Parkway board hears comprehensive review of world languages; recommends common resources and virtual ASL

Lauren Fairley, Parkway’s world languages curriculum lead, told the Board of Education on April 16 that a year-long program evaluation found strengths in student outcomes and a “deeply invested” teacher cohort but persistent staffing and resource gaps that limit equitable delivery across schools.

The evaluation — conducted by a leadership team of secondary teachers and guided by district staff — recommended adopting a common French, German and Spanish resource in 2025–26, retaining the current middle- to high-school 6–12 structure until elementary scheduling permits expansion, creating a proficiency-pathway testing system, and moving the American Sign Language (ASL) program to a virtual model until Missouri issues a certification path for ASL instructors.

The review matters because district leaders say it would reduce uneven curriculum implementation, free teachers from creating all materials, and provide clearer proficiency pathways that can translate into college credit. Fairley said the district’s Seal of Biliteracy program and credit-by-assessment options already offer routes to college credit for multilingual students.

Fairley described program background and findings. Parkway shifted roughly a decade ago from grammar-driven instruction to a…