As the population of limited English proficient — LEP — Americans rises across the nation and in Oregon, local schools are implementing policies to ensure all students have a chance at success.

The Redmond School District emphasizes keeping LEP students in the general classroom, while also creating conditions in which they can excel despite the additional challenges they face when grappling with the curriculum.

“We have an integrated model, and we do not segregate students out,” said Martha Hinman, executive director of student services for the Redmond School District. “We don’t want to have students focused on their tags, whether it’s ‘English language learner,’ ‘gifted and talented,’ or ‘special education.’”

Nine percent of Americans ages 5 and older lacked English language proficiency in 2011, according to a new report by the Migration Policy Institute. Oregon has the 19th-largest LEP population among the states. Nationwide, there are 25.3 million LEP individuals, an 81 percent growth since 1990.

School-age children make up a smaller proportion of this group — 9 percent — than they do of the general population. Nonetheless, a total of 2.3 million children between the ages of 5 and 15 lack proficiency in English, posing a challenge for schools across the nation. The vast majority of these Americans speak Spanish as their primary language, followed by Chinese and Vietnamese.

Between 2000 and 2011, the Oregon LEP population grew by 28.5 percent to a total of 191,367. Despite their linguistic disadvantage, 77.7 percent of children who live in homes in which adults speak a language other than English speak English “very well.” Nonetheless, 8.9 percent of students enrolled in Oregon public schools receive English language instruction, according to the Oregon Department of Education.

The Redmond LEP student population receiving English language learners services has stabilized in recent years, but has risen from 2.8 percent in the 2001-02 school year to 4.67 percent.

To facilitate the success of LEP students, the district employs the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol, a set of best practices for teachers that focuses on teaching subject-area vocabulary in context.

“Teachers embed the vocabulary from a lesson into instruction, giving examples of the vocabulary as they go along,” Hinman said.

The goal is for content instruction and language instruction to blend together, so that while LEP students are developing their English skills, they are also developing a mastery of the content their peers are studying.

Additionally, teachers are trained in differentiated instruction, Hinman said. This type of instruction focuses on taking into account the different ways diverse students in a classroom learn, including LEP students. These in-class methods are supplemented by additional, focused instruction.

“In elementary school, we also have a 30-minute pull-out session that doesn’t disrupt general instruction,” Hinman said. “During this time, the students receive direct instruction on language development, focusing on vocabulary, grammar and parts of speech.”

At the high school and middle school levels, students are pulled out for an entire period to focus on language development that incorporates content related to their general instruction. This period counts as an elective course.

“The pull-out sessions do quite a bit, but we’ve made a great effort to get a very large percentage of our teachers trained in instructing limited English students,” Hinman said. “We can all learn from each other, and we have a much stronger community when we can keep the classes integrated.”