ROYAL CITY - The Washington State Board of Education (SBE) has given the first ever English Language Acquisition Award to 42 schools across the state, including Royal Middle School.

This award means RMS is among the top 5 percent of schools in student acquisition of the English language. The ranking is determined by testing..

"Language acquisition is an indicator of school success and deserves to be acknowledged," Board Chair Dr. Kristina Mayer said.

Washington classrooms increasingly include students who speak a wide range of languages, according to the SBE. English Language Learner (ELL) students are the fastest growing subgroup in Washington schools today.

According to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction's (OSPI) K12 Report Card, the number of ELL students increased 30 percent between May 2005 and May 2013. In school year 2012-13, 187 different languages were spoken by Washington students.

The board created the language acquisition award to recognize schools whose ELL students are making the greatest progress toward the goal of becoming proficient in English.

"We want to shine the light on what is working so it can be replicated across the state," Mayer said. "The board will work with OSPI and other partners to support award-winning schools in sharing their strategies and best practices."

The best practices at Royal Middle School are quite simple. Students in need of ELL are identified early, given help immediately and are not allowed to fall back from their advances.

"We have a tiered schedule that provides for focused instruction and curriculum," Principal Dave Jaderlund said.

Royal's ELL students are identified on class rosters, with their level of development, so teachers can monitor their progress as each lesson develops. This acts as a quick formative assessment for teachers, allowing them to make corrections or provide help during the lesson rather than after an assessment.

"It's the instant recognition by the teacher and the adaptations they make in the class that ensures students are not falling behind," Jaderlund said.

Teachers have had training in Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) to provide strategies that have proven effective for language development.

"Students who test out of the program (yearly Washington English Language Proficiency Assessment) are still followed to ensure they do not regress," Jaderlund said. "This is one way we have been able help our high school, which has been a distinguished school for the past several years."

There are 380 students at RMS. About one-third, or 131, are ELL students. About 20-25 percent pass the WELPA and transition out of the program. While that may sound low to some people, Jaderlund said, it is actually high.

"We've had administrators look at the test, and they say it's tougher than the Measurement of Student Proficiency (MSP)," Jaderlund said. "You can walk through our halls, and the kids are speaking English. It's just that many of them can't reach the standard, which includes academic language."

According to Jaderlund, ELL students are determined as soon as they start school. Some will transition early, most of them late. The goal remains through 12th grade. And no transitioned student has ever returned to the program.

Through WELPA testing, ELL students are classified 1 (lower one-third), 2 (middle), 3 (higher) and 4 (Transition).

"Most of our kids (at RMS) are threes," Jaderlund said. "Even the ones can speak some English."