Experts recognize that English language learners (ELL) who do not speak or understand English have higher needs. ELLs who have become proficient in English graduate at higher rates than all other students—more than 60 percent—while more than half of ELLs who never become English proficient drop out of high school.
Funding for ELLs will be determined by grade level: a K–5 weight, a 6–8 weight, and a 9–12 weight. Students in higher grades will receive additional resources for two reasons: (a) as students age, the state requires them to receive additional periods of specialized education; and (b) it is more developmentally difficult for older students to master a new language.
ELL students are fully eligible for the academic intervention weight. Taken together, the value of the ELL weight and the achievement weight received by ELLs is 0.59.
The current ELL weight incorporates the former state Limited English Proficiency Program.
Students who are currently ELLs, as determined by the Home Language Survey and the NYSESLAT, are eligible for this funding.
The February 2008 register data from BESIS survey (as of the October 31, 2007, audited data) generate the ELL funding for the initial budget release.