English Language Learner Services

School District of Arcadia provides a free appropriate public education for all students. Our goal is for every student to be engaged, equipped, and empowered learners, who are prepared for successful transition from our buildings to accomplish their post-secondary career and life goals.

A full range of services is available to students in need of special education and other special support programs such as English Language Learner programming. This range of services includes, but is not limited to, direct special education/EL instruction, direct classroom support, and indirect support through accommodations and modifications to the general education curriculum and instruction. These and other services are determined on an individual student basis, and are designed to maximize the student’s ability to access their general education instruction.

Special Education

IEP

Individualized Education Program (IEP)

In order to assure that each student with a disability has an individual education, you and your child are an active participant in our Individualized Education Program (IEP) Team. The IEP serves as the tool to ensure that students receive the necessary support and services required in order for them to meaningfully benefit from instruction in the least restrictive environment possible. The least restrictive environment is the maximum amount of time students with disabilities are included in general education instruction with their non-disabled peers. The IEP also establishes annual goals and benchmarks to measure the student’s learning progress and specifies the amount of services the student receives in order to make progress toward those goals. The IEP is reviewed and revised at least annually, and can be reviewed or revised earlier to meet the individual student’s need.

Evaluation

Prior to implementing a student’s IEP, the student must first be identified as a student with a disability and a student who demonstrates a need for special education services. To be found as a student with a disability, the student must meet the state-specified eligibility criteria in one of these specific disability areas:

Autism
Cognitive Disabilities
Deaf/blind
Emotional Behavioral Disability
Hearing Impaired
Other Health Impairment
Orthopedic Impairment
Significant Developmental Delay
Specific Learning Disability
Speech or Language Impairment
Traumatic Brain Injury
Visual Impairment

The School District of Arcadia accepts and processes referrals of children suspected to have a disability. School personnel who reasonably believe a child has a disability are required to make a referral. Prior to submitting a referral, the people required to make referrals inform the parents of the intent. The written referral includes the name of the child and reasons why the person making the referral believes that the child is a child with a disability. In addition, information collected on prior interventions implemented to address the areas of concern must be included with the referral.

Once the district receives a referral, an evaluation team evaluates the child to determine if the child meets eligibility for special education and related services. Once a determination has been made, the IEP team develops the individualized education program for the child. Parental consent is obtained only for those tests over and above what is administered to all children. Notice of placement is provided to parents within 60 calendar days once the district has received parent consent to test. Extensions may be requested with written notice of parents.

Resources

Wisconsin DPI for RTI
Wisconsin DPI for Special Education
Yearly Special Education Evaluation and Referral Notice
Aviso Anual de Recomendación Para Educación Especial y Procedimientos de Evaluación

Interventions

Behavior

Wisconsin DPI for PBIS
Learning Disabilities On-Line

Autism Resources

Services

Speech & Language
Occupational/Physical Therapy
Early Childhood
Grades K-1 Cross-categorical
Learning Disabilities
Emotional/Behavioral Disabilities
MS Resource Room
High School

Special Education Referral & Evaluation Procedures

Upon written request, the School District of Arcadia is required to evaluate a child for eligibility for special education services. A request for evaluation is known as a referral. When the district receives a referral, the district will appoint an Individualized Education Program (IEP) team to determine if the child has a disability and if the child needs special education services.

The district locates, identifies, and evaluates all children with disabilities who are enrolled by their parents in private (including religious) schools, elementary schools and secondary schools located in the school district.

A physician, nurse, psychologist, social worker, or administrator of a social agency who reasonably believes a child brought to him or her for services is a child with a disability has a legal duty to refer the child, including a homeless child, to the school district in which the child resides. Before referring the child, the person making the referral must inform the child's parent that the referral will be made.

Others, including parents, who reasonably believe a child is a child with a disability may also refer the child, including a homeless child, to the school district in which the child resides. Referrals must be in writing and include the reason why the person believes the child is a child with a disability.

A referral may be made by contacting Katie Schaefer, Director of Pupil Services, School District of Arcadia, at 608-323-3315 ext. 3134 or by writing her at 756 Raider Dr., Arcadia, WI 54612.

English Language Learner

The English Learners Department works with the general instructional staff to help all students meet grade level benchmarks.

Mission, Vision & Goals

Mission Statement - Our mission is to promote and support the academic language learning process.

Together, we will promote and support learning
Together, we will teach terminology associated with student academic learning.
Together, we will reinforce learning through repetition and introduction of new vocabulary.

Vision - Our vision is to ensure that our English learners have meaningful access to rigorous instruction, materials, and academic choices within the Arcadia School District with the ultimate goal of becoming independent, lifelong learners. We will ensure equity for English learners while maintaining and respecting their cultural and linguistic identity.

Goals - The central goal for the EL program is student learning. The district is committed to providing for learning needs of students acquiring the English language. As they develop through this process, we will meet this goal when we:

Effectively identify learning needs through a variety of assessment tools, including local universal assessments, English proficiency measures, standardized assessments, and classroom functioning levels.
Understand that every teacher is a teacher of a student with limited English proficiency, and recognize every teacher’s need for professional learning opportunities to acquire the skills needed to address the unique cultural and learning challenges facing students.
Encourage all staff in the district by recognizing current efforts to meet the needs of students with limited English proficiency (LEP) and providing resources and supports in making changes to improve their services to students with LEP.
Partner with classroom teachers to provide instruction, understanding that not all of the learning needs of students with LEP can be met solely through classroom instruction.
Partner with parents and the community to involve families in their child’s educational planning.
Provide a multi-leveled system of support that includes large and small group instruction, as well as individual interventions.
Use a variety of effective teaching strategies consistently throughout instructional settings.
Demonstrate the priority of student learning by having flexibility in schedules, resources, and instruction.

Homeless

The McKinney-Vento Education Assistance Act is federal legislation that, in part, makes sure that students have access to education during homelessness. Homelessness is defined for education purposes by McKinney-Vento as:

Children and youth who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and includes children and youth who are:

- Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason (sometimes referred to as “doubled-up”)
- Living in motels, hotels, or camping grounds due to a lack of an alternative
- Living in emergency shelters (Salvation Army or New Horizons)
- Living in a public or private place that is not meant for sleeping (cars, parks, bus station, abandoned building, etc.)
- Migratory children who live in any of the above circumstances

MLSS

DPI Dyslexia Guidebook

Wisconsin’s Informational Guidebook on Dyslexia and Related Conditions(2021) and can be found at https://dpi.wi.gov/reading/dyslexiaguidebook. The Guidebook provides information about improving reading outcomes for learners with dyslexia and related conditions. It was created to fulfill the requirements of 2019 Wisconsin Act 86.

Purposes of the Guidebook

This guidebook can be used to:

help learners, families, and educators understand the characteristics of dyslexia and related conditions and how they can be identified;
share characteristics of instruction that can effectively serve students with dyslexia and related conditions so that all Wisconsin students get the instruction/interventions they need when they need it;
help families understand what information to request and questions to ask to better understand their child’s strengths and needs as a learner;
help families understand how their child’s needs as a reader are, or can be, addressed;
help families understand educational language related to reading, including common terms related to assessment, instruction, and intervention;
help families understand the universal instruction and/or interventions educators and educational systems use and how to effectively meet the needs of readers with dyslexia or related conditions; and
support educational systems in considering how their system addresses assessment, screening, instruction, and intervention for all readers, including those with dyslexia and related conditions and those who struggle for other reasons

Requirements Related to the Guidebook

Per 2019 Wisconsin Act 86, school districts must post a link to the guidebook on their website.

DPI believes that the Guidebook can be one part of district conversations about meeting students’ needs as readers. Specifically, the Guidebook can support conversations about how a local equitable multi-level system of support (E-MLSS) serves learners when they struggle with reading, including those with characteristics of dyslexia and related conditions. Guidance about convening and engaging in these conversations can be found at https://dpi.wi.gov/reading/dyslexiaguidebook.

Contents of the Guidebook

Per Act 86, the Guidebook contains information about:

screening processes and tools available to identify dyslexia and related conditions;
interventions and instructional strategies that have been shown to improve academic performance of pupils with dyslexia and related conditions; and
resources and services related to dyslexia and related conditions.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, August 2021

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