Central Falls presents ‘a day in the life’ of multilingual learners as RIDE proposes new regulations

Tiffany Beltram, Central Falls School District director of multilingual learners, told the school board on Jan. 28 that the district is preparing to implement newly proposed multilingual learner (MLL) regulations from the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE).

Beltram said Central Falls has 1,366 multilingual learners — about 51 percent of the district’s pre‑K–12 enrollment — and that the district represents roughly 50 native languages, with Spanish accounting for roughly 87 percent, Cape Verdean about 9 percent and the remaining 4 percent made up of languages including Arabic, Farsi, Haitian Creole and Swahili. “We have a dual language program that is thriving, and we have a lot of dedicated teachers that not only know MLL strategies, but many of them speak more than one language,” she said.

The presentation outlined existing and pilot instructional models and supports.…