English as a Second Language (ESL)

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Office of Language Acquisition

The Office of Language Acquisition (OLA) is dedicated to serving the needs of English learners.  OLA supports the district in providing English learners (ELs) with the full range of learning opportunities equivalent to those provided to native speakers of English. We are also committed to providing our English learners access to high quality K-12 educational programs designed to ensure they acquire full proficiency in English as rapidly and effectively as possible, in order to meet or exceed grade level standards for academic achievement in a timely manner.
 

SDUSD and OLA recognize that being academically prepared and fully proficient in another language enhances and contributes to a student's ultimate achievement and quality of life.  To that end, the district offers biliteracy program options that strengthen English learners' native language development and content knowledge while building social and academic English skills.  In addition, the district offers World Language and Language Immersion Programs as a venue for native English speakers to become proficient in a second language.

The department also coordinates and provides assistance to parent committees, including school site-based English Learner Advisory Committees (ELAC), and the District English Learner Advisory Committee (DELAC), a district-level advisory committee made up of representatives from each school's ELAC.

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Of the roughly 131,000 students in SDUSD, 24%, approximately 32,000 students are designated as English learners.  As a result of our focused efforts to accelerate the academic achievement of our English learners, we have continued to increased the number of students reaching the SDUSD's criteria for Reclassified Fluent English Proficient from 2,300 students in 2007 to over 3,900 students in 2012. Furthermore, our reclassified English learners are currently outperforming the district as a whole on standardized measures of assessment.  For more information, please  visit the Office of Accountability  to access the most current student demographics information  including:
 

Current EL Population by School and Grade Level

Current Enrollment by English Language Fluency Level