Title III & ESOL

Title III is a federally-funded program that provides eligible Local Education Agencies with funding to supplement those ESOL services already in place. School districts with large EL populations receive direct Title III allocations, while school districts with lower incidence populations are grouped into the “Georgia Title III Consortium”. The Title III Consortium allows these “low-incidence” districts to access Title III funds typically available only to districts with greater numbers of ELs. Both ESOL and Title III hold students accountable for progress in, and attainment of, English language proficiency. Upon attainment of English language proficiency, students exit from supplemental language services.

English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) is a state-funded instructional program for eligible English Learners (ELs) in grades K-12 (Georgia School Law Code 1981, § 20-2-156, enacted in 1985). The ESOL program is a standards-based curriculum emphasizing academic and social language development. ESOL coursework is based upon the WIDA Consortium English Language Development (ELD) standards. Classroom teachers integrate these ELD standards with the Georgia Performance Standards to enable ELs to both communicate in English and demonstrate their academic, social, and cultural proficiency. Instructional approaches, both in ESOL and general education classes, ensure that the needs of Georgia’s ELs are accommodated. To the extent practicable, it is appropriate to use the EL’s home language as a means of facilitating instruction and providing parents with school-related information.