Dual Enrollment

Enrollment Procedures

Background

During the 2008-2009 school year, the school district engaged in a comprehensive planning process before implementing their Dual Language Immersion Program in the fall of 2009.  As part of this process, the district engaged national experts, multiple dual immersion programs, the local community, and school district staff to create the enrollment procedures outlined below.  These procedures were developed to ensure an equitable selection process for families interested in the Dual Immersion Program, while at the same time creating balanced classrooms that mirrored the incoming Kindergarten class as a whole.  Additional considerations were made based on the advice of the district’s national consultant and other programs to promote a better program for all students.

There are two key premises that underlie the enrollment procedures for the Dual Immersion Program in the Teton County School District.  The first is that dual immersion programs seek to have approximately 50% of the students at each grade level be native English-speakers and approximately 50% must be native Spanish-speakers.  The second underlying premise is that students should not enter a dual immersion program after the beginning of 1st grade unless they are already bilingual enough to be successful in the program.  Below are the timeline and procedures for enrollment.

 

Timeline

Fall & Winter before Kindergarten Enrollment

During this time the district will advertise the program throughout the community using newspaper, radio, and other mediums to build awareness of the program for families of incoming Kindergarten students.

Spring before Kindergarten Enrollment

The district will host one or more community forums/open houses for parents of prospective students to share information about the dual immersion program and enrollment. Parents will officially submit their child’s name for enrollment into the program by the Kindergarten Round-up dates, using the Dual Immersion Enrollment Form.  If there are more students interested than space available in the program, a selection process will be held in the month of May.  See selection process procedures below. Parents will be informed of the outcome of that selection process within two weeks by mail or by phone. At that time, parents will receive the Parent Handbook outlining the details of the program.

Procedures

Selection Process

The Teton County School District is committed to an equitable system that delineates how students are selected for the dual immersion program if there is more interest than space available.  The following procedures outline this process.

1. Parent Requirements

   1. Parents who are interested in submitting their child’s name for consideration in the program must attend one dual immersion community forum/open house and the annual Kindergarten Round-up.  At Kindergarten Round-up, parents will submit their enrollment form for the upcoming school year.

   2. The final date for parents to submit their enrollment form will be established based on the dates of the Kindergarten Round-up and selection process each year. 

 

2. Student Eligibility

   1. The school district shall not discriminate based on race, socioeconomic status, perceived ability, or any other factor excluding native language. This is based on the underlying premise that dual immersion programs have approximately 50% of their students that are native English-speakers and approximately 50% that are native speakers of Spanish.

   2. A student’s native language shall be defined as the language that the student first learned to speak, and is recorded on the home language survey completed by all students entering the district. In the case of a student who was raised bilingual, the parent will choose which language group the student is placed in for the selection process. This delineation may be confirmed by the district as needed.  A student who was not raised bilingual, but who is now bilingual, may petition for a change in language status. This petition will involve a joint interview of the student and his/her parent(s) in which the student will be required to demonstrate his/her fluency in the other language.

   3. A student with a native language other than English or Spanish may be eligible to enroll in the program as long as they can demonstrate English or Spanish fluency on an English or Spanish language assessment.

   4. Students with disabilities are encouraged to participate and will not be excluded from the program.  Research shows that immersion programs can be effective models of instruction for all students. The district will consult with the parents of any student who has an identified disability before enrollment in the program to review programming and services. Every effort will be made to ensure special education services are provided in both languages, but in some cases, only English services may be available.  Additionally, specific consultation with families with students that have an identified language learning disability (auditory processing, delayed receptive or productive language, etc.) will take place to ensure families understand how those disabilities impact achievement in an immersion program.

   5. Should one twin or triplet be drawn in the selection process his/her sibling(s) may be placed in the program.

 

3.     Order of Preference

Preference for entrance into the program will be given in the following order:

1. Students who already have siblings enrolled in the program.

2. Students whose family resides within the Munger Mountain Elementary attendance area. For the school year, this is established as the intersection of Game Creek Rd and Highway 89 and all points south (within Teton County). 

    

4.   Class Size and Composition

1. The dual immersion class size will be determined by the overall Kindergarten enrollment each year.  In order to have even numbers of English and Spanish speakers in each class, this will be the closest even number. Recognizing that families often register for Kindergarten after the selection process has taken place, the wait list will be used to add additional students to the dual immersion classrooms to maintain roughly even class sizes before class lists are posted in August (see Late Entrance below). Dual Immersion Class Size = Total Number of Enrolled Students / Total Number of Kindergarten Teachers; rounded to the nearest even number.

2. All student names that have been submitted by the deadline described above will be divided into two groups consisting of native English-speakers and native Spanish-speakers. The school district will further subdivide the two language groups to ensure that the final classes are representative of the other Kindergarten classes in the district. Kindergarten classes are balanced by gender and school readiness. These characteristics are determined through the annual Kindergarten Round-up.

 

5.   Selection Process Procedures

1. Utilizing the order of preference and class size/composition indicated above, student names will be drawn based on space availability.   

2.  The selection process will be include the following people: the school district

superintendent, the dual immersion program coordinator, one parent from the

Dual Immersion Leadership Committee, and one non-invested community

member.

 

6.   Notification

Letters will be sent to all families who submitted an application for the program within two weeks of the selection process. These letters will inform parents of their child’s enrollment into the program or their place on the waiting list. Those who are being offered a spot in the program will also receive a confirmation form and Parent Handbook.  Parents will have two weeks to confirm enrollment in the program by returning the confirmation form to the office of Colter Elementary. If parents do not receive a letter within the aforementioned time frame, it is the responsibility of the parent to contact Daniel Abraham at dabraham@tcsd.org

 

7.   Appeals  

Selection Process results are final. Appeals are not considered. Once the selection process is complete, late enrollment will follow the Late Entrance procedures.

 

8.   Late Entrance

Entrance into the dual immersion program after the initial selection process is possible but dependent on a number of factors. If space becomes available in the program, the following procedures will be followed.

1. If space becomes available after the selection process takes place, but before the 1st day of 1st grade, students will be selected based on the waiting list created from the selection process. This includes space created by increasing the dual immersion class size in response to increased overall Kindergarten enrollment after the selection process takes place but before class lists are finalized in August before Kindergarten begins.

2. Prior to the first day of kindergarten, parents will be informed if there are changes to the waitlist.  

3. If space becomes available after the 1st day of 1st grade, entrance into the program will be made at the discretion of the building principal and the dual immersion coordinator. The decision of who will enter the program will be based on a number of factors. The most important of these is the student’s level of bilingualism. Students may not enter the program after the 1st day of 1st grade who do not have sufficient language skills in both languages to be successful.  Additional factors that may influence the success of the student in the program will also be considered.

   1. The following procedures clarify the decision-making process:

      1. A list will be kept by the dual immersion coordinator of the students on the original waitlist from the selection process and any additional students who are asked to be added.

      2. Students must meet the original requirements for students entering the dual immersion program found in the procedures above.

      3. Parents must also agree to the commitments found in the “Parent Commitment” section of the procedures.

      4. Student selection is made based on a rubric of indicators.

      5. Parents will have one week to decide to enter the program.  After that time, another student may be selected.

 

9. Newcomers

Spanish-speaking newcomer students are placed in the dual immersion program whenever possible.  The decision is made at the discretion of the building principal and the dual immersion coordinator, pending class size. Newcomers are defined as recent immigrants to the US, who speak little or no English.