Waterbury School District enhances multilingual programs to boost academic success

The Waterbury Board of Education held a workshop and special meeting on April 3, 2025, focusing on the multilingual department's current practices and future goals. The meeting began with a presentation from the department head, who provided insights into the services available for multilingual students and the progress made over the past few months.

The presentation highlighted the mission of the multilingual department, which aims to ensure that students achieve linguistic skills and access academic content at levels comparable to their peers. The department currently offers various programs, including bilingual classrooms in four elementary schools, bilingual middle schools, and ESL support services across all schools from kindergarten through eighth grade. Additionally, a dual language program is available at the International School.

Enrollment trends over the past decade indicate a significant increase in the number of students requiring multilingual services, with current figures hovering between 4,040 and 4,060 students. The majority of parents are opting for ESL services, which have become the most popular choice among families.

The department also reported that 57 languages are spoken by students in the Waterbury public school system, with Spanish, Portuguese, and Albanian being the most prevalent. The Seal of Biliteracy program, which recognizes students' proficiency in multiple languages, has gained popularity, with expectations for over 225 students to receive the seal this year.

In terms of curriculum, the department utilizes benchmark advanced and benchmark Adelante programs for bilingual and dual language instruction, while ESL services employ benchmark express for younger students and I-Ready for older students. The department head emphasized the importance of shelter instruction strategies that benefit all students, not just multilingual learners.

Looking ahead, the department has set both short-term and long-term goals. These include exploring the transformation of bilingual transitional programs into biliteracy programs and addressing misconceptions about multilingual services among staff and parents. The department is also working on improving communication with parents and recruiting bilingual teachers to better serve the growing population of multilingual learners.

The meeting concluded with discussions on the importance of collaboration among teachers, administrators, and the community to support multilingual students effectively. The department head expressed optimism about the future direction of the multilingual services and the ongoing commitment to enhancing educational outcomes for all students in Waterbury.