By Keighla Schmidt, Staff Writer 

Lesning, skrive og aritmetikk. Чтение, письмо и арифметика. Vorlesung, schreibend und Arithmetik. La lecture, écrivant et arithmétique. La lectura, escribiendo y aritmético.

Or, if English is easier: Reading, writing and arithmetic.

English isn’t the easiest language to understand for 16 percent of the students in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District. In an effort to improve English-language proficiency, the District 191 School Board recently approved a new learning model, Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol Model, or SIOP.

“The SIOP model is a research-based approach to sheltered instruction that has proven effective in addressing both the academic and language needs of English Language Learners (ELL),” according to the new Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District English as a Second Language (ESL) handbook.

In practice, the SIOP model will help ELLs understand the academic language that accompanies content-based courses.

Jean Braun, a teacher at Burnsville High School, said there are elemental phrases students must understand to be successful in their courses.

“What kind of language do students need to understand the objective?” she asked. “Using the phrase ‘according to’ in papers is vital.”

SIOP will help accomplish that goal by having sheltered classes when the teacher is either an ESL teacher or a content-based teacher focusing on a particular subject area while emphasizing the accompanying language.

The adoption of the model and the subsequent handbook are products of a committee formed three years ago to study the trends in English as a Second Language program.

Increasing need

The number of ELLs has been significantly increasing the past 10 years. In 1997 there were 450 English Language Learners and in 2007 there were 1,229 ELLs, a 127 percent increase.

Eagle Ridge Junior High School Principal Dave Helke represented the junior high schools on the committee.

“We looked at the existing programming, worked to identify the needs and tried to pull together a defined K-12 ESL program,” he said.

Currently, each building in the district has separate approaches.

A problem committee members said they saw was how much time ELLs were spending in content classrooms compared to how much time they were spending in ESL classrooms.

“ESL programmers and teachers are doing a great job, but much of the day is spent in regular classrooms,” Helke said. “With such an increase in ELL students, there can be an impact by having a teacher learn these tactics.”

Helke explained that when teachers are planning their lessons they determine content goals.

“SIOP emphasizes language goals, like terms and reading support … it includes a lot more strategy,” he explained.

An added bonus, the committee noted, was the benefit the language focus will have for all learners.

“It will benefit kids who are struggling with reading and are at risk of failing,” Helke said. “The model isn’t just for ESL students.”

Education gaps are significant between general education students and ELLs and School Board members said they want to close that gap.

“We can’t hope to close the gap,” said School Board Member Dan Luth, “We have to close the gap.”

Braun, who was also a member of the committee, agreed and said teachers are eager to see that change and that SIOP was the answer. “Our teachers are hungry for answers on how to help these kids,” she said.

To implement the strategy, teachers need to undergo training to learn strategies to bring the idea into the classroom.

The committee proposed three waves of teachers be trained each year. First, 30 secondary teachers will be trained and over the next two years, a total of 60 elementary teachers will undergo the training. They will then meet as a cohort and discuss successful tactics.

Although the highest numbers of ELLs are in elementary schools, the secondary teachers will be trained first. The reason, Helke said, is the elementary-level classes inherently have a significant focus on reading and language while the secondary teachers are content focused.

Because the teaching method will benefit all students, money set aside for state-funded integration programs with the Lakeville School District will be used to pay for the training the first year; following that, the cost will be $25,000 annually.

The committee also recommended an all-day kindergarten program where half the day would be spent focusing on language and the other half on content. That plan was put on hold due to lack of funding.

 Keighla Schmidt can be reached at kschmidt@swpub.com.