District parents, staff review English-learner progress and parent outreach at Community of Multilingual Families meeting

At a Community of Multilingual Families meeting, district parents and staff reviewed winter i‑Ready assessment results for English learners, discussed supports for long‑term English learners and chronic absenteeism, and shared outreach ideas to boost parent participation.

Lydia Castro, CMF president, opened by announcing the committee’s rebrand from DLAC/ELAC to “the community of multilingual families,” saying the new name is “more inviting and more appealing to all of our students.” She urged members to promote CMF at school events and noted the district serves families speaking “over 18 languages.”

Julie, a district staff member who presented assessment data, said districtwide i‑Ready results showed more students in the mid‑or‑above‑grade range and “we're moving in the right direction,” with “less red” showing on winter diagnostics than in September. Julie presented gains in both English language arts and math across most student groups and encouraged parents to check their school‑level results on the California School Dashboard (www.californiaschooldashboard.org).

Julie highlighted a special focus on long‑term English learners (LTELs)—students who have not reclassified as English proficient after seven years. She said the district’s LTEL population is shrinking overall but noted concerning indicators for that subgroup: an increase in chronic absenteeism, a rise in suspensions for the LTEL group, and declines on the English language progress indicator. Julie said the LTEL cohort in the presented data numbered about 70 children and that, for that group, suspensions represented a small absolute number but a notable percentage (the presentation used 7 suspensions as an illustrative figure, described as roughly 10 percent of that cohort in one slide).

To address those issues, Julie described several district actions: a new middle‑school ELD curriculum pilot starting after current LPAC/ELPAC testing concludes, expanded before‑ and after‑school interventions and summer academy offerings for newcomers, professional development for teachers emphasizing integrated English language development in math, and a formal partnership with the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) to access research and strategies for supporting LTELs.

Parents and community liaisons raised specific concerns and ideas. Several parents described low turnout for ELAC/CMF meetings—one school reported more than 100 English learner students but only “a handful” of parents attending. Parents and staff suggested holding outreach tables during morning drop‑offs, offering small student incentives (for example, reward slips used at one elementary), using consistent reminders (calls, texts, ParentSquare notices), showcasing a different school at monthly CMF meetings, and inviting families from English‑learning classes to CMF events.

District staff and parents also discussed social‑emotional supports and school counseling. Julie and other staff members confirmed each site has a social worker and middle schools have two counselors; staff said those professionals regularly review data to identify and support struggling students.

Organizers encouraged parents to use PowerSchool and the California School Dashboard to monitor individual student progress and school‑level data, and to contact their community liaison for site‑specific questions and signups for district events. One upcoming parent conference was mentioned with 22 parents and 14 staff already signed up, and staff noted Family University and other parent classes will expand offerings to help parents support students at home.

The meeting closed with volunteers exchanging outreach ideas and reminders to post meeting flyers on ParentSquare and social media. No formal actions or votes were taken at this meeting; the discussion focused on data review, problem identification and outreach strategies.