We are extremely fortunate in Cresskill and at Merritt Memorial School to have such a culturally and linguistically diverse student population. To help meet the needs of this diverse population, Cresskill has developed a "high intensity" English as a Second Language Program (ESL) to help our students achieve English language competency.

ESL at Merritt uses a curriculum based on the WIDA standards where listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills are developed through a hands-on approach. Multicultural literature is used within the curriculum and students are supported in their acquisition of vocabulary, knowledge, and skills in the core content areas.

Students who are registered as speaking a language other than English at home are identified through our district's Home Language Survey. Those students are then screened by certified ESL teachers to determine their English language proficiency level and to see if they qualify for ESL services. Students participating in our ESL program are also tested each spring to determine their proficiency level and to see if they continue to qualify for ESL services. Exiting the ESL program is based on multiple criteria including their performance in their academic classes, their performance in ESL classes, feedback from teachers, ACCESS for ELLs test results, and other state test results.

For additional information or questions regarding our English as a Second Language program, please visit the Cresskill ESL Program website or contact Mrs. Judy Beekman, ESL Supervisor, at jbeekman@cresskillnj.net, or Ms. Samantha Fecci, ESL Teacher, at sfecci@cresskillnj.net.