About Our District EL Teacher
Randa Nemer Shaheen is the English Language Teacher for Barberton City Schools. She has a master’s in education, received her teaching license in English Language Arts Grades 7-12, and TESOL Endorsement Grades K-12. In addition to teaching English to speakers of other languages, she serves as a liaison, connecting parents with teachers and school administrators to help meet the needs of the students and their families. Mrs. Nemer Shaheen is bilingual in Arabic and English and a native of the Akron area.
Randa has presented at the Ohio TESOL Conference on, "Connecting Culture to the Classroom," and at the Northeast Ohio Achieve Workshop on, "Holistic Collaboration" and "Growing Up Middle Eastern." She started the annual cultural festival which has been featured in the SST8 Family Engagement Showcase, Akron Beacon Journal, and Barberton Herald. In 2018 Randa was recognized with the Ohio TESOL Excellence in Teaching award, and previously, she was awarded Rookie of the Year by the Summit County Education Service Center.
Mrs. Nemer Shaheen is a United Way iCARE Mentor, Upward Bound Teacher Liaison, and member of community organizations: Torchbearers, Women In Touch with Akron's Needs (WITAN), and the Aitaneet Foundation. She was also a member of the Barberton Community Leadership Institute and a participant in the Heart to Heart Leadership Connections program. She has a passion for education and serving the community. In 2019, she was one of the recipients of the 30 For the Future award from the Greater Akron Chamber to acknowledge her commitment to the community and her work. Mrs. Nemer Shaheen truly enjoys devoting her time and expertise to helping students learn the English language and American culture, while promoting our students' native cultures.
Randa has presented at the Ohio TESOL Conference on, "Connecting Culture to the Classroom," and at the Northeast Ohio Achieve Workshop on, "Holistic Collaboration" and "Growing Up Middle Eastern." She started the annual cultural festival which has been featured in the SST8 Family Engagement Showcase, Akron Beacon Journal, and Barberton Herald. In 2018 Randa was recognized with the Ohio TESOL Excellence in Teaching award, and previously, she was awarded Rookie of the Year by the Summit County Education Service Center.
Mrs. Nemer Shaheen is a United Way iCARE Mentor, Upward Bound Teacher Liaison, and member of community organizations: Torchbearers, Women In Touch with Akron's Needs (WITAN), and the Aitaneet Foundation. She was also a member of the Barberton Community Leadership Institute and a participant in the Heart to Heart Leadership Connections program. She has a passion for education and serving the community. In 2019, she was one of the recipients of the 30 For the Future award from the Greater Akron Chamber to acknowledge her commitment to the community and her work. Mrs. Nemer Shaheen truly enjoys devoting her time and expertise to helping students learn the English language and American culture, while promoting our students' native cultures.
About Our EL Program
Barberton City Schools Mission:
The mission of the BCSD is to serve every child by challenging him/her to continuously learn, achieve, and act with purpose and compassion. Our district’s academic programs provide opportunities for all students to reach their full potential.
Our program helps ELs learn the language and use it to make social and academic progress. The goals of the English Learner Program are to:
1. Increase English language proficiency in reading, writing, listening, speaking, comprehension, and production.
2. Improve study habits and guide students towards the completion of assignments.
3. Increase social and academic vocabulary.
4. Provide language accommodations and modifications for students.
5. Help biculturate ELs to the American culture and adjust to their new surroundings, while nurturing and promoting their native culture.
6. Update parents, teachers, and administrators regarding EL information and activities.
ELs come from different cultural backgrounds and speak another language at home. They could have been born in another country or were born in The United States and were raised speaking another language, before they learned English. Speaking a language other than English impacts the students’ learning because they might have difficulty with reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking in English.
There are different ways of instructing ELs. Pull-out instruction entails pulling the student out of the mainstream classroom and teaching a lesson separately to the EL. Push-in instruction involves working with the teacher to instruct the EL in the mainstream classroom. Since each student has a different way of learning and depending on the lesson, the most effective and conducive learning strategy is used for our students.
Part of teaching ESOL entails evaluating our students' English language proficiency. The OELPA is the Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment and helps us understand how we can better serve our students. Please refer to the link below regarding ELs and the OELPA assessment that will be conducted in February-April of 2017.
Students must meet the following criteria to exit the EL program (from the OELPA Exit Criteria) :
In OELPA, there are three overall performance levels: Proficient, Emerging, and Progressing. The performance levels are determined as follows:
As our mission states at Barberton City Schools, our goal is to help students learn, achieve, and act with purpose and compassion. We enjoy working with our students and hope that they achieve academic and social success!
The mission of the BCSD is to serve every child by challenging him/her to continuously learn, achieve, and act with purpose and compassion. Our district’s academic programs provide opportunities for all students to reach their full potential.
Our program helps ELs learn the language and use it to make social and academic progress. The goals of the English Learner Program are to:
1. Increase English language proficiency in reading, writing, listening, speaking, comprehension, and production.
2. Improve study habits and guide students towards the completion of assignments.
3. Increase social and academic vocabulary.
4. Provide language accommodations and modifications for students.
5. Help biculturate ELs to the American culture and adjust to their new surroundings, while nurturing and promoting their native culture.
6. Update parents, teachers, and administrators regarding EL information and activities.
ELs come from different cultural backgrounds and speak another language at home. They could have been born in another country or were born in The United States and were raised speaking another language, before they learned English. Speaking a language other than English impacts the students’ learning because they might have difficulty with reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking in English.
- ELs at Barberton City Schools speak Arabic, Chinese, Pashto, Serbian, and Spanish; with Arabic and Pashto being predominantly spoken by our students and interpreters available for students and families with limited English.
There are different ways of instructing ELs. Pull-out instruction entails pulling the student out of the mainstream classroom and teaching a lesson separately to the EL. Push-in instruction involves working with the teacher to instruct the EL in the mainstream classroom. Since each student has a different way of learning and depending on the lesson, the most effective and conducive learning strategy is used for our students.
Part of teaching ESOL entails evaluating our students' English language proficiency. The OELPA is the Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment and helps us understand how we can better serve our students. Please refer to the link below regarding ELs and the OELPA assessment that will be conducted in February-April of 2017.
- Ohio Department of Education: English Language Learners (ELs) Click here for more information about ELs.
- Ohio Test of English Language Acquisition (OELPA) Click here for more information about OELPA.
Students must meet the following criteria to exit the EL program (from the OELPA Exit Criteria) :
In OELPA, there are three overall performance levels: Proficient, Emerging, and Progressing. The performance levels are determined as follows:
- "Proficient" students are those scoring any combination of 4's and 5's across all four domains;
- "Emerging" students are those scoring any combination of 1's and 2's across all four domains;
- "Progressing" students are those scoring any combination across the four domains that does not fall into Proficient or Emerging.
- Students identified "Proficient" as defined above in grades K-12 are eligible to exit the English Learner program.
- Students who receive a combination of 4's and 5's with one 3 are placed in the "Trial Mainstream" period. This is the path towards exiting the English Learner program.
As our mission states at Barberton City Schools, our goal is to help students learn, achieve, and act with purpose and compassion. We enjoy working with our students and hope that they achieve academic and social success!
EL Resource Guide
This document details the following information to explain our EL program at Barberton City Schools:
*Please contact Randa Nemer (RNemer@BarbertonSchools.org) for a copy of our EL Resource Guide.
- About ESL at BCSD
- Title III & ESSA Requirements
- Best Practices
- School Year Responsibilities
- Procedures
- State Testing Accommodations
- Checklists
- Activities
- Ohio ELP Standards
- Materials/Forms
- Resources
- Contact Information
*Please contact Randa Nemer (RNemer@BarbertonSchools.org) for a copy of our EL Resource Guide.
Acronyms
- BCS - Barberton City Schools
- EL - English Learner
- ESOL - English to Speakers of Other Languages
- OELPA - Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment
- TESOL - Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
