Alpine School District reports measurable gains in world language proficiency, outlines barriers and plans for split in 2027

Alpine School District world language leaders told the school board at a study session that job‑embedded, content‑specific professional learning and coaching have produced measurable gains in student language proficiency across nine languages.

"We exist to develop global citizens by building language proficiency and cultural understanding," said Jody Lindsay, the district's world language specialist, describing the program mission the team created in 2019.

Lindsay and Rachel McFarland, who co‑lead the district world language program and teaches French at American Fork High School, presented year‑to‑year STAMP and ACTFL results for multiple modes (reading, writing, speaking, listening) and a district summary showing increased Seal of Biliteracy and syllabus‑literacy awards. They credited expanded professional learning time, in‑district coaching, and teacher cohorts for the improvement.

District results and professional learning

Lindsay said Alpine used the STAMP assessment for the first time districtwide in 2024 and expanded its use in 2025. She presented ASL and other language score trends and noted the number of students achieving the Utah syllabus literacy rose from 39 in 2023 to 63 in 2024 and 145 in 2025 in ASL. She also said "we had almost 900 students who earned the seal" when referencing Seal of Biliteracy results across languages.

Presenters showed gains particularly in speaking and listening — areas where the district concentrated professional learning — and said growth should be understood in the context of increased test participation. Lindsay explained some increases reflect both more students tested and better instructional practice: "we definitely are moving students up."

The presenters described district actions used to support those outcomes: a new teacher cohort for early career teachers, job‑embedded cohort follow ups, district funding for substitutes to allow teachers to attend content days, teacher leadership expansion to include teachers from the three new districts anticipated after the 2027 split, and support for teachers to attend national conferences (ACTFL) to broaden professional learning.

Barriers and policy recommendations

Lindsay and McFarland identified three principal barriers to expanding access and sustaining progress: - Fewer junior high elective choices, tied to schedule changes that reduced available credit for exploratory electives so some students cannot take both full year performing arts and world language in the same year. - Shifts in district professional learning structure that move some content back to site‑level delivery, complicating access to district‑coordinated, job‑embedded sessions. - Unequal access to world language classes across sites, meaning not all students can enroll in language courses at their school.

They urged the board to consider reversing the districtwide content day discontinuation (they asked the board to "reconsider May 28, 2026 as a final district wide content specific day") or otherwise preserve district‑level, job‑embedded professional development funding and to examine junior high scheduling and credit requirements so students can access language study earlier and more consistently. Lindsay recommended access through level 3 proficiency as an objective, saying, "I would love to see it go to level 3 because that's really where level meets the road."

Program scale, staffing, and access

Presenters said the district now offers nine languages (American Sign Language, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Korean and Italian) and works with 116 world language teachers, 93 of whom teach multiple sections. They said the district is preparing roughly 40 new teachers across the language program and has about 70% regular teacher attendance for cohort learning sessions.

On staffing, district staff confirmed there are teachers on H‑1B visas at the secondary level and that the program includes elementary dual language immersion (DLI) teachers; presenters did not provide a comprehensive staffing census beyond noting a handful of secondary teachers on H‑1B status.

Looking ahead

Lindsay said world language leaders are preparing for the district split in 2027 by expanding leadership teams, inviting teachers from the anticipated three new districts into cohorts and by setting both short‑term (12–15 month) and long‑term (three‑year) goals focused on proficiency‑centered learning.

Board discussion and reaction

Board members and other meeting participants praised the work and asked questions about when students should be able to start language learning, how to maintain continuity between junior high and high school offerings, and how to staff languages that are currently niche offerings at only certain schools. Presenters emphasized that teacher quality and program continuity drive success: "the teacher drives the program."

Why this matters

District leaders framed the work as a contribution to broader academic outcomes: presenters cited research (to be provided as a one‑page packet to board members) that links high‑quality world language programs to improvements in English, math and science outcomes and emphasized career benefits from multilingualism.

The presentation closed with an appeal for continued district investment in job‑embedded professional learning, scheduling adjustments to permit junior high world language access, and equitable distribution of course offerings across sites prior to the 2027 district split.

Lindsay and McFarland left the board with follow‑up offers to provide test‑by‑test details, DLI continuation data, and a list of proposed scheduling or policy changes.

Ending

World language leaders asked the board to preserve district‑level professional learning time and to consider policy or scheduling changes to widen access, and they said they will provide additional data and a one‑page research summary to the board. No board action on those program recommendations was taken at the meeting; the presentation concluded as an informational item.