·      Newly legislation such as the ESSA must be understood fully because of specific deadlines legally needed to be met or other legal requirements that the school district must meet.  

·      It is imperative for the counselors to work closely with the ESL Lead Teacher to identify newcomer students who need ESL or bilingual programs and services. 

·      In a secondary school setting, ESL Lead Teachers must know when state waivers can be given in order to benefit a student (i.e. SPED ELL labeled student v. non-SPED ELL student). 

An emerging issue related to ESSA legislation is the fact that there are no more state exemptions for newcomer students. Students who register in a high school before the start of the STAAR state exam could possibly quailfy for exemptions to take the test (i.e. newcomer student from Vietnam in February). Since there is a legal timeframe to test newly ELL or ESL student, the testing exam is now unitary. The unitary test to either provide or not provide services is more subjective, so kids are now taking an exam that is more holistic than an easy “black and white” test. Lastly, a third issue occurring is the positive but negative aspect the ESSA legislation is causing for the ELL/ESL student population. The schools do not want to “fail” a student because of the lack of English; however, the state also does not want to lower the “standards” for the student. 

Interviewed: Andrew Bauer, ESL Secondary Teacher, Mansfield Lake Ridge HS

(A. Bauer, personal communication, September 26, 2019)

·      A refugee student with little or no formal education has different needs than a U.S.-born student with some exposure to English.

·      The law also allows states and districts to include former English-learners in the ELL subgroup accountability for up to four years, a move that could allow districts to "mask the performance" of current ELLs.

·      Advocates and civil rights organizations have already urged states to diligently monitor the progress of current ELLs and immediately address any downward trends in performance.

·      The longer students are identified as ELLs, the less likely they are to graduate.

·      ESSA allows states to exclude math and English/language arts test results for newly arrived English-learner students as part of their performance ratings.

·      Every Student Succeeds Act requires states to create a uniform process for identifying English learners, assigning them services, and, later, moving them out of EL classes and into general education.

·      The local districts can use growth as a measure of academic progress for accountability purposes for students’ first two years in the country. By year three, however, immigrant students must be assessed the same way as their peers.

·      Under ESSA, schools must build English proficiency rates into their accountability framework for Title I, which provides money to support low-income students more broadly.

·      The idea of subgroup accountability means schools and districts are responsible for helping every student succeed, whether they are white, black, brown, rich, poor or disabled.

89 Tex. Admin. Code § 89.1205.
https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=19&pt=2&ch=89&rl=1205
Summary:
The state must service and identify any potential English learner and provide appropriate educational opportunity. Furthermore, bilingual programs and education must be an integral part of the school district if the district has an enrollment of 20 or more English learners in any language  of as provided from the Texas Administrative Code. The ESL program shall emphasize the mastery of English language skills, as well as mathematics, science, and social studies, as integral parts of the academic goals for all students to enable English learners to participate equitably in school.

c. Identify resources needed to optimize education.

d. Collaborate with parents/guardians, when appropriate, to establish communication and to ensure students’ needs are met.
Connection:
The ability to identify students who need resources such as ESL programs or testing is an ethical principle that counselors must legally follow for the overall success of the student. Underserved and “at-risk” student populations are students who can be easily overlooked thus the counselor must strongly be able to ensure students’ needs are met. 

·      ESSA allows states to decide how to classify new ELs and when to have ELs exit the program in addition to the up to four years of monitoring ELs (provides consistency within state districts). 

·      English Learners are simply not a “one” ethnicity sub-group population. The school community, including teachers, counselors, and administrators, need to consider the ELs as an ever-changing student population that legally have the right to a proper education. 

·      ESSA acknowledges the large increase in the number and percentage of English learners in this country, therefore, increases the Title III authorization levels.

·      ESSA accountability is intended to assist districts that have a higher amount of ELs versus schools that do not have as many ELs. Title III remains as a separate funding dedicated for ELs, therefore, ELs will receive the rightful resources (i.e. high-quality language instruction, ESL programs, etc.) as afforded from Title III funding. 

·      If English learners are consistently not doing well in a school, that school district will be flagged for targeted improvement and administrators will have to outline a plan for improving outcomes, even if the rest of the school is high-performing.

·      School districts will legally be required to report the number of long-term English learners who linger services for more than five years.

·      Under ESSA regulation, schools must build English proficiency rates into their accountability framework for Title I, which ultimately stipulates money to support low-income students more broadly.

Compliance & Tests. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.mansfieldisd.org/departments/curriculum-instruction/eslbilingual-education/compliance-tests.

Mathewson, T. G. (2016). 4 ways ESSA will change how schools serve ELL students. Retrieved from https://www.educationdive.com/news/4-ways-essa-will-change-how-schools-serve-ell-students/428266/#.WAvBltfz7HA.twitter.

Mitchell, C. (2016). ELL Advocates Hopeful and Wary of New Federal K-12 Law. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/01/06/ell-advocates-hopeful-and-wary-of-new.html.

Sugarman, J. (2019). The Unintended Consequences for English Learners of Using the Four-Year Graduation Rate for School Accountability. Retrieved from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/english-learners-four-year-graduation-rate-school-accountability.

Texas Administrative Code. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=19&pt=2&ch=89&rl=1205.

The Texas Constitution. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CN/htm/CN.7.htm.