District 59 details newcomer, multilingual and dual-language curriculum updates

The Community Consolidated School District 59 Board of Education heard a detailed presentation on Jan. 15 about newcomer programming, English-language learner supports and dual-language curriculum adoption and rollout.

District staff said the presentation matters because the district has seen a steady influx of newcomer students that affects curriculum, staffing and assessment decisions across elementary and junior-high grades.

Joshua Perdomo, executive director of multilingual programming, opened the report by defining a newcomer per federal regulation as a foreign-born student ages 3 to 21 who has attended a public school in the district for up to three academic years and is eligible for newcomer supports. Perdomo described the elementary model as a small-group pull-out delivered by an ESL-certified teacher for roughly 30 minutes per day, with group sizes the district seeks to keep at about eight to 10 students depending on linguistic levels. He said the district adopted the Vista Higher Learning curriculum in 2022 for functional language instruction and added Read 180 in July 2024 to address gaps in early reading and literacy for students in grades 3 to 5.

At the junior-high level, Perdomo said the district uses a sheltered-class model: newcomers take sheltered ELA and math classes that use Vista and Read 180 instead of the grade-level core StudySync ELA resource until teachers determine a student is ready to transition to the core. Perdomo emphasized the district's goal is to move students into grade-level classes as soon as they are ready, saying, "Our goal is never to withhold a student from accessing grade level curriculum and content."

Math and science leads described adaptations to core resources to reduce language barriers. Michelle Benages, district math coordinator, said the junior-high sheltered math course is based on Illustrative Math, prioritized for major work and paired with language supports that identify essential lessons and vocabulary tied to English-language development standards. Anne Fleming, science and social science facilitator, said science and social studies lessons are prioritized to avoid simultaneously teaching both contents in the same quarter for brand-new newcomers; the district alternates science and social studies each quarter so students get two units of each per year and assessments are modified to test knowledge rather than language.

Dual-language elementary instruction uses Benchmark Adelante for Spanish and Benchmark Advance for English, the presenters said. Alyssa Coker, literacy coordinator, said the district piloted several programs and selected Adelante for the Spanish portion because staff judged it's more authentic for Spanish literacy progression than a straight translation of an English program. The district provides a biliteracy block that explicitly transfers skills between languages, described as "bridge" or metalinguistic instruction, so students apply knowledge learned in one language to the other.

Staffing and professional learning were a large part of the presentation. Perdomo and others outlined efforts to increase ESL-certified teachers through a grant that paid for endorsements in partnership with Harper College, and the district reported about 13 staff — including administrators and teachers — completed that preparation. Perdomo said staffing allocations are being shifted from a fixed-per-school model to a needs-based model driven by linguistic-level data and student counts; he identified Brentwood, Devonshire and Forest View as schools with the highest newcomer populations this year and said the district is matching FTE and language-capable hires (for example, Ukrainian/Russian at Forest View, Polish at Devonshire, Spanish/Polish at Brentwood) to local student language needs.

The district also described newcomer support positions and bilingual interventionists added this year. Perdomo said those newcomer positions often use a pull-out model for intensive literacy work but can push in for classroom support when useful. He said the district uses Read 180 as an adaptive placement and instructional tool, not simply a computer program.

On assessment, staff said current statewide English-language proficiency testing (ACCESS) is administered in January and scores are not fully available until May or July, creating a data lag that hampers instructional decisions. The district is piloting interim Spanish-language assessments this spring because the Spanish version of i-Ready is not yet fully developed for reliable district reporting. Perdomo said the district will continue using i-Ready in English and is exploring three other vendor options for Spanish interim assessments; the goal is to obtain more current linguistic data so junior-high teachers can make timely placement and MTSS decisions rather than waiting for ACCESS results.

Teachers and junior-high newcomer instructors who spoke during the meeting said sheltered newcomer classrooms have improved students' sense of belonging and accelerate language acquisition, particularly in math where concept language is more universal. Staff attendees also described partnerships with local organizations, including Elk Grove Township, to provide social-emotional learning supports that helped newcomers feel safe and engage in class discussions.

Staff said next steps include continued professional development for teachers and coaches, piloting interim Spanish assessments this spring, refining staffing allocations by school and linguistic level, and planning possible scheduling changes at junior highs next year to ease transitions between sheltered and core classes.

The presentation included audience questions about translations of materials (staff said curriculum materials are English-language products and teachers may use translation platforms such as Streamer when necessary for directions), coaching capacity and whether teacher surveys are used to identify coaching needs. Staff said literacy and language coaches are deployed across buildings and that principals and PLCs are used to surface coaching requests and needs.