Assistant Superintendent Doctor Burns presented the district’s spring 2025 WIDA ACCESS scores and staffing for multilingual learners, saying the scores are “an indicator of how well we’re doing as a school district with our language learners.” He told the board the district tested 261 multilingual learners and currently staffs caseloads at roughly 26 students per ESL teacher.

Burns reviewed school-level caseloads and said Francis A. Day (FAD) had the district’s largest projected multilingual population at 108 students serviced by 3.5 ESL teacher positions. He described the WIDA score scale and said the state proficiency benchmark the district watches for reclassification is 4.5.

Burns provided grade-by-grade breakdowns shown in the presentation. At one grade level the district reported 50% (19 students) at proficiency level 1, 18% (7 students) at level 2, 21% at level 3 and 11% (4 students) at level 4. He highlighted steady gains in second and third grade and noted that fourth grade showed 56% at level 4 in the district’s slide set, which are candidates for reclassification.

To address needs, Burns described ongoing interventions and staffing: a full-time kindergarten bilingual program and a part-time first-grade bilingual program at FAD; targeted professional development for ESL teachers led by Mary Jane Custy; summer vendor-led teacher training the first week of August on language-acquisition strategies; data-driven ESL team meetings; and a planned October professional-development day coordinated with special services to review testing accommodations. Burns said speaking tends to be the most challenging language domain and that the district has focused professional development on that skill.

Board members and staff noted that WIDA results feed reclassification decisions and program placement, and Burns said the state typically uses a five-year window for language acquisition expectations. The district will report additional statewide assessment (NJSLA) data when available in the fall.