English Learners

From the Iowa Department of Education: "The Lau Plan is so named because of the seminal case of the 1974 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lau v. Nichols and is civil right requirement for all school districts regardless of English learner or Immigrant student enrollment.

A Lau Plan is required of both public and nonpublic accredited districts in accordance with Title III of the ESEA (PL 107-110) and federal civil rights law, as well as Iowa Code 280.4 and Iowa Code 216.9.

Regardless of whether a district has identified English Learners (referred to as LEP in state and federal code) or immigrant student enrollment, the law requires the development of a plan to address the specific language instruction education needs should it become necessary to provide such services. The district should review and revise the Lau Plan on an annual basis to ensure adequate preparation of all educational personnel to meet the unique needs of diverse language learners.

On an annual basis, districts and accredited nonpublic schools must involve representatives from all stakeholder groups to review and make any necessary revisions to the district's Lau Plan. In all cases, the Lau Plan should be made publicly available and understood by all staff who work with English Learner students."

For assistance with reviewing Lau Plans, please contact Kylie Butler, kbutler@aea1.k12.ia.us.

Standardized Entrance and Exit Procedures for Iowa's English Learners

Home Language Survey

The completion of the Home Language Survey (HLS) is the first step in identifying potential English learners. In accordance with federal law and required by Iowa code 281—60.3(1), LEAs are required to administer an HLS for all students at the time of enrollment. The HLS is designed to gather information about a student’s language background and identify students whose primary language or home language is other than English.

Effective August 1, 2022 (or enrollment for the 22-23 school year), Iowa will implement a new HLS which replaces the language use current questions with three required questions. The three questions have been approved by the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

The required questions are:

1. What is the primary language used in the regardless of the language spoken by the student?

2. What is the language most often spoken by the student?

3. What is the language that the student first acquired?

LEAs may access the new form through TransAct. The HLS must be appropriately filed with the other permanent student enrollment documentation.

Testing Requirement

All students identified as English learners must take the ELPA21 or Alt ELPA summative assessments including those who have disabilities, significant cognitive disabilities, receive schooling in an off-site location, declined EL services, or attend an accredited nonpublic school. If a student is identified as an English learner in February 2025 or earlier in the year, they must take the ELPA21. Review Iowa’s EL Assessment Procedures for more information on this requirement. 

Important Dates for ELPA21:

• December 5, 2024 - ELPA21 and Alt ELPA Summative Test Administration (TA) Require training available

• Prior to December 31, 2024 - Chrome OS Update (See below for additional details)

• January 13, 2025  - Regular KG Screener opens (Future KG closes on January 10, 2025)

• January 16, 2025 - Target date for districts to upload all EL students into TIDE

• January 16, 2025 – Order window opens for accommodated forms (Paper, Large Print, and Braille)

• February 3 - March 28, 2025 - ELPA21 and Alt ELPA Testing Window

Training

To access the training modules through the ELPA21 Learning Management System (LMS) follow the directions in the ELPA21 Assessment Training Resource. Use this log in resource for Directions for First Time Users.

Please contact elpa21training@aealearningonline.org if you need assistance.

Course Selections

• ELPA21 Summative Training for New TAs – this is required training for TAs giving the ELPA21 Summative to students for the first time and is covered through 5 modules.
• ELPA21 Summative Training for Experienced TAs – this required abbreviated training is for TAs who completed the initial summative training in past years.
• ELPA21 Test Coordinator Training – recommended for district test coordinators.
• Alt ELPA Summative training for Test Administrators/Scorers – This training is required for all new TAs and Scorers who will be administering the Alt ELPA21 for the first time and is covered through 5 modules.
• Alt ELPA Summative training for Experienced Test Administrators/Scorers – This abbreviated training is required for all TAs and Scorers who completed the initial Alt ELPA summative training last year.
• Alt ELPA Summative Test Coordinator Training – recommended for district test coordinators.

ELPA21 Portal

Important! Chrome Browser ACTION REQUIRED

Due to an upcoming ChromeOS update, action is needed from the field before the end of December to continue using the Cambium Secure Browser for student testing on Chromebooks. Visit the ELPA21 Portal for more information on the Chrome OS Update. You will be unable to administer the Summative ELPA21 on Chromebooks if you do not complete this action.

Note: This browser update is in addition to the one you did in August.

Please contact the ELPA21 Helpdesk for assistance.

• email iowaelpa21helpdesk@cambiumassessment.com or call 855.873.5710.

Iowa ELPA21 Helpdesk Hours

• Monday-Friday 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM Central Time

English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards

• ELPA21 Achievement Level Descriptors

English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards for English Learners with Significant Cognitive Disabilities

• Alt ELPA Reporting Performance Level Descriptors (PLDs)   

Free Differentiated Instruction Workshops from ELPA21 available in January: Workshops are virtual. Length of time is 10:00 AM-4:30 PM. There are links embedded in the course descriptions to sign up. There are only 10 seats available for each, so reserve yours asap. Ask your Title III grant manager to see if subs can be provided for these workshops.

January 7, 2025: Differentiated Instruction for ELs/MLs (Level 1) Workshop will include evidence based strategies to enhance language and content instruction. Attendees will learn how to implement the framework for differentiating instruction to make academic content and academic English accessible to ELs/MLs at all proficiency levels.
January 9, 2025: Differentiated Instruction for ELs/MLs (Level 1) Repeat of Jan. 7th course.
January 15, 2025: Differentiating Instruction for ELs/MLs (Level 2) Workshop will include advanced techniques for differentiating instruction and provides opportunities for participants to practice implementing these strategies in the classroom. Attendees will gain the knowledge, skills, and increased capacity to tailor instruction to individual ELs/MLs proficiency levels in all four domains of language.

On-demand Professional Learning Webinars from NCELA

Topics Include:

• Teacher Collaboration: Aligning Content and Language Instruction
• English Learner and Newcomer Toolkits
• Culturally Responsive Practices

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CultureGrams

Colorin Colorado

Iowa Department of Education English Learners

National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition

USDE Office of English Language Acquisition

USDE Newcomer Toolkit

USDE English Learner Toolkit

Keystone's Title III consortium funds are available to meet the needs of English Learners.

To find out more about required and allowable activities, see the Iowa Department of Education's Title III, Part A Guidance. 

Please note the fiscal year closes June 30, 2025. Please have all receipts/POs, etc. submitted at least two weeks before that date.

Keystone currently offers the following supplemental tools for schools. If you are interested in any of the following, please contact Kylie Butler, kbutler@aea1.k12.ia.us