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Staffing
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DLI program is staffing neutral. The target language DLI teacher is not an additional grade level teacher, but a replacement teacher.
For example, if a school has 4 kindergarten teachers, then in a DLI program school, one of those teachers would be the target language partner teacher. No additional staffing is provided within a school’s budget in order to implement the DLI program.
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As the program rolls up a grade level each year, the local school is responsible for ensuring that a grade level position is allocated each year for a DLI target language teacher position.
One-way immersion schools are encouraged to provide paraprofessional support in the target language classroom beyond kindergarten to assist in the continual development of the target language skills of the students.
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Staff Selection
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District staff will support hiring through the posting of pool positions, screening of applicants, utilization of HireVue, and the assessment of target language proficiency. All target language teachers will be assessed with the ACTFL OPI and WPT to ensure that language proficiency is Advanced-Mid or higher for both oral and written language.
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Local schools will ensure that all DLI teachers meet district requirements with regard to certification and language proficiency (minimum of Advanced-Mid in oral and written language). All target language teachers must be native speakers of the language. Any parapro assigned to the target language DLI classroom must also be a native speaker of that language. Principals will work collaboratively with district coordinator on DLI teacher selection.
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Instructional Resources
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Instructional resources will be provided in the target language for phonics, language arts, reading, math, and science. As new resources are adopted for content areas, DLI teacher representation will be required on adoption committees and feedback sessions.
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Instructional resources and supplies in the target language such as posters, wall charts, rugs, and other materials will be the responsibility of the school.
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Curriculum
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The district provides curricular units for the core content areas. These units are provided in English and establish the district level expectations for the content areas.
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Curricular units and lessons should be In line with signature programming. DLI teachers should collaborate with grade level colleagues to ensure that the same standards are covered and that all students achieve the identical grade level expectations for each content area.
All of our DLI schools are IB PYP schools and develop their lessons collaboratively in line with IB standards.
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Instruction
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The district provides guidance on Instructional Practices for all classrooms.
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DLI teachers are held to the same instructional practices as all teachers; however, effective DLI implementation requires the integration of additional research-based practices for second language acquisition. These practices must be embedded to ensure mastery of target language and content.
Local schools will ensure the integrity of language instruction and will hold teachers accountable for remaining in the target language within the classroom. For example, the Spanish DLI classroom must be an all Spanish environment in which all instruction from the teacher (and parapro, when applicable) occurs exclusively in Spanish and all materials posted on the walls and on the boards are also only in Spanish.
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Assessment
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All district assessments for core content areas such as benchmarks are provided in English. As all state-mandated assessments in Georgia are in English, these assessments will remain in English.
The district provides the universal screener assessment in English and Spanish.
The district is implementing the STAMP test for listening and speaking to serve as one measure of target language proficiency.
The district has provided all schools with Spanish Proficiency Reports for teachers to distribute to parents at the end of the year.
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All classroom assessments in the target language classroom should be in the target language. DLI partner teachers should collaborate with each other and with grade level peers to ensure content assessments are in line with grade level expectations for all students.
DLI Spanish teachers use summative and formative data to ascertain where each student is relative to target proficiency goals for listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
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Professional Learning
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The district will provide professional learning and support to the DLI program. Professional Learning opportunities will focus on effective DLI implementation, second language acquisition strategies, and resource utilization. DLI PLC sessions provide DLI teachers the opportunity to collaborate, expand knowledge and skills as well as grow professionally in effective DLI implementation.
The DLI Leadership PLC will include local school principals and the district coordinator and will provide time for collaboration, planning, and expansion of knowledge and understanding of effective DLI implementation.
The district will support the attendance of DLI school principals to DLI leadership training opportunities such as the Delaware Summer Institute for Novice DLI Principals.
The district will provide access to tools, resources, guidance, and information to support local school leadership with implementing an effective DLI program.
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Local schools must provide time for DLI partner teachers to collaborate with each other and with grade level peers. As the DLI program expands to grade levels, a local school DLI PLC should be established to ensure effective vertical articulation of programming.
Local schools will support district DLI PLCs and professional learning opportunities through attendance and active participation.
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Scheduling
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The district will work with GADOE to establish course numbers for DLI programs that represent content taught in a language other than English.
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Local schools will schedule both teachers on the course numbers for course content areas that are shared using the “primary” and “secondary” teacher fields in Infinite Campus. Local schools will create a schedule that ensures a daily, uninterrupted 2 – 2.5 hour block of time with each DLI teacher.
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Support Services
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The district will provide guidance and support to DLI schools and other programs.
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Local schools will ensure that students receive the support services for which they qualify. Support services that require a student to be pulled from a class or that require a teacher to co-teach the class, must occur on the English side of the DLI program. This protects the integrity of the language instruction in the DLI program.
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Substitutes
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The district coordinator will provide a list of substitutes that are proficient in the target language.
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Local schools will utilize, to the extent possible, substitutes in the target language DL classroom who are proficient in the language.
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Parent Community Outreach
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The district coordinator will provide presentations and support documents designed for parents/guardians interested in the DLI program or who have students in the DLI program.
The Office of ESOL & World Language will provide translated versions of communications and presentations to ensure that all parents understand the DLI program. In addition, Office of ESOL & World Language staff will provide interpretation support for parents whose home language is other than English.
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Local schools will actively engage the parents and guardians of the DLI program by providing supports such as parenting meetings, newsletters, DLI Parent Support Groups, etc.
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