HOW ARE ENGLISH LEARNERS IDENTIFIED? The identification process for ELs is a two-step process. First, parents complete the Language Usage Survey (LUS) upon initial enrollment in public school. A parent only completes this form once in a student’s public education career. If a student is transferring from one district to another in New Mexico, the LUS completed at the previous district has to transfer as part of student records to the new school. The new school should request this information specifically. The LUS is kept in the cumulative file. Secondly, if any answers to questions 1-6 on the LUS are ‘yes’ or if a language other than English is indicated in question 7 of the LUS, then the English language proficiency screener (currently this is the W-APT) is administered to the student. Based o the W-APT results a student is either identified as an initial fluent English proficient student (IFEP) or as an English learner (EL). The W-APT results are kept in the cumulative file and are transferred as part of student records to schools the student attends. For further information and resources on the EL identification process, please see the LUS Guidance Handbook in the following link: http://ped.state.nm.us/ped/BilingualDocs/ServingELs/NMLUS_Guidance_Handbook_12.23.16.pdf