Quincy School District reports gains on WIDA ACCESS, launches multi-year study of dual-language programs

Victoria, director of support programs and services for the Quincy School District, told the school board that the district now serves about 1,340 multilingual learners and reported steady increases in students meeting exit criteria on the statewide WIDA ACCESS language assessment.

Victoria said 25 students met exit criteria in 2022, 45 in 2023 and 92 in 2024, and that Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction reviews led to an additional exit pathway tied to Smarter Balanced ELA performance. The district opened its annual WIDA ACCESS testing window "yesterday" and said the local testing period runs through March 21.

The district emphasized why the numbers matter: higher exit rates mean fewer students qualifying for dedicated multilingual services, but staff stressed needs differ across sites. "If you are in a building that has 61% of your kiddos who are multilingual learners, you are gearing up to administer WIDA ACCESS to 61% of your students," Victoria said, explaining the workload on schools with concentrated enrollment.

Mandy (district program coordinator) and Danielle Ortner, the district's English language development (ELD) specialist, described a shift from pull-out supplemental instruction to collaborative, co-planned classroom instruction. Ortner said ELD specialists now co-plan with math, science and social studies teachers so language development is taught alongside content rather than separately. Andrea Henry, a kindergarten teacher, told the board she has seen measurable gains in students' use of complete sentences and academic vocabulary after a year of collaborative planning and in-class support.

Staff highlighted several concrete practices: job-embedded professional development called Learning Labs, in-class co-teaching by ML specialists for 30-minute periods, and routine disaggregation of data by student subgroups. The district said about 20% of students received supplemental time with an ML specialist last year while all multilingual learners receive co-planned ELD in classroom instruction.

District staff described two groups of multilingual learners with different needs: recent newcomers who need orientation to U.S. school systems and long-term English learners whose language growth has plateaued and who require targeted strategies to re-accelerate progress.

The board was also told a district work group began exploring dual-language (bilingual) programming. Victoria said the group met recently and is following state guidance that outlines a multi-step planning process. Staff explained model options (50/50, 80/20, 90/10 splits of language allocation), tradeoffs on staffing, and the potential need for boundary or enrollment adjustments if the district ultimately selects a school-based model. A district leader estimated implementation would be multi-year and said a conservative planning estimate is roughly three years before a program could be fully operational across grades.

Quincy staff said district bilingual staffing has grown in recent years and estimated roughly 25% of staff are bilingual or biliterate, a factor that would affect program feasibility. Staff also said the state is sponsoring school visitations so district leaders can study different models before choosing a path.

Votes at a glance: the board approved the meeting agenda and the consent agenda by voice vote and later adjourned by motion. No formal roll-call tallies naming individual board members were recorded in the transcript.

The district asked the board to consider the staffing, transportation and communication needs that would accompany any decision to pursue dual-language programming and said it will continue to gather data, hold stakeholder meetings and return to the board with proposals as the study moves forward.