Riverside Local Schools serves approximately 180 English learners (ELs) each year. The majority of English learners are Spanish speakers, with Arabic, Gujarati, Lithuanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese and Vietnamese also represented.
Who are our EL students?
- A student who is between the ages of 3 and 21
- Enrolled in an elementary or secondary school
- Has a native/home language other than English, whether born in the U.S. or another country.
- Has difficulty speaking, reading, writing or understanding English as determined by the Ohio English Language Proficiency Screener.
Why do schools have English Language Development programs?
The district follows state and federal guidelines for providing service to English Learners (EL), which ensures that English learners have equal access to a quality education that enables them to progress academically while learning English.
EL services are provided in each building in order to meet the diverse educational and cultural needs of students who are learning English as an additional language. We provide instruction in the English Language in four domains: Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing. Appropriate accommodations in general education classes are also provided.
How are services provided?
The English Language program is designed to enable English Learners to become competent in listening, speaking, reading, and writing of the English language through the use of second language methods. The EL program emphasizes the mastery of English language skills, as well as mathematics, science, and social studies vocabulary, to enable the English learners to participate fully in the mainstream classroom. The EL program is taught by teachers who hold a TESOL endorsement (Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages). The EL teachers also provide mainstream teachers with information and strategies for teaching English learners. Riverside Local Schools uses the following program models to serve students in the EL program:
ESL Pull-out
In the Pull-out model students are “pulled out” of regular, mainstream classes for a portion of the day to receive specialized instruction for English learners. This is typically at a time when students do not miss core instruction.
ESL Push-in
The TESOL teacher provides instruction by going into the regular classroom. The TESOL teacher and the general education teacher collaborate to make the content accessible for ELs.
Sheltered Instruction
An instructional approach used to make academic instruction in English understandable to English language learners to help them acquire proficiency in English while at the same time achieving in content areas. Sheltered English instruction differs from ESL in that English is not taught as a language with a focus on learning the language. Rather, content knowledge and skills are the goals. In the sheltered classroom, teachers use simplified language, physical activities, visual aids, and the environment to teach vocabulary for concept development in mathematics, science, social studies and other subjects.
SIOP Training
When possible, staff members who work with our EL students receive training in the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) model, a scientific research based model of sheltered instruction designed to make grade-level academic content understandable for English learners while at the same time developing their English language.
High School Newcomer English language Arts
Students in grades 9-12 who have newly arrived to school in the United States and are at the beginning (Emerging) level of English proficiency as measured by the Ohio English Language Proficiency Screener meet for a full block class five days per week to learn vital vocabulary, listening, speaking, reading, writing, and grammar skills in an environment designed to support language acquisition within the grade level ELA curriculum.
Our TESOL Teachers:
Explanation of EL Student Identification
All newly enrolled students in the Riverside Local School District complete a Language Usage Survey at the time of registration. The following are the steps we follow:
STEP 1:
The EL Supervisor reviews the student's Home Language Usage Survey. Any family who indicates that a home language other than English is spoken on the Language Usage Survey is referred to the EL teacher in that child’s building.
STEP 2:
Within 30 days of the start of the school year or within 14 days of enrollment after the first 30 days of the school year, the student is assessed using the Ohio English Language Proficiency Screener (OELPS). The OELPS evaluates English language proficiency in four domains: Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing.
For more information on OELPS, view the Ohio Department of Education's webpage below:
STEP 3:
The EL instructor reviews the student's OELPS results.
If the student receives a Proficiency Status of Progressing or Emerging, the student is eligible for the English Language Development instructional program.

Example of OELPS student report
For Individual Student Reports for OELPS results translated into 12 different languages, view the Ohio Department of Education's webpage below:
STEP 4:
A parent notification letter and parent permission form are sent home.
To view similar parent notification letters translated into 20 different languages, view the bottom of the Ohio Department of Education webpage below:
STEP 5:
Permission forms must be signed and returned to the TESOL teacher in the child’s school in order for services to begin. This form is used annually after the initial identification of an English learner:
Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA)
The Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA) is an end-of-year test used to determine an EL student's English language proficiency. Based on the language proficiency level, an EL student will exit from the English language program or continue in the program.
Students complete four tests in the domains of Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing. Each test is scored on a scale of 1-5.
What Do Scores Mean?
To understand what the scores mean for each domain in your child's OELPA results, view the document at the link below:
Exiting from the ESL program
The following criteria will be used to indicate that your child has attained the required level of English proficiency to be exited from the district’s English Language Development program:
Achievement of score of Proficient (level 3) on the Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment. Proficient is defined as any combination of scores of 4 and 5 across the domains of Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing.
Ohio English Language Proficiency Standards
The Ohio English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards to guide instruction for English learners in grades K-12.
An English Language Learner can...
- Construct meaning from oral presentations and literary and informational text through grade-appropriate listening, reading, and viewing
- Participate in grade-appropriate oral and written exchanges of information, ideas, and analyses, responding to peer, audience, or reader comments and questions
- Speak and write about grade-appropriate complex literary and informational texts and topics
- Construct grade-appropriate oral and written claims and support them with reasoning and evidence
- Conduct research and evaluate and communicate findings to answer questions or solve problems
- Analyze and critique the arguments of others orally and in writing
- Adapt language choices to purpose, task, and audience when speaking and writing
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases in oral presentations and literary and informational text
- Create clear and coherent grade-appropriate speech and text
- Make accurate use of standard English to communicate in grade-appropriate speech and writing
View the Ohio English Language Proficiency Standards in more detail at the following link: