Demographics
Kayenta is small community in Northern Navajo Reservation in the state of Arizona, near the Four Corners and Monument Valley (Utah). The community has a population of 5,189 people with 92% Native American. The town boasts three hotels, two family-owned restaurants, numerous fast food restaurants, one grocery store, and several churches with their own denominations. The community also has two schools: Kayenta Community School and Kayenta Unified School District.
Kayenta Unified is a k-12 district that serves over 2000 students from the Kayenta and other communities within a 45-mile radius. Approximately 95% of the student population is Native American. Within the school district, there are three schools, Kayenta Elementary School, Kayenta Middle School, and Monument Valley High School.
Kayenta Elementary School is a k-4 school with 4 teachers in each grade level, and three Structured English Instruction classes. Each teacher in an SEI classroom is responsible for a different stage in English Language Development. English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards is divided into 5 stages, with each stage focusing foundational linguistic knowledge and skills necessary to reach English proficiency. Stage I is equivalent to Kindergarten. Students in first grade and second grade who classify as English language Learners are placed in a Stage II SEI classroom. Students who are in grades 3-5 are placed in Stage III SEI classroom. Since my school is a K-4 school, I was assigned Stage III SEI classroom, which means I have to teach a combined third and fourth grade students with varying degree of English Language. ELP Standards correlate with the Arizona College and Career Readiness Standards to acquire English proficiency in order to reclassify a student into mainstream classroom.
In Arizona, schools use the Primary Home Language Other Than English Home Language Survey to identify potential English Language Learners. Once students are identified, they take Arizona English Language Learners Assessment for placement. Once they are placed, they take the assessment once a year until they achieve proficiency. Even after proficiency, the students are placed back in a mainstream classroom the following school year, but are monitored for 2 years.
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