ACADEMIC READINESS  |  ELL

Language courses with different focuses aim to improve English language skills and prepare students for credit courses.

Pattison High School offers a language development program designed to introduce and promote English skills across a spectrum of competency.

The learner who is new to English language acquisition completes an assessment known as the English Placement Test. The outcome of the placement test gives guidance to the focus of meeting the student’s need, both in language level and in language competency.

The Academic Readiness courses are titled and numbered according to a competency focus and a level of achievement. If a student does not yet qualify for English at the grade 9 level, the student will be placed in Academic Readiness I, 2, 3 or 4.

In the Academic Readiness program there is focus on three primary competency areas: reading, vocabulary and writing. In all courses grammar skills are developed. There is functional overlap and cross-over amongst the competency areas.

The Academic Readiness courses are a starting point for the newly arriving student to develop the competency skills that assist in understanding the high school courses in mathematics, sciences and social studies.

Students may be placed in one or more levels of study. The student who progresses quickly may be moved to a higher level as soon as that progress is evident. The student does not have to wait until the end of a semester in order to progress to a higher level. `

The flexibility inherent in the Academic Readiness program is reflective of the values in the statement “We don’t teach a class; we teach individual students in a class.”