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Indian River intensive ESL program completes its first year

Anne Hoffman/Delaware Public Media

Back in February, we brought you the story of Indian River School District’s intensive ESL program for the wave of Central American teenagers who migrated to Delaware last summer.

The APELL program , which just finished its first year, specifically focuses on students with low literacy skills. Those students aren’t mainstreamed into bigger public high schools until they’ve completed a year of the program.

The goal is to control student frustration and encourage them to stick with high school which, for some, is a new concept according, Laurie Ott, one of the architects of the APELL program.

They weren’t used to being in a school setting. They had been out of school for several years. We had students who didn’t know you stay in your seat, you raise your hand to leave the room. We just had kids getting up and walking out, things like that at the beginning of the year," said Ott.

Ott adds that after a full school year in the program, many kids are showing strong progress in reading, writing and speaking English. Next year, those students will be fully mainstreamed into a big public high school.

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