Cleveland City Schools takes pride in the diversity of our students and families. We have over 30 ESL-certified teachers who support our English Learners with the social, emotional, cultural, and academic skills needed to excel in higher education, work, and life. We strive to bridge linguistic and academic gaps for our students and ensure that all English Learners have access to high-quality Tier 1 and ESL instruction. TN State Board of Education Rule (Chapter 0520-01-19) establishes minimum compliance requirements for LEAs serving students who are identified as English Learners (ELs).

Our Services:

• Annual English Language assessment

• Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) personalized to the language needs of each student

• Strategic language instruction in reading, writing, listening, and speaking

• Supplemental language and literacy software materials

• Extended learning opportunities after-school and during the summer

• Family Literacy and Engagement activities

We offer a variety of programs and activities to support our students in their journey toward English proficiency, regardless of their starting level of English comprehension.

Some of the materials and programs offered are listed and linked below.

Elementary Newcomer Curriculum (Grades 3-5)

• GetReady! Soar

Elementary English Learners (Grades K-5)

• CKLA Language Studio

Middle and High School English Learners

• National Geographic Time Zones

Sofware for English Learners and Struggling Readers

• Lexia English Language Development

• Lexia Core 5 Reading

• Lexia Power Up Literacy

We believe that strong partnerships with our families are important to help students achieve both in and out of the classroom. Our ESL Department offers a variety of programs to support this belief. As programming is planned for 2024-25, dates and more information will be added below.

• ESL Family Nights

• ESL Parent Technology Sessions

• Adult ESL Classes

• Multilingual Family Newsletter

• District Multicultural Night

We believe that that all teachers in Cleveland City Schools are responsible for the success of our English Learners, and we provided multiple opportunities for our teachers to participate in training that will benefit them as well as English Learners across all content areas. Teachers receive ongoing training through participation in the following Professional Development opportunities:

ELP Standards and ILP Blitz

This training takes place at the school level during the first few weeks of school and focuses on:

• The Tennessee English language development standards

• Strategies for collaborating on and implementing ILPs

• Requirements of ILP development and implementation

ELLevation Strategies Training

This training is a hybrid of in-person school level meetings and individual modules and focuses on:

• English language acquisition

• ESL instructional methods to used with grade-level academic content such as ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies

• TN Pulse (ILP Platform)

• ELLevation (Data, Reporting, and Instructional Strategies Hub)

• Pearson TELL (Progress Monitoring Platform)

• ELPA21

Christy Duncan
Supervisor of ESL
cduncan@clevelandschools.org
423-472-9571