2026-04-09 Board of Education’s Teaching, Learning, and Enrollment Committee

001This public meeting of the Board of Education's Teaching, Learning, and Enrollment Committee for April 9th, 2026 is called to order. Good afternoon and welcome. Thank you all for being here. Today we'll be having a thorough overview of the services provided to our multilingual learners. First, we'll begin with introductions. I'm Rochelle Chase Miller, Zone 4, and I am the committee chair. Um I'm Mel Schuler. I go to Benson Polytechnic High School, and I'm one of the District Student Council representatives. My name is Eve Thompson. I go to Franklin, and I'm one of the District Student Council representatives. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Renard Adams, and the Chief Accountability and Equity Officer for the district sitting in for Senior Chief Christina Howard. I'm Mary Kane, Senior Legal Counsel. I'm Kristi Split, and I am on the board, and

002I'm a resident of Southwest Portland, Zone 1. Virginia and Patty? I'm Virginia LaFord. Um I live in Northeast Portland. I'm a member of the Board of Education, and I live in Northeast Portland. Hi, I'm Patty Sullivan, uh one of the board directors. Um not on the committee, but always really interested in this subject. Thanks for being here, everybody. Uh first, uh next we have public comment. Cara, do we have anyone signed up to speak? We do. We have two people in person and one virtual, so call the two in person first. Okay, thank you. Uh please make sure when you begin your comments that you clearly state your name and spell your last name. You will have 2 minutes to speak and we ask that once you hear the sound of the alarm go off,

003please wrap up your comments. We have Katie Parman and Sebastian Rake. Hello, my name is Sebastian Rake, R A K E, Northeast Portland resident. I'm the father of a fourth grade Le Monde French immersion student, one of two PPS charter schools that enrolls K through 8. I'm also fluent in French, a dual citizen of the US and France, and a local business owner who imports wine from France. My own father learned French in high school, joined the Peace Corps after college, and served in Francophone Senegal. There he met my mother, a French nurse. He eventually became a French teacher at South Eugene High School and Lane Community College in Eugene. I grew up in a bilingual household and by high school I'd outpaced the offered curriculum without many options to pursue a higher level of

004French. Because my father was a teacher, I was able to arrange an independent study which amounted to one-on-one lessons with my father who sacrificed his evenings to advance my language skills. This education allowed me to study abroad in France, take university courses in French for my college degree, stay connected with my extended family, and now work in international markets. Obviously this is not a solution for the vast majority of Le Monde graduates during high school. I'm not able to replicate my own learning experience for my son. And so many bilingual, multicultural families at Le Monde would say the same. This valuable and successful charter school, which was recently renewed for the maximum 10 years, is a special community in a thriving part of PPS. I'm part of a working group of parents asking for a

005policy that will assign these charter school graduates to the PPS high school with the most advanced French curriculum. Two district schools offer French beyond level one and two, but only one up to the IB 9-10 level. This advanced level is vital for continued learning. PPS has been losing up to 1/3 of Leman students from our public system when heading to to ninth grade. Most frequently because their neighborhood schools cannot support ongoing language learning. Not because they move out of district. We will be seeking to fold this request into the ongoing right-sizing and enrollment decision next year. Please help us create this policy to keep more students in PPS and meet the distinct needs of these charter school dual language learners. Thank you. Ready? Hi there. My name's Dr. Katie Parman. I'm the proud principal of

006Roosevelt High School. Uh just for some context, Roosevelt is 18% uh multilingual language learners. Um and uh along with McDaniel, these two high schools account for about 59% of the high school students that are receiving ML services. Um we also house our Peace and Newcomer program, which has supported high school age newcomer students since uh its inception in 2013. So, I'm really looking forward to hearing today about the continued work of our ML service department, uh specifically how service models can help to support the wide variety of ML students that we see in our schools. My focus for our ML students is that they graduate college and career ready. We have some high school ML that were born in the United States and have received ELD services for many years. We also support newcomer students

007who've only been in the United States for a year or two, and we also have a wide variety of students in between those two extremes. I hope, as we continue to build our ML service model, that we continue to build flexibility and into our high school programming specifically so that we can meet the needs of all of our ML students. I hope that we can focus some of our work on House Bill 2056, which is the Access to Linguistic Inclusion Act. Um House Bill 2056 offers us a lot more flexibility in the credits students can earn by taking English language development courses. Students can earn world language and language arts credits, which used to be called English and now they're called language arts, um by taking ELD classes through that House Bill 2056 uh law

008that was put into place. So, I hope we can continue to build ML services that allow all of our students the credit earning opportunities that we can that we've been afforded from House Bill 2056. I look forward to listening and learning and uh look forward to supporting our English language learners at Roosevelt High School and within our district. Thank you. Thank you. Then online we have Blake Good. Hi, my name is Blake Good, uh g o u d, uh he/him pronouns. I'm the parent of two kids that attend Chavez K-8, which is a DLI school. Uh but today I'd like to express uh my appreciation for the board's decision to bring the Oregon PTA school consolidation guidance into the discussions of the right-sizing process at the last uh board meeting on March 31st. And I

009hope that the values expressed about the value of this guidance to guide community engagement and the timeline of the process will show up in PPS's board and staff work going forward. Today, however, I wish to express my concern that some early signs about how it's being carried forward does not live up to the values placed uh on community engagement uh at that meeting. Um there was there was issues about how how about providing notice right before a four-day weekend. Um the parent engagement process is also lacking opportunity for many families to participate in. Not all families are have technology access or feel comfortable participating virtually. And the two locations where the in-person sessions will be held, Kellogg Middle School and ID B. Wells High School, are difficult for access for families in North and Inner

010Northeast Portland, which has many Title One schools whose communities include many historically underserved students and their families whose first voices are frequently not heard in the decision-making process. For our school, for example, it's a 12- 13-mile trip to either of those locations for families who rely on public transportation that translates to 60 to 90 minutes each way in order to participate. And so I'm here to urge the board to commit to a third in-person listening session that's located in North or Inner Northeast Portland to be as accessible to families in this part of town as the other sessions are for other PPS families. And I also hope that there'll be more details about what decisions are being made at each stage of the process and where engagement is being sought. I think this one is

011vision, but it was unclear to me um exactly where the process is, what questions are going to be asked at each stage of the process, and how many opportunities there's going to be for engagement beyond the upcoming few this month. Without a clear, well-thought-out and well-executed community engagement strategy, it's easy for families to discount the effort that PPS is just checking a box as it continues prioritizing families with greater privilege and social connections. And so I hope that there'll there'll be efforts to to build trust instead. Thank you. Thank you to everyone who offered testimony. I'm excited to hear from staff about the ways in which we support our multilingual learners. I'm interested in gaining a clearer shared understanding of what these services look like across our district and learning more about how those supports

012may differ by grade level and subject area. Dr. Adams, would you like to announce introduce this item? I'd love to. Thank you, Director Chase Miller. Tonight, we will provide you with an understanding of who our multilingual learners are, an overview of services, and explain how integrated English language development works. If the team will come forward, I'd love to introduce them. We have uh Senior Director Joanna Tobin. We have Director Will Frodes. We and we have the his ML team, Elena Papiacovo. Did I do it? Okay. And Angela Yee. Thank you for the introduction, Dr. Adams. Um it's an honor to be in front of you tonight for this very important topic. I have the joy this year of having this team on my broader team. Um and when we talk about multilingual learner services, I

013also want to mention um some people are familiar with the term that was used in the past of ESL, right? So, English as a second language, the term multilingual learners is asset-based and highlights the strengths of our students. And so, I just want to name that for anyone who may be listening that this is the term that we use now for our multilingual learners. Um and when we talk about this department, we're really talking about four distinctly um unique uh service options. We're really talking about our newcomer students. We're talking about our dual language immersion program. We also have another member on our team who's not here tonight, um Assistant Director of um dual language immersion, Risa Muñoz. Um and then we're also talking about English language development or ELD. You'll hear the team talk

014about that quite a bit tonight. Um and then we also have world language um as a part of our team. And so with that we'll move on to the next >> going to ask the team. I don't see the slide showing on our screen. Sorry about that. >> It's all right. Thank you Miss Bradshaw. Okay, wonderful. Okay, so tonight I think there's one slide back. Let's see here. There we go. The team will be talking about these key topics throughout the presentation. Again, there are a lot of acronyms within this department. We're going to do our best to spell those out and we also are open to any quick question throughout the way we help clarify and we will take questions at the end. And so with that we do have a learning target and

015success criteria. And so our big hope is that tonight we provide you with a good overview where if you're asked questions in the community you can refer back to this with hopefully greater detail than you've had at your fingertips prior. So I'm learning how Portland public schools supports multilingual learners to access rigorous grade level instruction and hopefully by the end of this presentation and Q&A you can demonstrate the progress toward these goals. So that you have an understanding of who multilingual learners are in PPS specifically and that you could describe these key services that I've already opened with. You could explain how integrated English language development ensures both access to language development and academic content and to recognize why this work is essential for our equity for student success. Okay, I'm going to pass it

016over to Director Will Flores. Thank you everyone and it is a pleasure to be here with all of you and I'm also grateful for the interest in this topic. It is a for to us is a topic close to our hearts. So we are glad to be here and share what what work we're doing and what we have been embarking on. Before we continue with the overview and and give you a deep dive into the services that we provide a little bit of this you know, we have a lot of in education we have a lot of acronyms as was said before but we want to make sure that we are kind of giving you a description of what we mean by multilingual learner. And in our district multilingual learner is a term that we

017begin using to ensure that we are again as Joanna said ensuring that we're focusing on the assets that our students bring into into the district and into our community. So rather than using ELD LEP as the old term used to be or ESL that we're using multilingual learner as the new term for all multilingual learners. Kids who are learning English and kids who have learned English as well. We will talk a lot about active MLs. So those are kids who are actively in services right now and we'll explain what services they can have access to. Newcomer students is an important group that has been growing in our district as well and and is our kids who are born outside of the US and and have less than two years of academic and they will remain

018in program for two academic years as needed. We it's also important to note and I I I'll talk about this a little further ahead and then most of our multilingual learners are kids who are born in Portland, born in the state of Oregon, or in in the US and not necessarily kids who are immigrants. So that Well, though many are, these are kids of immigrants who were born in the US and in in PPS, most of our kids are born in the US. They come from a home a home language other than English or in addition to English. Most of our kids in the district are what we consider long-term English learners, what the state and the federal government refers as LTELs. And these are kids who have been in services for five or more

019years. We'll go into the research about why it is crucial for us as a district to be focused on reclassifying our exiting kids after five years if they've been here since kindergarten. We are also naming and keeping uh track of kids who are at risk of becoming LTELs. And uh those are kids who remain in services for three, four, five years. So trying to prevent them from becoming long-term ELs. And another group of newcomer students was So it's part of that group that that I named before are what we call schools with interrupted uh education uh or also We also have kids who are uh students with interrupted limited formal education, which would be another term that we didn't put up here, but it would be SLIFE as opposed to SLIFE. And these are kids

020who are newcomers, but they also have had interrupted education prior to coming to the US uh for two or more years. And they're two two or more years behind peers in in academic uh it experience. The The main model and the main shift that our district has has embarked in the last uh of years is implementing an integrated ELD model. And so this is and then I skip I think I skip something. No, I did not. Make sure that I'm on the right spot. I'm not a very good driver, so You're doing great. Can I ask a quick question before you move on cuz it's going to stick with me. Can you go back a slide? There's an acronym on here that I want you to tell me what it is. What is ELPA? English

021language proficiency assessment or something? >> So that's the the state assessment. It's also known as ELPA. English language proficiency assessment, I think you said it. Great. Perfect. >> Yeah. Anyway, um educated guess. Can are are any of these categories of learners exempt from like standardized testing? Or do you throw a newcomer kid into like a map? Yeah. Um we have some guidance as far as that. So and we follow the state guidance. So um any student that qualifies for ELD services is required to take the ELPA, which is the annual um assessment that that um measures their English proficiency and and hopefully it's showing us growth. Um and then there's also OSAS, which our third through eighth graders take. But if it's their first year, they don't take OSAS in language arts. But they do

022take it in math just for participation reasons. It is a OSAS math is available in English and Spanish. So and and that's us following state um regulations and rules. And so then when we talk about our in-district benchmark assessments like MAP, we follow that same timeline. Okay, thank you. When I saw that ELPA thing, I wanted to ask if that was that was like anyway, I feel bad cuz it was felt like it wasn't related, but it was. >> It's always related. They're all related. Thank you. Great question. And we will have a quiz at the end of this for the acronyms. Well, I knew I I had passed the pretest on it. Yeah, you did. So back to the approved models or service models that we have currently in in in the district and

023and and and the main model that where most of our kids are is integrated ELD. So, any active ML and I uh or multilingual learner as I said before uh is expected to receive integrated ELD, which means that they are learning in a content class depending on the grade level or an ELA class both academic uh core instruction as well as integrated ELD or English language development um access. We also have for newcomer students uh an additional service that is called designated ELD and that's a a focused uh class where they receive depending on whether you're high school, middle, or elementary uh where they receive uh language instruction, but they also are entitled to integrated ELD. So, they get both. And just to ground us on on why we do The reason we do this

024is because we care about our our multilingual learners and we want to make sure that they succeed, but we also have some legal obligations that as a public uh education entity we have to follow and this is rooted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was later later affirmed in 1974 by Lau versus Nichols and also by the equal equal education opportunity Act, which reaffirmed to all districts that our multilingual learners or kids who are coming to us as English language learners not only need meaningful access to effective English language development programs, but they also simultaneously need access to academic uh core instruction uh on grade level rigorous academic and instruction. So, we are and we have over the years, uh, continued to improve in this area. My apologies, I'm going clicker happy here.

025Um, so, who are our multilingual learners? I think this is this is a great question that that was presented to us and, you know, we have over 100 languages. Again, the students who come from uh, different backgrounds and languages and we are it really enriches our district to have not only languages and cultures, but we welcome all of our students. About 10% of our multilingual learn 10% of our student population, period, in the district qual is multilingual learner. Half of those students are Spanish kids who come from Spanish-speaking homes and then you will see that reflected as we as we point that as well. Uh, we value every language. However, we want to point that that is the largest group in our district. Yes. So, that I I'm I'm curious about the slice that says

026English. >> That's a good question. We knew We knew you someone would ask. So, our kids I I mentioned before that most of our kids are born in the US. Most of our kids are simultaneous bilinguals. So, when a parent indicates and Elena will walk us through how we do the intake process when kids come into the to enroll in a school, families can actually write down English and another language. Once they say indicate that they speak another language, that will indicate to us that we need to do further assessment and identification to ensure that they are placed in the correct services and and so on. So, it's a it's a bilingual student. I think our parent who was here highlighted that well as well and we have students who come with more than one

027language into our schools. So. And they are welcome to write down English and whatever the other language is. Is that the same? Okay. This is a breakdown of the number of kids by grade level in our district currently and it just wanted to walk through that. Is it typical you have a higher senior population? We have we we have for for for at least a decade some of this some of some of that it reflects some of our newcomers, but it also reflects the the number of years that students remain in ELD services. So, our goal remains and our goal is and we'll talk to this more that kids exit services by fifth grade. And so, if they enter kindergarten in PPS, we should be exiting kids by fifth grade so that they're prepared for

028middle and high school. Um PPS is not alone in that we're not meeting that you know, that marker, but I think it's a goal that we have set to ensure that kids are not only meeting English language development standards, but also their academic standards and so, that is a big the big the big goal for us. Yeah. Uh and sometimes uh students that are take 5 years to graduate will be added to that 12th cohort. So, it'll be kind of two a fifth year so, they'll be added to that number. Yeah. This is just a overall uh overview of the numbers currently as of the date as of the date that we printed this or that we we posted this. Uh we have active multilingual learners. We have about 4,100 uh students in in the

029district. I'll quickly point out that uh we've also had over the years kids who have exited the program. And so that's kids who remain monitored. We keep track of how they are doing and progressing. And so you'll see the other the other numbers there of the the different typologies that we mentioned before. And I'll pass this to Alinan. You can click. Um so yes. So as far as how students are identified to receive those ELD services, um Will spoke a little bit about this. So when at the time of enrollment, a part of our registration form includes a a language use survey or a home language use survey. Um and the survey we use is provided by ODE. So all all public schools in the in in Oregon use the same form. And so we

030ask a few questions about the the language exposure at home. What language is primarily used in the home? Um what language did the student first learn? And then what does the student use most frequently at home? Um and this is a place where they can list up to two languages. And that's how we sometimes get that part of the pie that says English because they if they put English first, then that's the data piece that gets pulled for the graph. But um all those students in that part also had another language listed. Um and so following the the the ODE and state guidance and the rubric, if a family indicates any language other than English or ASL or in addition to English, um then we are required to do some additional screening and and give

031an assessment to see if they qualify for services or they may very well be proficient in English, right? We have plenty of students that are just fully bilingual and proficient when they come to us. Can we have the next slide? Um so after um we get the we see how families have um responded on that language use survey as survey as the enrollment process, we administer the ELPA screener, which again is the English language proficiency assessment. So there's a screener version, and then there's also the summative that happens for all kids. And so the screener is used to determine do you qualify for services? And again, it's a state standardized assessment. It's aligned specifically to those English language proficiency standards. It assesses students' proficiency level in four the four uh domains of language as we

032call them, so reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Um if a student shows proficiency in all those domains, they don't get services. Um and if they show that they are um either emerging or progressing, those are kind of the the different levels in those domains, then they qualify for services. And at that time um families then get notified, um and they some they have the right, they can refuse and say we don't want to receive services. We are still required to assess them every year though. Most do do take the services though. Um And it also gives us information about their language level that then helps inform instruction. Um so as I said, after we have those results, um following ODE and Title III compliance, we notify families. Um they they're informed about the their students'

033um placement in the language program. Um and we we use um our our EL program to generate those letters. And and that allows us to be able to send it in the the home language. It gives us access to a translated letter in many, many languages. And then those um go out to families using our our Parent Square and other communication methods. The next The next slide is going a little a little deeper into some of the services that we provide for students um in in in any grade levels. Uh but uh newcomer programs for example are programs mainly at the secondary level, but newcomer services also exist in the elementary levels. Um And so newcomer programs are intended to be short-term intensive support for recent arrivals, what they still call recent arrivals or newcomers.

034Uh and the the focus on on those programs is to not only develop a foundational English uh language skills, uh but they are also uh need to be aligned to ELP standards and received English language uh integrated language um services as well. The English language development overall piece uh refers again to designated and integrated ELD. Uh and this is aligned to core instruction. Designated ELD could be newcomer and designated could be used interchangeably as well. Uh and again focuses on language development and grade level access and not only in compliance with uh with the law, but also with best practice. Dual language immersion um as many of you know, we offer programs in five languages. And these programs are um the purpose of these programs is to develop full biliteracy and bilingualism for students. Uh

035we also this is the program that has always offered academic achievement in two languages and uh and the goal is to not only you know, make sure that kids become bilingual, but that that we also close the academic achievement gap for multilingual learners. Although this is distinct in that m- multilingual learners are in the class as well as native English speakers who wish to learn a second language. And then under our department, we also have we also have world languages and this is language acquisition and access for all students. And as you heard already, we have a demand for more languages always and and and the goal is global competency and communication. And it's also required for high school graduation. Some of the supports specific to MLs and and that they receive, we spoke about

036integrated ELD. This happens mostly by a co-teaching approach where two teachers collaborate and and and teach together and this is the newer model that we've implemented at the secondary level. Uh scaffolded grade-level instruction uh such as SIOP and the team will explain a little bit more about that when we get into our PDPs. Uh and then we're making sure that language objectives are integrated into the the instruction and the and the and and the content areas as well. Uh academic and language supports can happen in small group targeted small group instruction. Uh we also see newcomer literacy and foundation skills that take place in our schools. And then we ensure that that kids have access to high-quality instructional materials. Uh we continue to make improvements in how we communicate with our families ensuring that they

037have translation and interpretation services which is not only a good practice but required by law. And then schools communicate with families every year in terms of our title title three compliance. Uh which is um you know, part of our program. Uh and then we continue to grow our community partnerships and engagement. And the next one I'll pass on to colleague Elena here. Okay. So, um for our elementary services, I just wanted to share a little bit about how the way we provide services has evolved over the past few years. And we've really have moved away from what traditionally was called a pull-out model, and it's called that because students were literally removed from the classroom to go receive some other services. And what we find is that often times when they're being pulled away from

038core instruction, they're missing grade level instruction, and the instruction that they often times were receiving in that, you know, other space was below grade level. And so, that can also create feelings of isolation and othering for our students. And it also means that they have limited connection to their classroom learning, and they're falling further and further behind cuz they're not in the class to get the instruction that they so need. And so, like many districts throughout Oregon and also neighboring states, we have really moved away from that model to really embrace an integrated and designated approach. And so, Will spoke a little bit about that, but the main thing there is that our kids are not being removed. They're staying in the class with their peers, but with additional access to grade level instruction. So,

039it's one thing to just have them be in the classroom, but we have to also ensure then that the time in the classroom is productive, and they're able to access that learning. And so, we do that through that co-teaching model and having that additional specialist there, but also through building capacity of all of our teachers, which we'll speak a little about later. But then there is also still that opportunity for designated ELD for our students who are still emerging, our newest learners to English. And that happens at a time in the day where all students at that grade level are getting some really intentional specific instruction, and they're they're not missing core. So, the shift is not away from language support. We want to continue to provide language support, of course. The shift is is

040is towards how we provide that and when we provide that and in what best way. So, this just goes a little bit deeper into that. So, again, all of our students at the K-5 level that qualify and receive ELD services should be getting integrated ELD. They should be getting the service during their core instruction and our focus is during our language arts instruction time using our adopted language arts curriculum. Um and we do this through a collaborative co-teaching model with ELD teachers and classroom teachers working together. Um And so, we're not pulling them out. And then the the next slide, again, that designated time. This is This is an additional. It's a It's a plus. It's for some for some of our students who really need it. This is um very specific instruction around um

041the ELP standards, English language proficiency standards, and we we have an adopted curriculum that we went through the adoption process to ensure that the materials used are are rigorous and aligned to those standards. Um and again, it's taking place during the WIN block, which um is a time that all students at the elementary level are getting either intervention or extension. So, they're not missing something. They're getting what they need, which is what WIN stands for. So, to really ground us in in kind of these different experiences that students in PPS can experience. Um and we do still have in some places where pull out is happening. Again, that's not our model, and yet we know 100% implementation does not happen overnight. So, I wanted to ground us in the student experience by really letting us

042hear it from the perspective of a student what that reality could look like in those two situations. And um are you able to click on the Cara, can I ask >> so it will play? I looks at me and nods to the door. I quietly stand up while the rest of my class stays on the rug. They're talking about the ocean again. Something about sharks and squids. I really like this part. Today, my teacher just explained our task. We get to choose sharks or squids and explain why scientists study them and how they learned about them. We're going to write two paragraphs and create a wall display, like something you'd see in an aquarium. I'm already thinking about picking squids. But I grab my notebook and I walk out the door. A couple of kids

043from the my class come with me and we meet a few more from the class next door. We go down the hall in the ELD room. In the ELD room, it's quieter. There are six of us and the teacher is nice. She smiles at us. Today we're working on past tense verbs. We fill in the blanks on a worksheet. Walk becomes walked. Jump becomes jumped. We read Brown Bear, Brown Bear. I remember reading this book when I was little. I keep thinking about my class and wonder which animal everyone chose. I really wanted to write about squids and make my wall panel. I had an idea in my head about how scientists use cameras deep in the ocean. I wish I could be there. When I go back to class, everyone is already working on

044their paragraphs. Some kids are drawing their wall panels. I sit down and try to catch up, but I'm not sure what to do. It feels like I missed something important. Okay. And then so that is potentially the experience of a student who's being pulled out of core instruction, right? I think the big part there is they come back and they're like, I don't know how to jump back in now cuz I wasn't here. Versus the experience of our students who are in an integrated ELD classroom. I stay on the rug when my teacher starts talking about our ocean project. Today we get to choose sharks or squids and explain why scientists study them and how they learned about them. We're going to be writing two paragraphs and create a wall display, Like something you'd see

045in an aquarium. I smile because I already know I'm choosing squids. My teacher shares the learning targets and then gives us the sentence frames. Scientists study blank because one way scientists learn about blank is She says we can talk with our partners first, so I turn to my partner and try out my ideas. I use some Spanish when I get stuck, and my partner helps me find the English words. The teacher comes by and listens. She asks me questions and helps me say, "Scientists use cameras to observe squids in the deep ocean." I repeat it. It feels good to say the whole sentence. When we start writing, I have a word bank and my notes from our discussion. The teacher and the ELD teacher are both in the room today. They move around and help

046us. The ELD teacher kneels next to me and reminds me to use past tense where it fits. She helped me stretch my sentences so I can explain my thinking. Later, we start working on our wall panels. I draw squids and label them and write why squids are important and how scientists study them. My teacher tells me that my ideas are strong, and it helps me revise one sentence to make it clear. At the end, we share our work. I feel proud when I read my part out loud. I'm learning English, but I'm also learning about science, and I get to do it with everybody else. Thank you. So, I just want to note that in So, in that situation, the student gets to stay in their classroom, and but there's there's additional supports that were

047pointed out, right? So, they have they have what we call scaffolds. So, there's a word bank, there's a sentence frame, the ability to to translanguage and process in both their native language and English, and the additional support of a second teacher. And that's that's our goal. That's what we want for all of our multilingual learners for their services to look like at the K-5 level. Secondary. Yeah, and I'm going to speak to the secondary experience. So, um similarly to elementary, it's a we're in a work in progress, right? We're moving towards fully implement fully implementing the integrated model, integrated ELD model. Um coming from a place where we had an ELD class period um where students would have a elective period that was their ELD class. Um and so um you can go to the

048next one, I think. Um where where students would have an ELD class period and they would have this um disadvantage where their their their class they didn't have as many electives as the other students. Um and so and and they would miss out on maybe having an extra art class or an extra band or um not as much um selection when it comes to electives. Um and now with the integrated model, uh what we're doing now is students are staying in their classroom. Uh at the ELD teacher's moving to the classroom where they are in their English language arts classroom, mostly in English language arts, other content areas as well. The ELD teacher push moves into the classroom and integrates and and um works with the content teacher, brings scaffolds and supports, um and supports

049them in the content area, and they don't they have an extra that frees up that elective class where prior to that they did they they didn't have that extra elective. Um and so this the students have um their integrated class, they have extra supports, there's they benefit from two teachers in the classroom. Um and now we have uh since 2021, there's um a bill House Bill 2056. It's uh access to linguistic inclusion that allows us to award award world language credit for um English language English language development. And so the students that are in integrated ELD are also getting world language credit because for their work uh towards English language uh acquisition. Um so, that's um uh integrated ELD is focused on content with um support language supports. And everyone in middle school and high

050school uh that gets active ELD services is in integrated ELD. Um the designated ELD is your newcomer services, students that are here for 2 years or less in the country. Uh they do have a a ELD class period. Um but, it's their newcomer services and those students do need it. It's their English foundational skills. Um we have a uh rigorous um high-quality curriculum. They're in there for 2 years or less. They have a s- um really focused language development, early English foundational skills. Um they also benefit from getting world language credit in that ELD ELD class period. Um and they also get the benefit of having integrated ELD as well. So, the newcomer students benefit right out now with our new integrated ELD model from two service models, where before they only had one. So,

051designated ELD is a focus on language through with some content support. Um and you can go to the next one. And just for the record, that House Bill 2056 is what it should read. I think we have a typo there. >> Sorry. I had Yeah, I messed up the number up. Sorry about that. I work in the legislature and I do it all the time. >> Oh, yeah. Messed up the numbers. Okay. So, here's an uh I just wanted to highlight the experience of what it looked like before um our integrated model rolled out and uh what it looks like now. So, this is a student um from PPS curr- um currently in ninth grade. First language is Spanish. She was born in the US. So, we would refer to a student in this situation

052as a long-term English learner, right? So, he's been in English language development services for 10 years. It's a long time. And previously um with our ELD pull-out model, this student would have an ELD class period that would be his elective. So, you can see his schedule there on the left-hand side. Um he has all his core classes and he one of his electives is ELD. And so, um it's it's disconnected. Um it's language similar to a world language setting where he's learning world language foundational. It's not connected to core, not connected to content. Um and we weren't getting a lot of a really good results. And clearly, 10 years in ELD, we need to do something different. And that's that's the purpose of us changing our model. The stu- having students in ELD services for

05310 years is unacceptable in my opinion. Um Uh and so, uh So, then what I wanted to highlight to the right, um here's his new transcript with the integrated ELD model. So, he's getting English So, if you can see period five, he's in English one um and that is an integrated ELD class. So, in English one, the ELD teacher is in that classroom with the ELA class ELA teacher, excuse me. So, the in period five, there's two teachers in there at the same time. They're both supporting and working with the students. So, they benefit from two teachers in that class period. He gets the ex- his his elective back in period six. And because he's in integrated ELD and and because of ALI um House Bill 2056, period nine is kind of um is how

054we grade integrated ELD, he gets world language credit. So, he's getting an ELA credit and a world language credit because of his ELA integrated ELA class. Can I ask about this cuz like I'm a little confused cuz like one's an 8 period and one's a 9 period. So you can go back if you want. Sorry. Um it's okay. Um so he had in this case Javier has English and integrated ELD. Yeah, it's one class. >> It's one class. >> class. He just gets a second extra credit. Yeah, so the ninth period isn't an actual physical period that he goes to. It's just the way it goes in Synergy so that they can get a credit for it and get the credit. That makes so much more sense to me. Yeah, because a high school rate

055is an 8 period 8 periods and so right And I was just like we just added a period. He has two English classes. I'm so confused. I know. It looks kind of good. His day is still ends at the same time as everyone else. And so if you go to the go ahead. Okay, so here's a student that would be considered a newcomer. The student is in seventh grade. Her first language is his Pashto. She is coming from from Afghanistan. She scores emerging so she's just learning to read, write, speak and and listen in English. Considered to be a newcomer. So in this in this situation there she's in a middle school so she's got a seven day a seven period schedule, sorry. Um and she does have ELD and it is in in a

056pull out model. The ELD is one of her electives. And so that's typical for what we had before but in now in our integrated ELD model this student is getting integrated ELD period two. You can see language arts seven and integrated ELD. That means ELD teacher is in that classroom in that classroom with the language arts teacher. Okay? So they have two teachers in there at the same time working and supporting students. Period four is her ELD newcomer services that she has for two years. Um as needed. Um and then period eight is that extra period for for grading purposes where she gets her ELD grade. Okay, so she So the student is getting services in ELD integrated ELD and in her class period ELD class period. So the student is now getting two ELD

057services because of the new rollout. Does that make sense? Yeah. All right. Bye. >> Okay, and back to dual language, which is another important program that we offer in our district. And really this goes really goes back to what I said before. Nationally the the standards for for dual language or the guiding principles for for dual language immersion programs really emphasize the fact that programs need to follow this format. So the three pillars for dual language are that we are ensuring that kids when they graduate are bilingual and biliterate, that they have had grade level academic access, but also achievement. And often times this can surpass any other program based on not only research but experience. And there is an important component that is paid attention to, which is the cross-cultural competency. Again, the focus

058is multilingual learners, but English native English speaking students have access to that program. And so it's a it's a achievement you know, this is a program that actually can close the achievement gap. And so this is a a a program that we continue to to improve and ensure that that that that we are following the guiding principles. In terms of who our MLs our multilingual learners are, who are being served. So again, I think most of most of you know, we have five languages in which we offer programs and so Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese our largest group as I mentioned at the onset are Spanish speakers. So these are the active ML so in in in the Spanish immersion programs we have about 1,100 Spanish speaking MLs who are being served in in

059that model. That's about 33% of our overall Spanish speaking MLs. Correct. >> Yeah. In terms of Russian kind of follows that same pattern about 62% of our MLs who speak Russian being served in in our Russian program and and I apologize for the funky data here but the the Chinese Mandarin immersion program serves about 16% of our multilingual learners who speak Chinese as a native as a home language. In our Vietnamese program is 32% of our Vietnamese MLs speaking MLs who are being served and Japanese is our smallest group 3.8. Approximately overall approximately 37% of our active MLs are being served through a dual language model. Yeah, go ahead. Can I ask a question on this with my mic on? Um can you go back I guess? I'm actually going to ask for That's my

060clicker. >> slide but do you know the percentage of So the percentage you have there is how many of our Spanish speaking I don't know what EL qualified means but multilingual language learners are in Spanish immersion. Do you have the converse like how many of the students that are in a Spanish DLI program are Spanish speaking. Does that make sense? >> yeah, I'm not sure that we were clear and I'm sorry it's confusing. Um, so what that is telling us is that 33% of the students in the Spanish DLI program are active MLs, meaning they receive ELD services. They are Spanish speaking students. In fact, there there are very likely even more students that are Spanish speaking students that may not be in services anymore because they exited or never qualified but they do speak

061Spanish at home. This is showing us that of all the kids that are in that Spanish DLI program 33% of them are ELD students, students that receive ELD services, which is really what the program is most intended to benefit. I know it sounds counter intuitive but our DLI models are actually an ELD program. They are intended to close that gap for our students, our multilingual learners who receive ELD services. And so that's just showing you that the percentage of the whole program that are those students receiving services. So our Japanese immersion program has 3.8% students that are Japanese English language learners receiving services. >> Right. And there could be another 10% that are no longer receiving services but are still kicking around in the program. Does that sound right? >> accurate with the Japanese program

062is that it's pretty low because a lot of the students in that program have exited ELD, which is the goal, right? We want them to exit by fifth grade and then continue to build their biliteracy and bilingualism. And and well, go ahead. Oh, sorry. I was just going Is there like a quota might not be the right number but is there like a certain number of MLs? Mhm. Yes, that um like like a certain number of spots that we hold in our dual language programs for those students? Yes. In fact, we have 1/3 1/3. So, we have 1/3 of spots that are reserved for native speakers of the target language, 1/3 for heritage language students, which would be students whose family speak that language that we'd be in served, and 1/3 native English speakers. Does

063that hold up? >> Oh, go ahead. I'm just I'm sorry. I see you also have your hand up, Director La Forte, so I apologize. Does that hold up or at some point do you open up because like I was just looking at a DLI program that shall be anonymous that has It looks like 17 Spanish-speaking students out of 290, which wouldn't work. Is that across like multiple grade levels? It's a I was looking at the student population of the DLI program, and then the number of Spanish-speaking students at the school where their first language is Spanish. There were 17, and the number of students in the population is 290 in the DLI program. I think sometimes what happens is that's that's the target for kindergarten when they have the lottery, and then unfortunately sometimes we

064have attrition. Right? And you start to lose those students or on the even brighter side >> students. I think at some point they might need to so that they have a full class, but It It would typically reflects the demographics of the of the the school or the area. So, the more the more MLs, the more we meet that target number. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that makes sense. I just happen to be looking at that statistic for a school that probably Yeah. And it didn't match what you just said, so I was trying to think it through. And And then this graph on the right, it it just it just sort of shows the This is a 40-plus years of research on effective implementation of services for multilingual learners, what we used to call English

065learners. And so, uh when an ML starts their experience in in any US school, this is not specific to BPS necessarily, uh but it's a sampling from throughout the US. Depending if you start and you and you're in a pullout program, your whole your whole life, then you see by fifth grade they that success rate begins to drop. So, if kids are not exited, and which is as I mentioned at the beginning is one of our goals to ensure that kids are exited, then they actually drop. Uh and they don't even get close to that national equivalency there. Dual language programs are the only programs that are known to close the achievement gap for students. In BPS, as you know, we we we show the data here. Uh most of our kids are in in

066ELD. So, we're trying to do something that resembles close to that dual language, but not but that's not close, which is integrated uh ELD programs. And so, that's that actually has more success than any of the other programs below that. And so, that's what this uh graph indicates. Um Director LaPorte, do you want to ask your question? >> Yeah, sorry. Thanks. I I think um the as I was looking left to right across the slide, I realized that the the grid and part answered my question. Do we have any data that shows that students in the DLI programs exit services um sooner or more often than those who are in the integrated classrooms? Currently, we have data. We do have that data, and it is actually very similar to kids who are not in DLI.

067So, that's a goal that we are, again, in trying to improve and get better at how we What the research says is that programs have to be well implemented and so I think that we are striving to to get to that point where if an if an ML who has been in integrated ELD exits by sixth grade then ideally a kid who has been in dual language should exit by fourth fourth grade. But remain in dual language program. The difference is they do not exit dual language. Thank you. Okay, so again just to to you know to sort of give a start wrapping wrapping up some of this the the our priorities as a as a as a as a as a we're not really a department as a program are to continue to ensure

068that our MLs have access to rigor you know rigorous academic and language content. Uh we also want to continue we have a three-year plan to continue to provide uh ELD integrated ELD PD for our for our teachers and so that that that will continue we're in year one year two will continue next year and Elena will will speak to that in a little more uh in a few minutes. Uh uh we also want to make sure that we're building capacity as I said before all of us in the district are multilingual educators and so we all should be able to educate any student that walks into our classrooms and I think everyone's just is actually striving to do that and and so it is it is a big task. The kids have have a formidable

069task when they come in and so do teachers so we're trying to make sure that we're providing those resources and and and professional development uh within you know within the limits of our of our budget and and and our program as well. Okay, next slide. Um yeah, so we'll um, had a good jumping off point there. So, one of our real big priorities within our our our multilingual learners department and services is really um, also focusing on our teachers and providing them with the professional learning they that they need and deserve to to have the tools um, to to provide that service to our students all day long. What we know is that language instruction, language learning happens all day long. It doesn't just happen during the 30 or 60 minutes and when the ELD

070specialist is in the classroom, it's all day. Um, they're receiving um, content all day long in English and they need that that that those scaffold and supports in order to access it. Um, and so we we firmly believe that that all of our educators have that ability. They are able they they can provide that access for our students and it's everyone's responsibility to provide that access and to and to support with that language instruction, but we need to give them the tools, right? And so this our focus on professional learning um, to give them those those tools so that they they learn um, we have up there it's uh, SIOP which is stands for sheltered instruction observation protocol. It's really just referred to as the SIOP model. It's a set of um, learning techniques and

071activities and really a whole um, pedagogy for how you plan and deliver a lesson that ensures that there's access to both content while building language and that there's there's lots of support and access built in. Um, heavily um, grounded in having both content and language objectives as the focus of every lesson. And so by having both not just our ELD teachers get this training, but really also focusing on our gen ed teachers, our classroom teachers, our core content teachers at secondary coming and getting this in-person um, training alongside their ELD specialist. So, we're asking them to not just co-teach together, but to also come and learn together and have those opportunities to learn how to collaborate and and how to plan together. Um so we also learn about the different co-teaching approaches and models in

072which they can use within a lesson. Um and ensuring that all of it is aligned also to other initiatives within our district, right? So the science of reading and also ensuring that we're using um our high-quality instructional materials that have been adopted. So um we're not supplementing and using other things, but really how do we create this access using um this core instruction. And so we have a 3-year implementation plan um with a cohort model. So this year we have select schools from K-5, middle school, and high school that are participating. Um we provide release time so that they can come and get it in person. Something we've learned is that in-person training is just um is far better quality than doing something online. Um and so they come four times a year. We kind

073of have them quarterly. We just actually wrapped up yesterday for K-5. Um and then next year we'll have another group of schools and then the third year the last group of schools. So the idea is to get this um to a a large chunk of teachers at every school and of course focusing on the schools with higher populations we would have more teachers participate. Um and with that continued goal of really it's we want our our our multilingual learners to have the same access to rigorous content as as their peers. Um and we just we also included just some testimonials, right? So um as I said we wrapped up our last session for the K-5 cohort and we're you know, getting ready to launch the next group next year. Um and it's just been really

074amazing to see the enthusiasm, to see the gratitude and appreciation from our teachers, and to hear them like verbally saying like, "Oh man, this is the last one? Like I've gotten so much out of this. I wish we had more together." So then we're also thinking about what does support look like next year for them as we um cuz we don't want to just leave them. Like we can continue to do coaching and support as well. Thank you. And I I think lastly we are also trying to keep through the the the the mantra that we're saying that we're all ML ML teachers. Then in the district, the district office, I I think there's a commitment from all of us to ensure that not only are we building capacity among our colleagues so that everyone,

075if you're a math content person or an ELA content person, you can go and support a school and have the strategies to not only be able to to provide that content, but also the language scaffolds that are needed. So, our program is continuing to work with our colleagues to ensure that when we go into schools, it's not just the three of us going there, but that anyone from the district office can can speak to multilingual services and actually provide some of those supports as well. And uh that wraps it up for us today. If you have any other questions or comments, we welcome your uh questions. >> Yes. Thank you so much. That was really great. Um I see that Director Sullivan has a question. >> Thank you. Um so, when you have the language

076teacher in the regular classroom, obvious I mean, often there must be more than one language, right? Yes. So, I guess that's why the classroom teacher has to have the skills as well. So, it's not as simple as having like a Spanish teacher in there for a Spanish person if you've also got someone speaking French or whatever. Yes. So, how is that handled? I think some of you know, we Elena and Angela spoke to this. So, the some of the sheltered strategies, what we call sheltered strategies, meaning providing access to the content by ensuring that kids, so we think of it as if you think of a ladder or a scaffold that provides access to students and actually facilitates language at the same time that you're learning we science or math or or whatever the content

077may be. So, teachers are getting the professional development so that they can actually have the tools and skills to work with any student of any language. Uh we mentioned SIOP, for example, that's that's a method that has been proven for 20 years as well that has been used. But, teachers also have, you know, a variety of skills that they use to ensure that we're doing that we begin to implement cross-linguistic connections for our students, not just in Spanish, but, you know, Somali or any of the other many languages that we see in our in our district as as well as what we call translanguaging, which means allowing kids to use their language to think, not that we can't, you know, not that and to write or to demonstrate what they know, and later later on

078to transfer that into into English. Not to translate, but to tran- So, the difference is in translanguaging is that they're using their what we call metacognitive skills to think about the learning, use their what they know from their home, and and and put that into practice to learn and So, teachers have the skills and many are getting even more skills to be to able to do that, but as you can see with 5,000 uh 5,000 MLs, we need everyone to have the training and capacity to do that as well. Can Can I just add to that a little bit more to address your question? Um I think also just keeping in mind it is not a requirement for our ELD teachers to speak the language of their students. In fact, often times they don't, and

079if they do, it is sometimes Spanish, but then a few others. Um and so, even when we had a pull-out model, you would be pulling students out with many different languages and and they'd be with one teacher who might only speak English or one other language. But, the goal of English language development in that teacher is not to translate. That's not how we provide access. The goal is to use supports and scaffolds so that the students have access to English. And so, that's things like um using visuals, using gestures, thinking about the pace and the intonation of when we talk, um providing structured opportunities for students to practice speech with their peers, with with a sentence frame or a structure that helps them uh pre-teaching vocabulary, using um cognates and connections to their native language,

080but not solely relying on that. Well, that sounds great. Um another question. Um I know sometimes um people that don't have a whole classroom get pulled to sub. And so, they don't do the job they're actually supposed to be doing. Are you really protecting our um our uh language teachers so they so that doesn't happen to them? That's a great question. Yes, uh English language development teachers are only uh able to work with multilingual learners. So, they would need to be whether an integrated ELD, which is typically what they're doing, or in a designated ELD class. Uh so, they're not not only not allowed by our district, but by state policy. Great. Okay, thank you. And Fatima, yeah, thank you. I would normally want to defer to you, too, but I um I just so

081you know, I'm leaving early cuz my kids have art in the school art show, and it happens to be today and ends at 7:00. So, I have a 20-minute drive home at best. So, I'm going to just get in there at the very end. Um I did have a few questions. Just by way of slight background, I was a a teacher in California. Um I got my teaching credential in the early 2000s. Well, like 2022 2002, maybe. And I was required to get certification to be able to teach um and to teach kids that were multilingual learners. Um and I'm just making a statement here that I really hope Oregon follows suit. Mhm. Way too late, but I think all teachers having the training that you're now trying to backfill for. Yeah. It would be

082really helpful um for everybody to have that background cuz even I remember scaffolding and Anyway, um so the questions that I had in addition to just wanting to say my bit about teacher training, um I'm curious if you're finding that when there's students that are in a school with a lot of other multilingual learners, if they're having better experiences moving out or if it's not really doesn't really matter. So like a school that doesn't have a lot of multilingual learners, the kids are Is it You know what I mean? Do I make Am I making sense at all? Is it like a benefit when there's more of them in one place or um is cuz I just think it must be hard to give services when there's like six kids versus like 30, but I'm

083just curious how that actually bears out. >> Yeah. in the outcomes. >> at the data if you want Do you want to speak to that? Well, then I um I'll lead and then please team add to this. I think that's a really complex question. Also, when we think of access and we think of how students progress in their language acquisition, having time with peers using English is also a tremendous asset and we do not want to isolate or have programming There's a lot of research around being overly isolated or overly siloed away from that authentic use of of language. And so I think we could we could figure out a way to dissect that and look at that from a data perspective a bit, but I just wanted to highlight that um importance of peers.

084You know, think of those conversations happening even on the playground as well. And so um that's one thing that I do. >> not trying to suggest like trying to put them all together. Oh my god, no, no, no. I'm just curious like how does it bear out the differences bear out? I wasn't trying to suggest like making little hubs or something. >> not interpreted that way. Okay, okay, cool. I'm like no, no. Okay, okay. I I that is complex and I think we would have to really really do a serious data dive to to be able to speak to that objectively. >> it might not be helpful. I was just curious. >> I mean yeah, I get curious about things and I now I want to know. >> So. But um I mean I do

085I could say like what I what I see is like yes, it is true when when there is a higher number of students, I mean it can kind of go both ways because then yes, then they're going to be allocated more teach ELD teacher FTE, um but they also have there's more students to serve and they're in more classrooms, so there's more to co-teach. And at the same side when you have very few students, they're probably not all in one class, right? They're probably in different grade levels, and so it does then mean that we have to be It's just think it's It requires another level of intentionality around how you schedule that day for for both the student and the teacher to maximize that support and service. Yeah. Yeah. I would say though, however,

086whether you have six students in in your school or 200, that our goal is to ensure that they have access to services, English language development services. So it's not so much the number but the quality of the services that are provided that will make a difference. So and I mean just from my own experience uh as an educator, uh I've seen successes in both areas, and I've also seen not uh not so well implemented programs. So I think it's it it go comes down to whether we provide the training like you said, we're the only state on the West Coast that doesn't require teachers to have an ESL endorsement when you come into teaching. As you said, in California it's a requirement. And um Um, so we are continuing to advocate with uh with the

087state to ensure that we you know, that we have that requirement in place at least by 2030. Uh if not sooner, but I I I do know that at the district level, for example, this year we are providing a a a cohort of teachers to obtain their endorsement. And so, it's fully paid by by by the district. So, we have 21 teachers who are you know, we've done that in the past, but we're continuing to to ensure that we are providing at least within our district that uh you know, that the access to teachers as well. Building capacity. Yeah, that's great. Um, I wanted to quickly ask one more question before I slide out. I'm super curious how you assess kindergarteners who can't read or write in any language yet. That's a good question. Yeah.

088Um, the the ELPA test and the the ELPA screener and the summative. So, they they um they have different grade bands for them. And so, for like a kindergarten test, it's a lot of visuals and also a lot of things that they can hear. In fact, all of the ELPA, whether it's the screener or the summative, um because it's a language test and not a reading test outside of the reading domain, nothing requires reading for any student. So, everything is read to them outside of the reading specific domain, in which case then yes, they have to read stuff. But for kindergarten, it's it's words, not or it might even just be like, "What's the initial sound for this picture?" So, with the the the assessments are um developed to be grade level appropriate. Great, thanks.

089Um, I'm going to leave I have to leave in 2 minutes cuz otherwise I'll be a bad mother, but I'm going to I won't do that. But, I did want to just put out there that I am curious, but out of time to ask more about DLI and um just sort of making sure that that baseline goal for serving multilingual learners is being met um across the board um and what we do to like aggressively recruit and bring those kids to fill that 1/3 1/3 1/3 model and where there's differences where that isn't being hit. I gave the example cuz I'm now pretty positive I can think of a school that does not meet it. So I don't really know what to ask but I just know that I have a feelings gut feelings that

090and I'll leave it at that and then go look at my kids' art. I appreciate that Director Splitt. This definitely data we can look at. Student representatives, do you have any questions? Uh I do actually have a question. Um I'm kind of curious about the kind of other end of the Obviously, we don't want to isolate students like over the isolate students but with this integrated the integrated model, I feel like there's kind of um a sort of lost aspect of finding community of other English learners within your school. Um and I was wondering if there was any like I don't know social like um I don't know like uh support in finding community within your school of other students who are learning English at at at given the different the given the change. I

091I think it's and I'll I'll let the team after this as well but I think it's important to what actually integrated ELD does is bringing kids and integrating them into classrooms and so we also have a target of having a at you know, at least 1/3 of the class of MLs for for an integrated EL ELA class for example, the kids are with peers in in that class but they also have access to native English speakers, so they can practice language and depending on the size of the schools, a lot of our comprehensive high schools and I think you heard that uh Roosevelt and McDaniel, for example, they have very purpose purposeful uh groups that provide not only, you know, within within the school, but also extracurricular activities that the kids can get and have

092access to to the cultural groups as well. Mhm. Yeah, can I um I can I ask for clarification? When you say um community groups or do you mean uh because they're not in that class period anymore, they don't have a community they're kind of missing out on that community? Yeah. That's kind of what I was thinking. I mean, cuz I feel like if you're going into that space that's specifically for people who are learning English with you, I feel like that would be kind of be a space for kids to feel less judged in a way if they are in the process of learning. And so, I was kind of curious about how like that losing that like specific space, even though it is kind of losing on core education in the first place, like

093I feel like there's like tradeoffs, obviously. Yeah. I think um I think with the designated ELD, which is that class period uh with the students that are newcomers, they do need that community a lot uh and they need that safe space um and they benefit from that community. Where the students that are in integrated ELD, the majority of them are what we call those long-term English learners. So, those are students that have been in the district for a long five four or five years or more um and genuine gen generally will have a a a friend group already, you know, you know what I mean? So, I think maybe um the students that really do need that community still do benefit from that, I think it for the most part. Um I would I would

094I would hope. And I I would also say I think there's also lots of other opportunities within our school. So, when we think about the role that our counselors can provide or social workers or even our community partners to be able to create um those like affinity spaces and other community circles where students can be in spaces with other students like them but that those are still very possible options and certainly encouraged. And as Will said typically even within that integrated class you're not usually the only multilingual learner unless you happen to be at a school where you're like the only multilingual multilingual learner but you know we we we cluster them to a degree so that they they one were maximizing the the support provided by that teacher and they have the ability to

095do some of that trans languaging and talk with their peers in their native language if they share the same language while also having those strong English models from those peers as well. Thank you. It's a very good question. >> Good question. Okay, I had a question. So I know that you guys said that sometimes the um I'm forgetting the word the immersion schools like depend on who's in the neighborhood. How do you I don't like how are you or how are these programs placed so that they're helping the communities most needed in that community because that would be something I was I would be really worried about. Like I know the Russian immersion program at Franklin has like six kids in it. >> Mhm. And that makes me pretty like is I don't know. attrition

096>> I grew up in David Douglas where there were like my community I had Spanish neighbors behind me and then Russian neighbors to the side of me and then Ethiopian neighbors on the other side of me and I was like the one white kid in my neighborhood. So I'm kind of curious on like how these programs are placed is what I'm trying to say. Yeah. Yeah. It's a That's a great question. I I mean, we we the the goal is to ensure that we are serving our largest population. And so, typically, and depending on the neighborhood, we'll we'll follow that group. I mean, Russian is a very specific program that you mentioned that is actually our smallest program. And so, uh in dual language, the the the the the less numbers that you have at

097the at the beginning, the more attrition or kids who don't continue the program you will see. Uh and I think it just so happens that because we do get kids from David Douglas, they sometimes tend to go back to David Douglas or or wherever they they they may be. But in in terms of Spanish and Mandarin and and the other Vietnamese, which is actually one of our larger languages, uh is very much focused on making sure that we get as many of the families They also have a choice if they want to be in the program. So, it's it's a choice program. Then they can, you know, they can have access to that program. And so, our our our program, our dual language uh staff, will actually inform and and make sure that parents know

098that it's a commitment. So, dual language, to be effective, has to be a K-12 commitment for families. And and in order for them to be successful and really meet all those goals that I mentioned, you have to stay in the program. And and so, you know, you stay in the program, you get the Seal of Biliteracy. Uh you get advanced course placements. You also get access to college credits and so forth. So, I think that's where we continue to improve on how we're informing families, uh but also making sure that we're targeting the ML populations in our district. And and and and and so, Russian just happens to be our smallest. Mhm. But that was a great example. But I I will say with the Russian program um and you know again they start in

099kindergarten and so then we sometimes lose students and by the time they get to Franklin there's only six left but when that group of students was in kindergarten there was very likely 50 of them. And so the school at Kelly is actually one program where over half of the students in the program are truly Russian speakers and receiving ELD services. I think the percentage was like 60 something when we saw that slide. Um and they do sometimes come but from outside of the district um or nearby and then sometimes we we start to have that is one program where we there is some attrition and so then when you get to to high school and that's just the feeder pattern into Franklin. I think it's also important to note that some of our programs have

100been have been at those schools for quite some time and at the time of the program being established the students were there and also we right people move and um populations change and and we've had gentrification and lots of other things that have impacted certain neighborhoods where maybe now those students don't live there in the way that they did when the program was established. So then I have a follow-up question. >> Yeah. Sorry. Do then as population shift for a significant period do the programs shift to different schools or do they stay at the school they were originally at? >> Mhm. And then also for the Russian program at Franklin that was probably a bad example. I know like three of those kids who are like Ukrainian immigrants and so I'm like It's a great

101question. Yeah. No. It's So the the district is embarking on looking at making sure that we are have you have the right size sizing in programs and we have the right programs in the right places. So I think that's that's an ongoing you know ongoing work that is actually the superintendent will begin engaging with the community and the district to to ensure that we're meeting those goals that we have set. Mhm. Make sure you go. And ask those questions. Very good. Directors Leford or Sullivan, do you have questions? Um no, I'm fine. Thanks. Yeah, this is a great presentation. Thank you so much. I learned a lot. That was That was our goal. Really really helpful. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah, same here. Okay, I have one or two. Um let's see. Okay, so when

102we heard the scenario about Javier, what are some of the factors that would result in a kid staying in services for 10 years? Well, so Javier is a ninth grader, right? And he's a long-term EL, and so prior his services were pull out. So the ELD model integrated model just we are just moving into integrated model, so he might have gotten integrated last year. Um and prior to that, he was pulled out of services for services from kindergarten all the way up through eighth grade. >> So he's being served historically in a way that we know is less effective. >> Exactly. Which is why we are making the shift. Exactly. Love it to hear it. Um Director Chase Miller, I would um make the make uh an analogy. If you imagine young children in language

103developing in in them, and you stop speaking to them for some time, and then you start speaking to them again, and they're lost because they've missed this whole period of time where you haven't been speaking or reading to them or exposing them to books, that's what happens when our students with disabilities or our multilingual learners are pulled out of core instruction for their services instead of core instruction being pushed into them when they're in their academic classes. >> Yeah. That's a great analogy. Thank you. >> Um so I I heard you mention counselors and social workers and my ears perked up because that was a question I had um how those supports factor into the services um that MLs are getting um and I I was curious about like how uh PISA interfaces with all

104of this also. Yeah, I think we can add a bit to that um and I'll pass to Dr. Adams from the data standpoint and standpoint of school staffing. I think this is a really complex topic and we know our students when they're newcomers uh we know our students who are PISA students do benefit from all the services we can provide um by way of having some wrap-around specifically. So the PISA program as designed has included that wrap-around and the complexities with budgeting and staffing um are intricate intricate and provide a a ratio for general education, a ratio for um multilingual services and so on and so forth and I think we could we could share in a really detailed manner how those formulas work um and I think what I want to what I want

105to share is that our team has a full commitment to really dive in and look at PISA in 2026 and beyond and what are the supports that can be provided that need to be provided now. Um I want to express gratitude for our team for scheduling time for us to go out in partnership with our leaders, in fact also with one of our leaders um here tonight um Dr. Katie Parman. I'm really looking at also partnership with McDaniel and looking at how we together can go and experience what other programs are doing and then help over time to influence and bring that back to our data and research team to really influence what our formulas may be in the in the future and looking at what does it mean for those first two years. One

106of the things that I know I've learned this year from from our principals is the importance of also that third year. How how programming supports potential intervention needs that may be for general education students that we still make sure that we're prioritizing intervention on top of that core piece without limiting access to electives as Angela shared earlier as well. So, it's a very complex. I don't know that I can answer, you know, all of the you know, every aspect of it, but I can say that we are very committed to working together in partnership to look at what that needs to look like in 2026 and beyond. Is there anything you'd like to add, Dr. Tobin? >> Sure, thank you. Thank you, Senior Director Tobin. Director Jason Miller, I'm aware that there were some questions

107sent in about PISA and I believe we have a response that's ready to be added by Ms. Powell to the uh Yeah, and I think I I got it already. Um, so we don't have to go into a ton of detail about >> what I'd love to add is our staffing model is intended to be additive. So, first every student in the building is a general education student and we apply teacher and counselor FTE based on that count. Then if we have a certain number of students with disabilities based on our staffing model, we add special education teachers and paraeducators. With um, PISA students, we do add FTE with a multiplier. So, there's a multiplication factor that we add and I can get you that in writing um, that adds some additional staff and typically

108a little bit of additional counseling FTE. And I will And I will go on record as saying I wish we had more to give. Um cuz because I recognize the hard work I've walked Roosevelt with Dr. Parman and seen her and her staff in action, and I know that um they do the best with what we provide to them. And if we had the If we were in position to provide more, we would provide even more. Yeah, I just I want to acknowledge the really difficult budget situation and decisions that have to be made, and I'm certain that I'm not alone in this, but just express my um hope that as we're making these decisions, we are prioritizing the needs of our kids who need the most support. And um Yeah. Just want to >>

109Want to make sure that is said in this conversation. Um And also like Yeah, I don't I don't know how you cut $50 million from a budget that has already experienced so many cuts. So hoping that we just stay focused on our students, and especially those students who who have a higher need. Yeah. Well, I want to express gratitude to the team. Thank you for a very comprehensive presentation. We really appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah, this was an amazing presentation. Thank you. We all learned a lot. Um student representatives and Director LaFort, are there any topics that you'd like us to consider for future meetings? Okay. Our next meeting of the Teaching, Learning, and Enrollment Committee is scheduled for May 14th. At that meeting, we will receive our required annual report on charter schools. And

110this meeting is adjourned.