DATE
Name
Address
City State Zip
Dear Parent:
Both federal and state guidelines require that all students, who have a primary home language or
native language other than English, be administered a screening of their English language
proficiency. The screening results indicate that your child, NAME, is performing at the
following level (*a full description of each level is available on page two):

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5
Therefore, he/she is eligible to participate in the English As A Second Language (ESL) program
at NAME OF SCHOOL School. This is not a Special Education program. It is a program that
helps students improve their English skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. This
means that, in addition to the instruction provided by the classroom teacher, CHILD’S NAME
will receive additional help from the Title III ESL specialist, ESL TEACHER’S NAME.
The following support services will be available to enhance your child's educational program:
 ESL Services (during the school day) ................................ _____ minutes per week
 Title I Reading (during the school day) ............................. _____ minutes per week
 Monitoring (ESL teacher contacts classroom teacher) …..._____ time(s) per semester
You have the right to refuse this service or to remove your child from this program at any time.
However, if you choose to allow your child to participate in the ESL program, you will be kept
informed of your child's progress during the school year and his/her successes in addition to the
level at which he/she is performing at the end of the school year. When your child meets the
criteria for Level 5, he/she will be exited from the program. Your child’s expected high school
graduation date is Month/Year (*include only for high school students).
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your school's principal and/or the ESL
teacher.
Sincerely,
Name, Title III Director
County Schools
c: Name, Principal
Name, Title III Teacher
Students with English Proficiency Level 1 (Negligible)
Can comprehend simple statements and questions with additional visuals and gestures
Have a limited understanding of the general idea of basic messages
Can comprehend some limited face-to-face conversations
Are beginning to understand some basic material
Rely on visual cues and prior knowledge or experience with the topic
Comprehension is limited to simple phrases containing high frequency vocabulary
Are beginning to express basic personal needs
Are able to copy from a model simple English letters and words
Are beginning to use prewriting strategies and available technology
Students with English Proficiency Level 2 (Very Limited)
Can comprehend simple statements and questions and understand the general idea of basic messages and conversations
Will comprehend language consisting of basic vocabulary and grammatical structures in face-to-face conversations
Will initiate and respond to basic statements and engage in basic face-to-face conversations with more fluent speakers
Can understand basic material and the general message of basic reading passages that contain simple language structures and syntax.
Rely on visual cues and prior knowledge or experience with the topic
Comprehension is limited to simple language containing high frequency vocabulary and predictable grammatical patterns
Are beginning to use reading strategies to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words through the use of pictures, diagrams, cognates, and text context
Can express basic personal needs and compose short passages on familiar topics
Basic vocabulary and structures in simple sentences and phrases are characteristic of student writing at this level
Errors in spelling and grammar are frequent and characteristic of language production at this stage
Students with Limited English Proficiency Level 3 (Limited)
Can comprehend short conversations on simple topics
Can understand frequently used verb tenses and word-order patterns in simple sentences
Demonstrate a detailed understanding of short conversations and messages but only have a general understanding of longer conversations and messages
Can initiate and sustain a conversation although they often speak with hesitation and rely on known vocabulary
Use the more common verb tense forms (present, past, and future), but make numerous errors in tense formation and proper selection of verbs
Can express some details and nuances by using appropriate modifiers
Can use word order accurately in simple sentences, but make errors when using complex patterns
Extended communication is typically a series of short, familiar structures
Often have to repeat themselves to be understood
Rely on familiar structures and utterances
Use repetition, gestures, and other nonverbal cues to sustain conversation
Can understand basic narrative text and authentic materials
Can use contextual and visual cues to derive meaning from texts that contain unfamiliar words, expressions, and structures
Can comprehend passages written in basic sentence patterns, but frequently have to guess at the meanings of more complex materials.
Begin to make informed guesses about meaning from context
Can begin to identify the main idea and supporting details of passages
Can write simple notes, make brief journal entries, and write short reports using basic vocabulary and common language structures
Can express ideas in the present, future, and past tenses
Frequent errors are characteristic of this level especially when the students try to express thoughts that require more complex language structures.
Students with Limited English Proficiency Level 4 (Intermediate)
Can understand standard speech delivered in most settings with some repetition and rewording
Can understand the main ideas and relevant details of extended discussions or presentations
Draw on a wide range of language forms, vocabulary, idioms, and structures
Can comprehend many subtle nuances with repetition and/or rephrasing
Are beginning to detect affective undertones and they understand inferences in spoken language
Can communicate orally in most situations
May have difficulty producing complex sentence structure, using verb tenses correctly, and discussing academic topics in-depth without prior preparation.
Can engage in extended conversations on a broad range of topics
Have mastered basic sentence structure and verb tenses
Can comprehend the content of many texts independently
Still require support in understanding texts in the academic content areas
Have a high degree of success with factual information in non-technical prose
Can read many literature selections for pleasure and separate main ideas from supporting ones
Can begin to analyze reading passages written at a level appropriate for the general public
Can use the context of a passage and prior knowledge to increase their comprehension
Can detect the overall tone and intent of text
Can write multi-paragraph compositions, journal entries, personal and business letters, and creative passages
Can present their thoughts in an organized manner that is easily understood by the reader
Show good control of English word structure and of the most frequently used grammatical structures, but errors are still present
Can express complex ideas and use a wide range of vocabulary, idioms, and structures including the full range of verb tenses
Students with Limited English Proficiency Level 5 (Fluent)
Can understand most standard speech
Can understand and identify the main ideas and relevant details of discussions or presentations on a wide range of topics, including unfamiliar ones
Are able to understand the nuances in meaning represented by variations in stress, intonation, pace, and rhythm
Can engage in most communicative situations with minimal errors
Have a high degree of fluency and accuracy when speaking although they may make errors with some language forms that do not interfere with meaning
and lack the content area vocabulary possessed by their native English-speaking peers
Understand and obtain meaning from a wide range of texts
Use the same reading strategies as their native English-speaking peers to derive meaning from text
Are approaching grade-level mastery of the language structures and vocabulary necessary for understanding academic content subject area texts
Are approaching fluency in writing in the content areas
Are able to use the language structures and content vocabulary required for each academic subject although they may make errors
Begin to use the subtleties of written language and can write for different audiences and purposes