Farmington reports record WIDA exits; district expands multilingual staffing and newcomer supports

District English Learner (EL) staff reported growth in both multilingual enrollment and EL proficiency exits at the Oct. 28 board meeting.

Emily Davis, EL coordinator, said 1,228 students took the spring 2025 WIDA ACCESS assessment and 211 met the proficiency criteria that allow them to be exited from EL services; the district said this is the highest number of exits it has recorded. Director of Student Support Services Chris O’Brien described increased multilingual staffing — 24 EL teachers and 16 paraprofessionals — and pointed to targeted newcomer supports at the early childhood center and individual schools.

Davis said Farmington’s multilingual students “are outperforming students in the state” on publicly available comparisons and that staff attribute the exits to district measures including newcomer instruction, scaffolding strategies in classroom instruction, and stronger professional learning for general-education teachers.

Family supports: Trustees asked about translation and family engagement. Staff said translated documents and interpreters are provided as needed; the district uses Language Line for immediate phone interpretation and contracts (and coordinates internal bilingual staff) for in-person needs. Enrollment forms are being updated to collect interpreter and translated-document needs at intake.

Why it matters: Exiting EL status is the principal route for students to transition out of specialized services and into general-education monitoring; the district highlighted this as an indicator of accelerated language acquisition when combined with continued monitoring.

Next steps: Staff will continue to monitor exits (students are monitored for four years after exit), align staffing to schools with rising multilingual populations (noting concentration increases at some schools), and report quarterly as new assessment windows close.