English Language Learners

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Have additional questions?

DeAnna Owens

Director of Educational Opportunity

775-623-8128

Colby Corbitt

Director of Student Services

775-623-8100

Jorge Zataray

EL Coach

775-304-3361

Claudia Means

Migrant Recruiter/Medicaid Specialist

775-623-8128

HCSD English Language Learners

Humboldt County School District (HCSD) is committed to providing English Language Learner (ELL) students with an educational program designed to enable them to acquire English language proficiency as rapidly as possible, while developing academic skills. HCSD provides equal access for all students, including ELL students, to the full range of District programs including: Special Education, Title I, extracurricular, and nonacademic programs.

HCSD ELL Educational Goals

Ensure that ELL students have access to an equal educational opportunity.
Ensure that ELL students have the opportunity to become successful participants within the school setting and in society at large.
Ensure that ELL students develop the ability to use English to communicate in social settings and in culturally appropriate ways.
Ensure that ELL students develop the ability to use English to achieve academically in all content areas based on standards established by Humboldt County School District and the State of Nevada.
ELL students will be provided with the opportunity to acquire English language proficiency through educational services in determined content areas and/or through English as a Second Language instruction.
Educationally appropriate student placement options will be provided to all ELL students.
Nevada Educator Performance Framework in conjunction with the Nevada School Performance Framework will be used to ensure rigorous grade level content instruction.

HCSD ELL Guiding Principles

Humboldt County School District prescribes to the WIDA Guiding Principles of Language Development in its programming and support of students in their language development:

Multilingual learners' languages and cultures are valuable resources to be leveraged for schooling and classroom life; leveraging these assets and challenging biases help develop multilingual learners' independence and encourage their agency in learning (Little, Dam, & Legenhausen, 2017; Moll, Amanti, Neff, & González, 1992; Nieto & Bode, 2018; Perley, 2011).
Multilingual learners' development of multiple languages enhances their knowledge and cultural bases, their intellectual capacities, and their flexibility in language use (Arellano, Liu, Stoker, & Slama, 2018; Escamilla, Hopewell, Butvilofsky, Sparrow, Soltero-González, Ruiz-Figueroa, & Escamilla, 2013; Genesee, n.d.; Potowski, 2007).
Multilingual learners' language development and learning occur over time through meaningful engagement in activities that are valued in their homes, schools and communities (Engeström, 2009; Larsen-Freeman, 2018; van Lier, 2008; Wen, 2008).
Multilingual learners' language, social-emotional, and cognitive development are inter- related processes that contribute to their success in school and beyond (Aldana & Mayer, 2014; Barac & Bialystok, 2012; Gándara, 2015; Sánchez-López & Young, 2018).
Multilingual learners use and develop language when opportunities for learning take into account their individual experiences, characteristics, abilities, and levels of language proficiency (Gibbons, 2002; Swain, Kinnear, & Steinman, 2015; TESOL International Association, 2018; Vygotsky, 1978).
Multilingual learners use and develop language through activities which intentionally integrate multiple modalities, including oral, written, visual, and kinesthetic modes of communication (Choi & Yi, 2015; Jewitt, 2008; van Lier, 2006; Zwiers & Crawford, 2011).
Multilingual learners use and develop language to interpret and access information, ideas, and concepts from a variety of sources, including real-life objects, models, representations, and multimodal texts (Ajayl, 2009; Cope & Kalantzis, 2009; Jewitt, 2009; Kervin & Derewianka, 2011).
Multilingual learners draw on their metacognitive, metalinguistic, and metacultural awareness to develop effectiveness in language use (Bialystok & Barac, 2012; Casey & Ridgeway-Gillis, 2011; Gottlieb & Castro, 2017; Jung, 2013).
Multilingual learners use their full linguistic repertoire, including translanguaging practices, to enrich their language development and learning (García, Johnson, & Seltzer, 2017; Hornberger & Link, 2012; Wei, 2018).
Multilingual learners use and develop language to interpret and present different perspectives, build awareness of relationships, and affirm their identities (Cummins, 2001; Esteban-Guitart & Moll, 2014; May, 2013, Nieto, 2010).

Parent Information

English Language Learner Pupil and Parental Rights

Assembly Bill 195 (AB 195) revises provisions relating to pupils who are English learners. Approved by Governor Steve Sisolak on June 2, 2021, AB 195 extends the rights of English learner pupils and parental rights. Section three of the bill included below provides an overview of these rights.

-ADDITIONAL PARENT ELL RESOURCES-

Explaining ELL Status-English

Explaining EL Status-Spanish

Parent's Guide to ACCESS-English

Parent's Guide to ACCESS-Spanish