Official Site of The State of New Jersey
Reporting Multilingual Learners in NJ SMART
The State collects student-level data submitted by LEAs to evaluate how LEAs are supporting all students. Two data collections include:
- Student Information Data (SID) Management Handbook
- State Assessment Registration (SAR) Handbook
Handbooks are updated each school year; be certain to reference the most current version. Useful sections of the handbook include:
- Table of Contents.
- Revision History.
- Data Elements and Definitions.
Data elements which are new or updated are highlighted in yellow in the table of contents. Consider the following questions:
- Is the definition clear?
- Is the school district collecting this information in the student information system in the same way (e.g., definition and values are described the same in each collection system)?
- Who is the steward of this information at the school district? Note: there may be multiple people responsible for specific data.
While some immigrant students are also multilingual learners and some multilingual learners are immigrant students, not all immigrant students are multilingual learners. The terms are not .
It is important to correctly identify students in the State’s NJ SMART data system, see Reporting MLs in NJ SMART.
Reporting Multilingual Learners in NJ SMART
Correctly identifying and reporting multilingual learners is important as the data impacts resource allocation, affects accountability, and drives staff capacity and instruction.
The following examples are from A Guide to Collecting and Reporting Title III Data.
Example. A student was born in another country and moved to the United States, where she attended school for the first time, for one full school year, at the age of 7. During that first year in a U.S. school, she qualified as an immigrant student. The student then moved to another country for a year and subsequently came back to the United States and has been attending a U.S. school for another 2 full school years. During these 2 school years, she continued to qualify as an immigrant student. However, at the end of these 2 school years, this student has now been attending U.S. schools for a total of 3 full academic years and has therefore met the 3-year threshold where she will no longer qualify as an immigrant student for the purpose of Title III, Part A formula grants
Example. An 8-year-old girl was born in England and English is the language that she and her parents normally use. Last year, she moved with her family to the United States for the first time. When she enrolled in a U.S. school last year, the responses on her home language survey confirmed that she was not a potential multilingual learner, given that she and her parents normally use English at home. Therefore, while this child is not a multilingual learner, she does currently meet the definition of an immigrant student, having attended school in the United States for less than 3 full academic years to date.
Immigrants Students are:
- Ages 3 to 21.
- Not born in any of the 50 states, District of Columbia or Puerto Rico.
- Have not attended schools is one of the aforementioned places for more than 3 full academic years.
Three full academic years do not have to be consecutive months and can be summed across multiple school years.
Note: Federal (Plyler v. Doe) and state laws (N.J.A.C. 6A:22-3.3) prohibit denying the enrollment of students in public schools based on immigration/visa status. LEAs should continue to enroll all students who are between the ages of 5 and 20 who are domiciled in the district or who are otherwise entitled to attend pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:38.1, and the implementing regulations, N.J.A.C 6A:22-3.2, et. seq. A student cannot be denied enrollment based on a failure to present a particular form (e.g., proof of residency, birth certificate).
Data elements provide the state with information that drives funding, performance, and accountability. Reviewing and submitting data without errors improves the quality of the data and how it is reported.
The LEA’s English language specialist should review data reports with the person responsible for entering data in NJ Smart prior to any of the State submissions. The current NJ SMART Timeline can be found under ‘Key Documents’ in the ‘Documents for Download’ tab on the NJ SMART Resources & Trainings page.
Data elements and their value will be updated in the 2024-2025 school year; be sure to check back into the handbook revisions for next year’s submission.
Prior to the start of their kindergarten year, for preschool students who are identified as multilingual learners, the LEA shall administer an ELP assessment as part of the screener process to determine the ML’s English language proficiency level.
- If the student scores below 4.5, then the student continues as a multilingual learner. The ELLIdentificationDate is updated to reflect the date of the ELP assessment administered.
- If the student scores above 4.5, then the student is no longer identified as a multilingual learner and is exited from multilingual learner status. The ELLIdentificationDate is not changed and the ELLExitDate is entered.
If an LEA has determined a student has been incorrectly identified as a multilingual learner or a student who was not identified as a multilingual learner should be, the LEA should follow the guidance in Incorrectly Identified Students.
Depending on the Resolution of Multilingual Learner Misidentification Form, an LEA may have to correct the data entry into NJ SMART. The NJDOE will instruct the LEA on how to correct entries in NJ SMART.
Data can help LEAs assess the effectiveness of their LIEPs and how the LIEPs help multilingual learners attain English language proficiency (ELP) and develop high levels of achievement in all academic content areas.
Questions for LEAs to analyze with current data include but are not limited to:
- How many multilingual learners are served by a LIEP?
- How many multilingual learners have parents refuse placement in a program? Why?
- How many multilingual learners are dually identified with a special education by grade level?
- How many students are identified as immigrants by multilingual learner status and primary language?
- What types of LIEPs serve multilingual learners?
- What is the ELP level of multilingual learners by language instructional education program and grade?
- Are current multilingual learners achieving and meeting the ELP indicator?
- How many former multilingual learners reenter a language instructional education program within two years?
- How many former multilingual learners are in the LEA by Former Year 1 – Former Year 4?
- How many current and former multilingual learners have met the ELA and Math proficiency indicators?
- How many former multilingual learners have graduated?
- How many former multilingual learners have dropped out?
These questions are adapted from Guide to Collecting and Reporting Title III Data, March 2023.
- If a student is identified as a multilingual learner, leaves the districts and returns:
- If a new screener is administered, then the most current identification date should be entered.
- If a new screener is not administered, then the original identification date should be left (or entered).
- If a multilingual learner is exited and then reentered into multilingual learner status as per N.J.A.C. 6A:15-1.9(g), the most current identification date is entered and the ELLExitDate is left blank until the student meets the criteria for exiting multilingual status.
- If a parent refuses services for a multilingual learner, the ELLIdentificationDate is entered and REFUSAL is entered in the ELLExitDate.
- If a parent later accepts services, the REFUSAL data entry should be removed from ELLExitDate.
- For all multilingual learners, a date should be entered in ELLExitDate once the multilingual learner is determined to no longer need program services, as determined by a 4.5 or higher cuts core on an NJDOE approved ELP assessment.
- If a student is incorrectly identified, the ELLIdentificationDate and ELExitDate shall be corrected based on the final, approved decision from the State (See Chapter 9).
If an LEA has a question regarding a data entry specific to program, contact the Title III and Bilingual/ESL office via email at ML@doe.nj.gov.
Instructions for how to update data entry values will be updated in the 2024-2025 school year.
The District Reports tool uses data submitted via NJ SMART submissions to present aggregate information on students attending schools in each LEA. By clicking into the District Reports tab on the NJ SMART portal, LEA users can access a variety of reports that allow them to analyze patterns and trends across various categories.
Note: Be certain to contact the LEA’s NJ SMART data person and work collaboratively to obtain data relevant to supporting multilingual learners in the LEA.
- NJ SMART Submission Overview: Become familiar with how data is submitted to NJDOE.
- Encourage regularly scheduled uploads from the LEA’s school information system (SIS) to NJ SMART; the Fall and End of Year uploads are snapshots collected by the Department, but data can be uploaded anytime.
- Prior to any State submission review the data by running a data report to make sure multilingual learners and immigrant students are included correct. For example, are multilingual learners in grades K-2 included in the state assessment registration submission?