English Learners

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 ESL Program & Goals

The Choctaw County School System offers an English language instruction program for English Learners (ELs). The goals of the Choctaw County EL Program are:



  • To provide a culturally diverse learning environment that is conducive for all students
  • To advance student English language acquisition
  • To support students in attaining English language proficiency
  • To use the coaching/partnership model to provide EL professional development for staff
  • To collaborate and partner with EL parents to best supports their children/our students


The Choctaw County EL Program Goals are connected to The Cornerstone of the WIDA Standards: Guiding Principles of Language Development:


  • Students’ languages and cultures are valuable resources to be tapped and incorporated into schooling.
  • Students’ home, school, and community experiences influence their language development.
  • Students draw on their metacognitive, metalinguistic, and metacultural awareness to develop proficiency in additional languages.
  • Students' academic language development in their native language facilitates their academic language development in English. Conversely, students' academic language development in English informs their academic language development in their native language.
  • Students learn language and culture through meaningful use and interaction.
  • Students use language in functional and communicative ways that vary according to context.
  • Students develop language proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing interdependently, but at different rates and in different ways.
  • Students’ development of academic language and academic content knowledge are inter-related processes.
  • Students' development of social, instructional, and academic language, a complex and long-term process, is the foundation for their success in school.
  • Students’ access to instructional tasks requiring complex thinking is enhanced when linguistic complexity and instructional support match their levels of language proficiency.

 Waive ESL Services

Parents may refuse supplemental EL services. Contact your child’s teacher or principal for the waiver form. The school district is still required to make accommodations in instruction and monitor the student's academic performance. Although the parent has denied ESL services for the student, the student must continue to participate in the annual English Language Proficiency testing (ACCESS 2.0) until attaining proficiency.

 Placement, Plan, Assessment, Exit Criteria

  • English Language Plan

    English Language Plan

    FY24 plan de idioma ingles  (FY24 English Language Plan)

    FY24 kế hoạch học tiếng anh (FY24 English Language Plan)


  • Placement of EL Students

    Choctaw County Schools ensures that ELs should be placed age-appropriately in the mainstream classroom. This provides them with access to challenging, grade-level content instruction and the opportunity to interact with their English speaking peers. It is important that ELs be placed in the least restrictive educational environment. At the high school level, credits should be awarded based on transcripts provided by the students/parents, even if the coursework was taken in another country. If transcripts are in a language other than English, translations should be sought so that credits can be awarded.

  • Individualized English Language Plan

    Each student designated as Limited English Proficient (LEP) will have an Individualized English Language Plan (I-ELP) that lists language goals and accommodations for instruction and assessment. The I-ELP will be updated annually until the student achieves Former Limited English Proficient (FLEP) status.

  • Assessment of EL Students

    Choctaw County Schools assesses all English Learners annually with ACCESS for ELLs 2.0® English language proficiency test.

  • Exit Requirements

    All ELs in Grades K-12 participate in the annual ELP assessment (ACCESS for ELLs 2.0). Students who reach an overall composite of 4.8 in the reading, writing, listening, and speaking domains on the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 annual assessment exit from services and become former ELs for four years. 

  • Monitoring Exited Students

    Students who make the required score to exit from ESL services are placed on monitoring status for four academic years. EL stakeholders and teachers communicate at least once each nine weeks during the first year and at least once each semester during consecutive years to ensure that the exited student is functioning successfully in the mainstream classroom. Students are classified as Former English Learners Monitoring Years 1-4 (FEL-1-4) during this monitoring period. Upon successful completion of four years of monitoring, ELs are classified Former English Learner (FEL) and are no longer included in the LEP subgroup for accountability purposes.


    During monitoring, students who perform poorly in their academic courses and standardized tests may be considered for re-entry into the EL program and receive EL services. If the EL committee believes the student is struggling due to language issues, the student can be re-screened using the Screener/W-APT. If the student is not proficient, s/he will re-enter the ESL program. Any students who have re-entered the program will be classified as “LEP2” and will go through the exiting procedures described above.