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District officials report English Learner Master Plan progress, cite assessment compliance issue at secondary level
Summary
The district’s multilingual services director summarized implementation steps on the English Learner Master Plan, presented student counts and flagged the need for a district-wide secondary assessment for reclassification to meet federal monitoring requirements.
Santa Rosa City Schools staff told the Board April 9 that the district has advanced elements of its English Learner (EL) Master Plan but remains out of compliance at the secondary level for a districtwide basic-skills assessment used for reclassification.
What staff reported - Student counts: Director Eluvie Guiz Yamas said the district has 2,964 multilingual learners (MLs) this school year, about 22.1% classified as multilingual at the time of the referenced state data; roughly 1,487 students are being monitored after reclassification and 773 students are dually identified (multilingual learners who are also served by an IEP). About 397 students arrived from another country during the year; 60 transitional-kindergarten students were awaiting ELPAC screening. - Reclassification and assessment: Yamas explained that reclassification requires an overall ELPAC score of 4 plus demonstration of basic skills via the CAASPP/Smarter Balanced assessment or a district-adopted local assessment. The district is currently using a locally normed assessment in K–6 (I‑Ready rolled out this year at elementary), but it has not yet adopted an equivalent district-wide assessment for grades 7–12; the older tool used at secondary (Let’s Go Learn) does not meet the district’s long-term needs. That gap leaves the district noncompliant with the corrective actions required by recent federal program monitoring at the secondary level. - Staffing and funding history: Yamas said the district had budgeted six EL specialist positions through the Local Control and Accountability Plan in prior years; at the end of 2023–24 the department lost several team members and those positions have been eliminated in current staffing plans. - Suggested next steps and tools: Staff recommended adoption of a single, districtwide assessment for grades 7–12 that meets state reclassification criteria and suggested piloting the recommended teacher observation protocol (Observation Protocol for Teachers of English Learners, OPTEL) to document teacher input for reclassification.
Why it matters: Reclassification procedures and reliable assessment are central to tracking progress for multilingual learners and for meeting state and federal monitoring requirements. The district’s reported shortfall at the secondary level could require corrective action plans and targeted funding to restore full compliance.
Board discussion and requests: Trustees asked for the EL department to provide a written summary of the numbers, historical trends and timelines for implementing a 7–12 assessment and for training on OPTEL; one trustee asked for targets on the proportion of general-education teachers trained in ELD strategies.
Ending: Yamas invited the public to the district’s reclassification celebration in May and reiterated that implementation requires district-wide responsibility across academic departments.
