Bound Brook reports strong ACCESS gains; district expands dual-language and Spanish offerings

A district staff member identified in the meeting as Claudia presented the Bound Brook Board of Education with ACCESS English-proficiency results and a multi-year comparison showing measurable gains for multilingual learners following expansion of the district—dual-language program.

Claudia said ACCESS (New Jersey epartment of Education/WIDA assessment) measures listening, speaking, reading and writing and noted that this year the district mailed individual student reports in English and the student—amily's home language in line with NJDOE guidance. "From that score, we get ... can-do descriptors, which gives us a picture of what the student can do at each of those proficiency levels across the four domains," she said.

Key data presented: district staff reported 676 identified multilingual learners as of the week of the presentation, with 70 additional students in process on the WIDA screener; if all are identified the total could reach about 743 multilingual learners, which the presenter said would be roughly 35% of the student population. Claudia said 587 multilingual learners were tested this year (excluding pre-K 3 and 4), 18 were parent refusals and 40 students met exit criteria this year (most scoring above the 4.5 threshold used for exit); of the 40 exits, 29 were in grades 1—.

Claudia walked trustees through cohort-by-cohort improvements: in the cohort that moved from kindergarten to first grade, the district saw a large shift out of the lower proficiency bands into "developing" and "expanding" categories over about a year to 18 months of instruction in the dual-language model. The presentation compared 2022 nd 2023 results and showed larger gains after the first and second year of a full-time dual-language program in K—.

Program expansions and next steps described by staff: - Start dual-language in pre-K 4 in January of the school year (with training for preschool teachers from September through December). - Continue full-time dual-language K—. - Add Spanish language-arts courses at the middle school for dual-language students and optional Spanish-language arts and heritage-speaker courses at the high school. - Provide ESL levels 1— and integrated English-language arts levels 1— at the middle school, with an advanced ESL offering for the first time. - Maintain high-intensity ESL and develop Spanish-for-heritage-speakers pathways, honors, AP and dual-enrollment options at the high school.

Claudia reported staffing totals: 14 bilingual Spanish/world-language teachers, 7 English world-language teachers in the dual-language program, 13 ESL teachers (K—2), and 7 world-language teachers districtwide (one French teacher noted). She said the district will continue sheltered-instruction professional development and dual-language training for newly hired teachers.

Board members praised the gains and the staff's work. One trustee said the improvements "humble" her and another noted that staffing bilingual/dual-language programs requires local hiring efforts and active outreach to universities; trustees thanked staff for recruiting student teachers and for recent hires that reduced the need for schedule changes.

Claudia also discussed parent outreach: the district mailed ACCESS reports to families in English and in the home language and plans to reestablish a bilingual parent advisory committee and offer at least three parent workshops for multilingual families during the school year. Board members raised parent refusals as a communications concern and discussed using district outreach to encourage participation.

Claudia said some of the district—nglish-proficiency gains were especially notable at the elementary grades and that long-term multilingual learners at the high school show slower gains because they did not benefit from a dual-language program earlier. Board members asked staff to continue tracking cohorts and to present comparative analyses of current cohorts as they progress through the system.

No formal vote on program changes or new courses was recorded in the meeting; staff described the planned course and staffing changes as program implementation steps for the coming year.