In a recent government meeting, educators from A. Mario Loiterman Middle School shared their transformative approach to supporting emergent multilingual learners, highlighting a significant increase in their student population from 19% to 38% over recent years. Principal Megan McLaughlin emphasized the necessity of adapting teaching methods to foster an inclusive environment that recognizes the potential of all students.

The school has adopted a functional language approach, which aims to make language learning visible and comprehensible, thereby enhancing students' academic growth across various content areas. This method encourages teachers to integrate English language development into their curricula, ensuring that all students, regardless of their language proficiency, can engage meaningfully with the material.

McLaughlin noted that the school's instructional leadership team underwent specialized training over the summer, which equipped them with research-based strategies to better support their students. The training focused on improving writing skills, a critical area identified through data analysis, where students had previously struggled. The implementation of a school-wide writing rubric aligned with the WIDA framework has already shown promising results, with a notable increase in the number of students exiting the English language development program.

Andrea Robinson Tejada, the English language development content specialist, shared her enthusiasm for the training and its immediate impact on her teaching. She reported remarkable improvements in her students' writing abilities, particularly in constructing cohesive arguments supported by evidence. This success has fostered a sense of community in the classroom, allowing students to collaborate and take academic risks.

The educators stressed the importance of ongoing professional development for all staff members to ensure that language instruction is integrated across all subjects. They highlighted the need for teachers to be equipped with the necessary tools to teach academic language effectively, which is crucial for the success of both multilingual learners and native English speakers.

As the school year progresses, the team plans to continue monitoring the impact of their instructional strategies through informal observations and data analysis, aiming to further enhance the academic outcomes for all students at Loiterman Middle School.