for recently arrived LEP students, see http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/lepguidance.doc.

Other Subjects: All LEP students must take the required State assessments appropriate to their grade. Most of these tests are administered in the student’s native language. Schools are advised to obtain local translations for students for whom a State alternative-language edition is not available in their first language, particularly if the student is receiving instruction in the first language. To ensure valid and reliable test results, districts and charter schools are permitted to offer LEP students accommodations approved by NYSED. Approved accommodations are provided in the school administrator’s manuals at http://www.p12.nysed.gov/assessment/manuals/home.html.
NYSESLAT and NYSAA

All LEP students in grades K–12, including ungraded age-equivalent students, must take the NYSESLAT, even if the students’ CSEs identify the students as eligible to take the NYSAA. All NYSAA-eligible students who are age appropriate for testing on the NYSAA must take the NYSAA, even if they are also LEP students who must take the NYSESLAT as well. If both tests are taken, the NYSAA score will count in the accountability performance calculation.