Best practice for using High Point Materials Albuquerque Public Schools Language and Cultural Equity High Point is intended for Middle School English language learners. Students who test beginner, early intermediate or intermediate on the NMELPA, require ESL services. Teaching with High Point can fulfill your ESL requirement. High Point levels B/C can be used for reading intervention for early advanced or advanced ELL students. Deciding which placement test to administer ELL students must be assessed with High Point Placement Test. Use NMELPA levels as a guideline for deciding which High Point diagnostic placement test to administer (you don’t have to give students the whole battery). In other words, you can begin testing a student where you think he/she is. For example, an early intermediate student could start with the Level A test. High Point levels The Basics (for newcomers only) Level A Level B Level C NMELPA levels beginner early intermediate intermediate early advanced or advanced Correct placement of students Initially, place ESL students homogeneously by NMELPA scores. Students should be grouped by language proficiency level and not necessarily by grade level. Often, in middle school, ELL’s are grouped by grade level with multiple levels of English language proficiency in one class. We suggest the first level of placement be the NMELPA score, and then, if possible, by grade level. That would mean that you might need to place 6th, 7th and 8th graders together in the same class by language proficiency level rather than by grade level. You may find that the High Point placement test scores don’t match well with the students’ original placements by NMELPA. Variation in reading levels is to be expected. Except for some special cases, it is not recommended that you shuffle everyone’s schedules. Keep the placements according to NMELPA, and use the multilevel strategies recommended by the High Point publishers to make up for the discrepancy. Remember, only newcomers should be placed in the Basics book. The Basics never should be used with students who have been in school in the United States for more than 1 -2 years, regardless of their High Point Placement test score. If a student who has been here for longer than 2 years tests into the Basics level, then the grammar and decoding lessons from the Reading Basics box of overheads can be used to supplement Levels A-C. Implementation Teachers should never try to teach 3 levels at once. Teachers should teach to the middle level and use the multilevel strategies built into the text in order to differentiate for language levels. For example, if you have to teach levels A, B and C, at the same time, then teach primarily from level B and differentiate using the suggested activities and also the leveled libraries. Remember that levels B and C can be appropriate for any student who reads somewhat below grade level and needs support using academic English. Below you will find the range of reading levels reflective of each High Point level: High Point level Basics (newcomer only) Level A Level B Level C 4/08 Approximate Reading level grade 1-3 grade 2-4 grade 4-5 grade 5-6