Dear Parents,
I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday last week and enjoyed some time with the family. We are now entering our last 10-week stretch before the summer holidays!
We have another event coming up this week where you are invited to come and participate:
April 13 Parent Talk from 9:00-11:45am
Venue: XLIS Black Box
We hope to see you!
WIDA assessments
Over the past several years, we have administered the WIDA Model English Proficiency assessment for our students whose mother language is not English in both primary and secondary school. Once complete, students are placed into phases between 1 and 6 in the areas of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Phase 1 reflects students who are at an emergent level and Phase 6 reflects a ‘native speaker’ level. This assessment serves two purposes at XLIS:
- As an entrance level assessment for students in P4 or above. An overall score of 2 is the requirement for P4 and P5, while a 2.5 is the requirement for P6. These benchmarks reflect the level of English proficiency we feel is necessary for students to be successful in the upper primary grades.
- As a progress monitoring tool, to check our student’s English progress each year. This year we are assessing all students from P2 to P6 whose mother language is not English. This assessment will happen annually each spring. Students who are in Phases 1 and 2 (up to 2.9) will receive support from our EAL and Homeroom team to create learning goals for those students, based on the data from their assessment. Our goal is for students to increase by at least one phase each year. So if they are in the 2 range this spring, by next spring we hope they will have reached 3 or above.
This month and next, our EAL team will be working very hard to complete the assessments for more than 200 students. We will be happy to share the data with you when they are complete.
I am very excited that I will be traveling with our MYP students on their “Week Without Walls” trip next week. I am looking forward to learning what our current P6 students will be doing next year so I can help them to prepare. This trip builds students’ ability to be independent, experience the outdoors and rural life, and provide some service to the community.
While away, I will still be available through WeChat or email should you need anything.
Have a great week!
Marly Song
Primary Principal
WeChat: principal_marly
