Board approves four new multilingual learner courses to start fall 2025

The West Allis-West Milwaukee School District board on June 9 approved four new multilingual learner (MLL) courses that will be offered as high‑school electives beginning fall 2025.

The district will add Newcomer 1 and Newcomer 2 courses for students who arrived in the United States within the last 12 months and into their second year, respectively, plus two Developing Proficiency courses (MLL 1 and MLL 2) that target students at ACCESS access levels 2 and 3. The board also approved an MLL resource class — a supervised study period led by an MLL specialist to provide targeted academic support.

District staff said the courses are intended to create dedicated classroom time for language acquisition—separate from co‑teaching and in‑class supports—and to give students structured speaking, listening, reading and writing practice tied to the WIDA standards and the district’s ACCESS monitoring. “We want students to have that space where they can practice English in a really comfortable way and not be afraid to make mistakes,” said Karen Ibrahim, the district’s secondary newcomers specialist.

The courses will be offered as electives and are not prerequisites for other English classes; students may take them concurrently with core coursework. Staffing for the new offerings will be provided from existing multilingual specialists: Karen Ibrahim and colleagues said the district will not hire additional MLL staff immediately but will monitor enrollment and staffing needs. District presenters said the newcomer classes will be capped at about 8–10 students per section to preserve individualized instruction; MLL 1 and 2 caps are expected to be larger.

Administrators pledged a coordinated rollout of professional development. The district plans summer training for multilingual specialists and follow‑up PD for classroom teachers on WIDA standards and scaffolds; staff also cited supplemental curriculum tools under consideration, including National Geographic materials, Summit K12 and Duolingo for Schools for newcomer practice.

Board members asked about capacity and monitoring after students “test out” of services. Staff said ACCESS testing and district monitoring protocols will continue: students who achieve a composite ACCESS score of 5 may be exited from services, and the district already conducts a two‑year monitoring period after exit. The board asked staff to provide longer‑term outcome data — for example, whether students who exit MLL services retain gains in grades and graduation outcomes — to inform future program decisions.

The motion to add the four courses passed after a roll call; board members voted unanimously to approve the catalog changes that will allow the courses to be scheduled for fall 2025.