ESL department meeting minutes

March 12, 2003

Present: Fang, F; Carlson, Y; Luini, J; Mok, S; Pino, D; Zilch, E; Han, M

1. Mark Analysis: aligning our standards to our grading policy

Department members shared the latest mark analysis to align our standards to our grading policy.

2. Possible next year budget cuts and our plan

How are we going to prepare for the worse situation?

Worse situation:

My proposal on copier usage:

Department members brainstormed ideas on how to deal with the worse situation including locking books and supplies in each teachers' room and each teacher will be responsible for keeping track of the books.

3. Student program for next school year:

Mr. Chung proposed a general ESL/Bilingual incoming student orientation/placement test day on a Saturday. Each student identified by the district as ELLs will be required to come and take a 3-part placement test (group oral interview, multiple choice test and a composition test). After the test, they will be selecting their classes for next year.

After discussion, the department rejected the idea of giving an oral test and a composition test because oral interview does not reflect students' academic language proficiency and a composition test would not give us more information than a well designed, standardized multiple choice test. The department is also concerned that there might not be funding to conduct such a big event.

4. New business:

Department members agreed that we need to have a formal policy on what to do with students who have completed level 3/4 or 5/6 but do not have the language proficiency to go to a higher level. Also, we need to set a criteria for students who completed level 5/6 and wish to take literature .6, not reading 7/8. Mrs. Luini will be drafting the above policy and criteria.

Teachers will continue to work on student recommendation for next school year on Thursday afternoon.