PGCPS rolls out family-engagement push for multilingual learners, pilots 8-week Rosetta Stone classes

Prince George's County Public Schools officials told the Academic Achievement Committee on March 17, 2025, they have launched a set of districtwide initiatives aimed at increasing family engagement for multilingual learners, including an 8-week family English literacy pilot using Rosetta Stone and a relaunch of a parent leadership series.

The work, led by multilingual family engagement specialist Luisa Santos and the district English language development office, seeks to give multilingual families tools and opportunities to support student learning and leadership. “We are currently developing an 8 week family English literacy program using Rosetta Stone,” Santos said during the committee presentation, describing a facilitation guide schools can use in person, virtually or in hybrid format and that will include budgeting information and resources.

The district will pilot the program this spring at Samuel Chase and Fort Foot elementary schools; staff said those sites were chosen because they were already working with Rosetta Stone and were willing to collaborate on developing the guide. Officials also said schools will be able to estimate costs and, where appropriate, use School-Based Budget (SBB) funds to buy materials and run the sessions.

Why it matters: multilingual families make up a large share of enrollment in many PGCPS schools and district leaders said improved outreach can strengthen home–school partnerships that support student learning. Judith White, chief academic officer, told the committee the presentations and school examples were meant to show how systems-level planning and local practices can align.

Districtwide initiatives and events

Santos said the district has formed a Multilingual Learner Family Engagement Steering Committee (about 18 members, including seven multilingual families) to center family voices in planning. The district is also relaunching the International Parent Leadership Consortium (IPLC), a six-week leadership development series planned to begin in mid-April and run through June; officials said about 20 multilingual families will take part in the first cohort. Candida Garcia, an IPLC graduate who now serves on the steering committee, provided a recorded testimonial that played with Spanish audio and English subtitles.

PGCPS also plans its 11th annual International Family Day at Camp Schmidt on May 3, 2025, and expects to welcome about 200 multilingual families; transportation will be provided from three school sites, staff said.

School example: Riverdale Elementary

Principal Natika Riley and staff from Riverdale Elementary described how school-level professional development and targeted, grade-level workshops increased parent participation and made events more accessible. “We have a student body of about 600 students, where we have about close to 85% of our students are ELD,” Riley said, explaining the school’s impetus for tailoring events.

Riverdale’s approach includes small-group, grade- and proficiency-level sessions led by ESOL/ELD teachers, translators at events, take-home bilingual materials and incentives such as food bags distributed after workshops. ELD staff said breaking content into manageable pieces and modeling activities for parents were essential to building confidence and follow-through at home.

Tracking and limitations of the data

The district has created an internal multilingual family engagement dashboard to monitor participation. Santos reported that, as of a recent data pull, about 13.5% of schools had held multilingual family engagement events and more than 1,300 families had attended school-level events; staff also reported that 92 schools participated in district professional development focused on this topic and roughly 380 school-based staff had attended a district PD session. District presenters warned the committee that the dashboard currently relies on self-reported entries from schools and that some fields remain incomplete; staff said they are working to improve reporting and to follow up directly with schools that have low or no participation.

Questions from board members and next steps

Board members asked about recruitment for the IPLC and how schools were selected for the Rosetta Stone pilot; Santos said the district will post translated application materials and that principals and family-facing staff will recommend candidates. White and Santos said they will follow up with board members about participation rates by board district and provide more complete dashboard data as it becomes available. The committee also discussed offering additional PD sessions and recorded materials for staff who could not attend live trainings.

Procedural notes

The committee adopted the March 2025 meeting agenda and approved the Feb. 10, 2025, meeting minutes by unanimous consent at the start of the session.

The Academic Achievement Committee said it will request follow-up materials and return to these topics in May to review lessons learned and discuss scaling successful practices.