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Multilingual enrollment rises; language department requests two elementary coaches
Summary
The Revere multilingual and world languages department told the school committee the district ranks second in the state for percentage of English learners making progress on ACCESS in 2024 and asked the committee to add two elementary language‑development coaches to expand classroom coaching.
Jennifer Lavelita, director of the multilingual and world languages department, and assistant director Chelsea Banks updated the Revere School Committee on Jan. 21 about enrollment, assessment outcomes and curriculum expansions for multilingual learners.
Lavelita said multilingual students now represent a substantially larger share of the district and reported that Revere ranked second in the state among districts with 1,000 or more English‑learner students for the percentage making progress on the 2024 ACCESS English‑language assessment. “We are 2nd in the state for the 2nd year in a row for the percentage of students making progress,” Lavelita said, and she gave the district rate as 44% for students meeting year‑to‑year growth targets on ACCESS (state average cited as 37%).
The department said students come from more than 50 countries and speak more than 45 languages. The presenters described expanded world‑language offerings at high school and CityLab — Arabic 1 was added this year, CityLab continues Japanese, and there are now multiple Spanish levels including a heritage‑speaker strand. Chelsea Banks described multilingual learning walks, coaching and a plan to return to schools later in the year to measure progress after new professional development.
Banks outlined the district’s language‑development coaching structure: three coaches (one for high school/CityLab, one for three middle schools, one for elementary support across six buildings) who work at district, school and classroom levels on professional development, curriculum and co‑teaching. Lavelita requested that the committee consider adding two additional elementary language development coaches so each coach could work with two schools and provide more in‑class demonstration and modeling.
Committee members raised inclusion and translation concerns for the high school. One member said English‑learner students had reported clustering of services in an earlier configuration; Lavelita and Banks said scheduling now spreads ESL teachers around the building, and the district uses inclusion models and co‑teaching so students can access grade‑level curriculum with support. Officials also said announcements and some communications are delivered multilingual and that new housing‑insecurity funds from DESE will be used to support multilingual learners experiencing homelessness.
The presentation included program metrics: the department said nearly 48% of multilingual students showed exceptional growth on a growth scale and that last year the district issued about 100 bilingualism awards, 73 of which were the state Seal of Biliteracy. The committee took no formal vote on the staffing request; Lavelita said staffing needs would be revisited as enrollment figures firm up in the spring.
